This year's All-Natural Flea Treatment

Last summer we had a major bug problem. It was terrible. Thanks to our warm winter our whole yard was infested with fleas. They got in the house, on the dogs, on the cats. We have hardwoods mostly but we really struggled to get the fleas out of the carpet in the bedroom. I actually threw away a couch because it was too "flea friendly". I tried all the vet recommended chemicals. I tried the super scary Walmart chemicals. I tried everything. At one point I actually buzzed my dogs. Once I got pregnant the chemicals were tossed.  It didn't make much sense for me to be using them anyway if I was eating organic food and using natural cleaners. Why go through all that trouble to live a toxic free life when I am just going to put hazardous pesticides on my animals? It can't be that great for them either.

So I started thinking.  And googling, and so did my hubby.  He tried apple cider vinegar which had rave reviews. It helped some, it may have helped more if we were not already so infested. The fleas don't like the smell and it makes the skin too acidic to live on. So I thought back to when I was trying natural lice remedies. THOSE buggers were hard to get rid of (yay for being in childcare) . They nearly drove me mad. The commercial products didn't work. My mom's suggestion of Listerine worked some. I remembered what got rid of them once and for all: coconut oil. It apparently works by smothering them. I practically bathed in it, left it in my hair for several hours and wrapped my hair in saran wrap. I had a particularly difficult time getting rid of the lice because I am blessed with super thick hair that no one is willing to meticulously comb through (hubby tried!).

So I looked up "coconut oil for fleas".  Some people apparently swear by it. It makes sense it work to smother them just like the lice, and apparently they hate the smell so it repels them too.

I am also going to sprinkle food grade diatomaceous earth around my yard and in the cracks of my hardwood floors.  This stuff is a natural powder like substance consisting of microscopic fossilized algae. Farmers use it in flour to keep bugs out.  It's important that one uses food grade because of a reduction in silica content. Silica is harmful to breathe.


So, in summary here is what I am going to try this year:

1. A mixture of apple cider vinigar and coconut oil in the animal's water.
2. A spray bottle with the vinigar and coconut oil to spray thier coats with before romps in the yard.
3. When the dogs are bathed I will give them a rubdown with coconut oil afterwards.
4. Diatomaceous earth around my yard and swept into the hardwood floors.

I will let you know how it works and please feel free to try it along with me!  Those chemicals in flea treatments are starting to work less, and getting stronger.  They are really not safe for your animals or you to be around, especially if you have young children.


Does anyone have any all natural recommendations?  Any recommendation needs to be budget friendly too. I spent too much money on fleas last year! Thanks!



More info/sources:
Diatomaceous Earth for Pest Control Wiki
More DE info
Apple Cider vinigar for Pets
PETA on flea control chemicals and safe solutions

Two Ingredient DIY Laundry Detergent

I attended a cloth diapering class at my birthing center recently and they provided me with this recipe. Thanks to The Rebecca Foundation! They are a great local organization that helps low income families with cloth diapers as well as educating the community about using cloth. But that's another post! I have been using this on my regular laundry to test it out and I have been thrilled with the results. I used a free and clear brand before with lackluster results. My laundry has been AMAZINGLY clean. My towels have been SO fluffy. It makes sense because the purpose of not using regular laundry detergent on cloth diapers is to prevent oil buildup that will eventually affect the absorbency, as well as make the diapers stink.

I won't claim to be an expert and I know there is controversy surrounding various ingredients of DIY detergents. But I know this works well with my washer on my laundry and it's the simplest I've seen so far.  It may be worth noting that my water is not very hard. These recipes have a reputation for not working great with hard water.

Without further delay though, here is the recipe:

I feel kind of strange calling this a "recipe". It only has two ingredients. Here is what you need:

• 1 bar Fels-Naptha or Ivory soap. I used Ivory. At Kroger it was around $1.80 for a three pack here in Tennessee. (sixty cents a pop!)
• 2 cups baking soda (they were very clear NOT washing soda) One 16oz (1lb) box of baking soda is two cups. A box should run you less than a dollar.
• You will also need a jar or something to keep your detergent in. It should be air tight. This one is, it's just prettier without the seal and clips.
• A cheese grater is also needed. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't use the one you cook with. It's just soap, and the ivory rinses easily off of mine.
• Something to mix it with, you could always use your hand. I used the scoop I use for the detergent.

Step one: Grate the soap. I used one of the finer grits on my grater and it works great. Here is what it looks like grated.

Step two: Add the box of baking soda

Stir it up! Here is what the final product should look like:

Use 1/2 a teaspoon for small loads. I have a heavy duty giant washer (I use a whole mounded teaspoon if it's full. Which is usually.) On the recipe The Rebecca Foundation gave me it says this does 250 small loads (1/2 tsp). Which means 125 large loads for about $1.60. If you do about two large loads a day, this should last you two months. That's a years worth of laundry for less than $10! A sixty load package costs more than that with some brands. And in my opinion they do not clean nearly as well. I have been using this for about a month now and have hardly made a dent in my first batch. I am very happy about my new detergent!

Thanks for stopping by! Let me know if you have tried this and if it worked for you. A piece of advice my cloth diaper instructor gave me is to try adding water softener before giving up on this recipe if it is not working. You should be able to call your energy company and ask if you have hard water.