Magic In Your Cupboard

In your cupboard are good old fashion products that can be used for a variety of things, from beautifying your skin to scrubbing your pots and pans. I thought I'd share a few of my favorites. If you're stuck on chemically-laden commercial products, you're going to laugh at these ideas, but try them and you just might save a few bucks and avoid unnecessary chemicals in the products you use.

My favorite skin care product is good old baking soda. Since I've been using it to scrub my face every other day for the last 3 months, my skin is improving. I threw out all the commercial face scrubs and now keep the plastic shaker bottle of baking soda in the shower. I mix baking soda with inexpensive CerVae liquid face cleanser (recommended by my dermatologist and easily found in CVS and other drugstores) and gently rub the mixture into my face. Gradually it is creating a layer of fresh healthy skin. I also use baking soda on a variety of other things, like scrubbing pots and pans, cleaning the glass cooking top of the stove, and even cleaning the kitchen sink.



Olive oil is good for your body, both inside and out. Moisturize with it at night and use it instead of butter on your bread. My mother-in-law and aunt went to Spain a few years back and olive oil was served with every huge meal. Although they ate meals twice as big as they normally would have at home, they both lost over 15 pounds in just 2 weeks.

Incidentally, if you have stainless steel appliances, put a little olive oil on a cloth (just a drop or two) and use it to clean the front of your refrigerator or other stainless steel appliance. This works better than any of the commercial products on the market. I know because I bought a ton of them until someone told me about this little trick.



I feel best when I use organic apple cider vinegar on my vegetables (spinach, brussel sprouts, salad) and put a little in a room-temperature glass of water. Acid reflux can be reduced by simply taking a small dose of this water-vinegar mix each day.

I use the cheaper version, white vinegar, to make my dishes shine by adding it to the dishwasher or putting it into a sink full of suds. Additionally, your clothes will come out softer if you add it to your washing machine, and it will clean out your washer while it's working on your clothes. Add white vinegar to your coffee maker or tea kettle and it will clean out the gunk left by hard water. I've also heard it leaves your hair squeaky clean, and cleans windows when used with a bucket of water and some old bed-sheets or newspaper to dry.



Well, I'm sure you'll think of some other uses for these little bottles of magic. Think how many products you could replace with just the four of them. And the side benefit is how many chemicals you won't have to slather on, breathe in, or smell.