Cora's Cottage

Over the past year I have slowly been working at cleaning up things in my environment from the products I put on my skin to the clothes I wear to the things that I used to clean my home. This has been a journey and is one that I am continuing on as it takes time to learn what does or doesn’t work for my family.

As I got started on this journey, one thing that I quickly learned was that it is easier to do it in small steps rather than to make all of the changes at once. Changing everything or even many things at once leads to overwhelm and burn out which quickly leads to not changing any of the products in your home. Small steps are better than no steps at all.

When I was making decisions about what areas to focus on first, I decided that it was most important to focus on things that I was putting in and on my body, but only as I ran out of each item. Not only would this limit the number of items I was swapping at once, but it gave me a more specific area where I could focus my attention. Additionally, I wouldn’t feel like I needed to spend a bunch of money on products I already had, instead I would simply replace what I would typically order with something cleaner when I ran out of an item.

Some of the first changes that I made were to my skin care routine. This took some trial and error, but I’ve landed on using Crunchi for my skin care both morning and night. Other items that I have changed out, include many of my cleaning products, some of the clothes in my closet and many of my personal care and hygiene products., along with buying many food items locally and organically.

Some of the personal care and hygiene products that I have swapped out, include my shampoo, body wash, and shaving cream. For shampoo, I started by trying to make my own, but was unable to find a recipe that I was happy with, so I have landed on using Carina Organics.

For body wash, I have switched to organic goats milk, soap, and I absolutely love it! I use Bend Soap Company, a small privately owned soap company, but there are many different companies out there that have great options as well. For my shaving cream I have switched from a cream product to a shaving bar from Beauty by Earth. I tried several different shaving cream products, but just was not happy with any of them.

I’ve also switched out many of the clothes in my closet. While only a couple of the pieces in my closet are new and were specifically budgeted for, many of the items came from thrifting or Goodwill. This allows me to shift my closet, not only because my desires for my clothing have changed, but because my style has changed, without having to spend lots of money for a closet makeover. I simply look for items that are of natural fibers, like cotton and linen, because they are breathable natural fibers.

When it comes to the items that I used to clean my home, I have tried several different things, but my favorite, and the most cost effective so far has to be to keep up on my cleaning and simply use vinegar and essential oils. I do not have to worry about when friends and family bring over young children, that they will get into toxic chemicals, and I don’t have to worry about what I’m breathing in when I am cleaning my home. Both of these things are important to me, not only for my own health and the health of my family, but the for the health of those I welcome into my home as well.

While there are many more individual items that I have swapped out since I started making these changes, these were some of the first swaps that I made. While I am happy to keep using several of the swaps, as I previously mentioned, sometimes the first swaps we make are not the ones we will stay with. Sometimes this is because we don’t like the way the product performs, or sometimes it is even because the company changes their product formulations and are no longer a clean item. Regardless, the process of keeping a cleaner, more toxin free home is a journey, not a destination.