Women's Wellness Wednesday: Eliminating xenoestrogens

On Wednesdays, I'm journaling about this new leg of my journey to better health.
Last week, I talked about these things called "xenoestrogens" that I had NEVER heard of,
but apparently are wreaking HAVOC on my health and well-being!!
You can read about that here:  What ARE xenoestrogens?

Now that I'm more familiar with what they are and what they do {estrogen mimicers, endocrine disrupters},
I've been trying to figure out how to avoid them.

It's pretty simple to avoid them.....just don't use the products that contain them.
The tricky part is finding a good alternative....that WORKS and doesn't break the bank!!

Here's what I've found so far:

These products are AH-mazing!!

The Dessert Essence brand is dedicated to producing all-natural products and they are just fantastic!

I've ditched all my regular shampoos, conditioners, soap, and body lotion and switched to this brand.

I LOVE the Coconut body wash and lotion.

It's as good as or better than anything at Bath and Body Works, and is safer for you if you have
and estrogen dominance issue, such as myself.

I started buying them on sale at Sprout's so I could try them,

but will probably be buying them online at Vitacost.com for a way better price.

I've also ditched my store-bought antiperspirant/deodorant.
This one was tough for me.
I'm a confessed profuse sweater.
My feet and hands sweat....and the sweat RUNS down my face and back in the summers
around here!!
I was nervous about switching to something that doesn't have the aluminum and other parabens
that are normally in antiperspirants, but I knew I didn't want to keep using these potentially
harmful ingredients.
I tried this:

But didn't like that I had to apply it several times a day and I still smelled of rotten onions!

So I tried this:

But I had virtually the same problem as I did with the previous product.

Plus, I found out that tea tree oil is also an estrogen mimicer {phytoestrogen - plant based estrogen}

and that using this too much can cause issues with estrogen dominance as well!!!

SO.....I decided to try my hand at making my own!!

I found this recipe:

Homemade deodorant

Let me tell you.....I like it!!

It was super easy to make, and I was able to fill up one 4.6 oz. empty deodorant tube

that I had on hand.

When I use it....there is no odor.

I did not use any essential oil to fragrance it, but it has a gentle coconut smell from the coconut oil.

It has a super low melting point though, and melts instantly when it touches your skin.

It broke the twist up function on the deodorant container because it gets so hard when you put it in the frig initially, so I had to scoop it out into a small

covered plastic bowl and keep it in the frig.

I've just been popping it out of the bowl when I feel I need it and storing it in the frig.

The next thing to go?

Commercial laundry detergent.

Yep.

I was NOT going to do this.

I had dug in my heels and was not going to let anybody or anything drag me into 

being this "crunchy!"

But when I found out that xenoestrogens are found in laundry detergent AND fabric softener,

and that they don't come off your clothes and get into your system....

I knew I had to try this.

And what did I have to loose?

It's so. MUCH. cheaper!!

Here's the recipe:

Homemade liquid laundry detergent

It was so cheap to make.
And so easy.
Will post pictures later.
It seems to work just fine.
It doesn't have a fancy fragrance that our American culture seems to think we need for happiness
and cleanliness......
but it gets the clothes clean!!

Just a few simple changes.
With more to come.

Taming the "Laundry Monster"

This last year I have felt, that for some reason, my laundry situation has gotten out of control. We live in a small house with no true laundry "room", no basement (if you can possibly imagine living in the tornado alley of Texas!!!), and little extra space for laundry to wait to be folded. I had been folding it on my bed (and my husband's for those of you who were wondering), but since my husband is sleeping during the day and working at night it isn't an option for us anymore.

So I moved it all to the dining room table. Well, then it was taking so long for me to get to the folding and to finish all the folding, that the table was becoming unusable for mealtime and even our schooling.

So with no other options left, but laundry still piling up, I had to figure something out that would take me very little time to fold 4-5 loads of laundry at a time in just a few minutes. I had asked my mom the last time she visited us if she could help me come up with a solution, and I ended up expanding on her idea. Here's what I came up with:



First, I wash and dry everything before I even start. I end up with a mountain of laundry, but then I only have to do this once!! As I wash and dry it, I put it in laundry baskets and stuff in out of the way (usually in our bedroom) until I'm ready to sort.

This was about 5-6 loads of laundry from everyday stuff to the family reunion laundry.

Next, I purchased a different color "basket" for each of my children who can handle putting away their own laundry. So Alexis, Ashlyn, Grant, and Abby each have their own basket, while I have a basket for the two youngest because both of their clothes go in the same dresser. I also have a basket for my, and my husband's, things.

Then, I gather up all the laundry to be folded, all the baskets for each member of the family, and put it all on the table.

I simply toss the different items of clothing into each appropriate person's basket without folding them. I leave the folding and hanging up of the clothes to the children. I do end up folding the two youngest's clothes, as well as mine and my husband's, and putting all of that away. But in our family, the only things that are folded and put into dressers are underwear, socks, and jammies. We hang up everything else.

22 minutes after I started sorting, this is what is left of that monster!!!
You can see the 5 baskets of childrens clothing, along with our hang-ups over the chair.
You'll also notice a shabby 'ol cardboard box there at the end.....that's my single sock box.
That's where all the lonely socks that come out of the dryer single go until we go through it and match them back up.

I usually have one of the girls fold the loads of towels and sheets and put those away too. This new system has saved me HOURS of time, plus it teaches the children how to properly store their clothing and where things belong.

I have also found that it works much better for me to do all this sorting after all the children are in bed, so first thing in the morning, as they are doing their morning chores, they can just grab their basket and clear their clothes off. Then the basket goes into their closet to be used as a hamper until laundry day again. They just bring their basket to me full of clothes to be washed and we start over!!!

This is not a flawless system though, and on occasion I do have a child or two that takes the basket to their room and then just leaves it there full until I get after them to FINISH the job and put the clothes in the drawers!! In fact, I think there's still a basket sitting on the bed of a little girl at this moment still waiting to be emptied!!! As you can see, it doesn't eliminate the need for parental involvement completely, but it still beats having to fold for HOURS and then taking the time on top of that to hang-up everything!!

How have you learned to tame your "laundry monster?"