Fresh and frugal?

I've seen inspiration many places...from Jillian Michaels' latest book (LOVE!) to Young House Love's tips on living on less. Trav and I are budgeting tighter now, but that doesn't mean we can't have as much fun as before! I'm actually enjoying ways to cut back...it simplifies life and ensures you're spending your hard-earned money on things that are really important to you. And it certainly forces you to be creative, which is perhaps the best part for me. I have a couple of cheapo house projects on the go that I'm very excited about, so once those are complete, I'm super excited to share them – stay tuned!

In the meantime, I've examined other ways to live a little more simply, and finally thought to give this a try: natural cleaning products. I mean vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and lemon juice. That's it. Nothing else. No windex, or clorex wipes (my fave), no vim, no bleach...you get the idea. It seemed a little hippie to me at first, but the more I research it, the more I get excited about (I know, getting excited about cleaning. I'm really turning into my mother!) I'm also a migraine sufferer, and usually wake up with headaches in the morning, so I'm hoping this helps. I'm extremely sensitive to chemicals. (I remember this one strong tub cleaner we had. Mom had me clean the shower and I threw up 12 times right after and had the worst shakes of my life! Isn't that scary?) So I thought this might be an interesting and much healthier route to try. And of course, it's cheap!

Here's the article that will get me on my way. I have the products (from the dollar store!)...I'm just using up my old cleaners (I don't want to waste everything) and then I'll be trying these tips out. I also found this article about the endless uses for vinegar totally entertaining. Happy cleaning!