Marker on the Wall? Use Lemon Essential Oil

One thing that's inevitable when you have kids is marker on the wall... or on the door frame, floor, counter..... almost anywhere.

My son, who now is 6, had a few coloring frenzies on the wall.  The first one was below the big white board we have in the kitchen.  He was coloring on the white board with a dry erase marker and then decided to color on the wall.  He was too young to really know it was wrong, because he was coloring on the white board a foot up... so why not color on the wall?   I wasn't sure what to use,  we only had natural products in the house and my 'go to' was vinegar with water.  At this point, I only had a few oils, and the thought of using them didn't even occur to me.  The vinegar kind of faded the marker as well as take some of the paint off!!  That was not a great solution.  I year later I ended up painting over it.

But then came my daughter.  She had this urge to draw everywhere, that budding artist.  She's drawn on my yellow and white striped wall, in the hallway, on the floor and the worst one is that she drew with Sharpie on our closet door frame!!   We had left that one there since not many people come over and go back in our bedroom closet... but it wasn't pretty.

Fast forward a year or two when I first got my kit,  I noticed some people using lemon to clean off things on their wall and floor.  So I got the urge to try it.  I remembered the Sharpie on the door frame.  I was so curious... did it work?  I dropped a few drops of Lemon essential oil on a rag and gave it a scrub.  Lo and behold, IT WORKED!   It did take a little elbow grease but I was surprised how easily it did come off after being there for over a year.

I was shocked at how well it worked.  Now that my kids are a little older now, they know not to draw on the wall but I have a feeling that the two little ones I'm about to have are going to have some urge to draw on the wall.  I think all kids do.  

Give it a try!  You'll be amazed!

*note- I would try it on a small area first to make sure it wouldn't take paint off or ruin furniture.  But I've never had it do that :)

If you want to get Lemon Essential Oil, you can go here and get started with your own kit.  Or you can email us and we can order it for you.

Cleaning BOMBS!

 Toilets are gross. They are even grosser when you live with four boys. Somehow I always end up cleaning it, and since the baby is crawling around and sticking his hand (read: mouth) on everything these days, I really hate using bleach cleaners he could accidentally ingest.



Previous attempts at homemade toilet cleaners resulted in a not so long lasting fresh toilet. In other words, it got moldy and gross again within days of cleaning. Enter essential oils, and ta-da! The toilet is super easy to clean, STAYS clean for as long (if not longer) than the bleach alternative, AND it's fun to clean the toilet. Yup. You heard me. Dropping a fizzy, floating cleaning bomb in the toilet makes a really disgusting job a bit more enjoyable! Not to mention how much more willing the boys are to help me when they get to drop something in the toilet!

The big boys LOVE helping make our cleaning products. They measure and pour and mix everything up for me, and even press it all into the molds. I make sure to have them stand back as we pour in the borax, as it can be an irritant when breathed. 

                                       

We picked Lemon and Orange for our oils this time. I have also done Thieves, Purification and Tea Tree with great success. I would say my favorite is Purification; however, the boys love Orange so they wanted to try it this time. :)

Cleaning Bombs

2 cups Baking Soda

1/4 cup Citric Acid

1 TB Liquid Soap (I like Dr. Bronners)

1/2 TB Vinegar

2 TB Hydrogen Peroxide

20 drops of Essential Oils (Lemon, Purification, Thieves or Tea Tree)

1. Combine first three ingredients in big bowl.

2. SLOWLY add vinegar while mixing, then add hydrogen peroxide the same way (if you add too fast the citric acid will fizz all the fun out before you can drop them in the toilet!).

3. Mix in oils last. If the mixture holds its shape when you press it together, you are done! If not, SLOWLY add drops of water until it does.

4. Press into molds and pop out onto a cookie sheet or counter to air dry over night. Once dry store in a closed jar until ready to use.

5. To use drop one "bomb" into toilet bowl and let sit 10 minutes, then scrub as usual!

NOTES:

~You can use ice cube trays for molds. The "mound" shaped bombs we made with half a large plastic Easter egg! The boys liked those ones the best! You can also use candy molds, a small cup such as a shot glass, or whatever small container you have. Once we even used a recycled egg carton!

Happy oiling, Mandy