Non-Toxic, Made in America, Eco-friendly shoes
Are you one of those people who has a million pairs of shoes? Do you love buying new shoes and showing them off to everyone? I wasn’t one of those people until just recently. I hadn’t gotten a new pair of shoes in over a year until just this past week. My husband got a new pair of Nike’s for around $60, and I wanted some new shoes as well. However, I didn’t want to have shoes made in a different country. I wanted American made shoes. I also wanted them to be eco-friendly, and non-toxic. I was sure I couldn’t just go to the mall and find some, so I googled “American made shoe companies.” This is how I came across Okabashi shoes.
I immediately fell in love. On their website, they tout shoes that are made in America and completely recyclable! They are even dishwasher safe for when they get too dirty, you can’t beat that. So I dove into their styles. I ended upwith 4 pairs, that brought me over the $40 free shipping limit, and I would also get 2 free shoe bags. I chose the Maui Flip Flop, the Classic Flip Flop, Copenhagen, and Naples.
Pictured here: Copenhagen (Black) Classic Flip Flop (Green) Maui Flip Flop (Pink)
The website is easy to navigate and fun to look through. I was a little confused about the sizing, but they have a page to explain it. There is even a video showing how the shoes are made, and recycled. They make ordering super easy by allowing you to order through an existing Amazon.com account. If you don’t have an Amazon.com account you can also create an account through them, which I ended up doing anyways so I could register my shoes. The shipping time was the usual when you get free. It took 7 days, from order to delivery.
I am sorry to report that I was a bit disappointed when I opened the box, they had forgotten to include my free shoe bags. I, however, pushed that aside and looked at my beautiful new shoes. I ordered all the same size,but the Naples were too small. I think that’s because they are a slimmer style than the rest that I ordered. The other three pairs fit like a glove though. I walked all around the apartment in each pair and just loved it! They are flexible and feel very nice on the bottom of your feet. The shoes are all one piece, no seams or bumps.
My favorite so far are the Copenhagens. I love the clog look and they are pretty comfortable. I am getting a few blisters from them I think, but almost every new pair of shoes I have has given me blisters at some point in time. The Classic Flip Flops are my second. They have wide straps holding the shoe to your feet, and I love the green they came in. The Maui Flip Flop is a very nice flip flop, but the straps are just a bit thinner than the Classics. That ends up making some difference with me. But they are all worth the money. Well, except the pair that didn’t fit. I’m giving those to my Mother in Law.
The bottom line: they got one thing wrong, though I called and they are currently sending my shoe bags, but other than that the shoes are really nice and very comfortable. They are ultimately worth the $54 I spent. If you are looking for some spring and/or summertime shoes that are eco-friendly and made in America, give them a shot.
No more pre-packaged butter!
Have you ever gone to the grocery store and bought the cheap oil masquerading as butter? I certainly have! It’s nothing special that’s for sure. It gets clumpy when you try to bake with it, and oily when using it for cooking. Sorry Fabio, but I can believe it’s not butter.
All this dissatisfaction with cheap fake butter made me want to make my own. I remembered back when my Dad was alive and he made me shake a mason jar full of whipping cream for like 45 minutes until it separated. I’m not feeling like I want to spend all that time and energy shaking a jar. So, I made it a little easier with a mixer and a whisk attachment.
I have a Kitchen Aid mixer, generously provided by my father-in-law, but you can use any old mixer you want. All you have to do is put your cream into your mixing bowl and mix on medium speed for around 15-20 minutes. Here are some pictures to illustrate the process so you don’t get nervous…
I just used the generic brand from my local grocery store. Just make sure it’s Heavy Whipping Cream.
See just set it at medium speed and watch the magic while it’s happening.
This is what it will look like after a few minutes of whipping.
If you add a touch of sugar and stop here you will have some very nice whipped cream for any fruit you have waiting to be eaten in your kitchen.
Now, you may think that something has gone horribly wrong here. It hasn’t, keep going until it’s all separated. Just a few more minutes.
I know, this looks really weird. I don’t have a strainer so I used a coffee filter and a bowl. The liquid is buttermilk, it can be stored in your refrigerator for later use. (not too long though)
I put it back in just to whip it up a little. You can do this step or skip it if you want.
Here it is! Handmade butter. You will never go back to pre-packaged butter again. Enjoy!
Handmade Dishwasher Detergent
Hello Again to my Non-Toxic Mama’s,
As you read in my previous post some of the ingredients you bought for the laundry soap can be used for other things. Namely dishwasher detergent.
I absolutely HATE having to go up to the store and spend a bunch of money on some gelatinous liquid that smells like radioactive lemons. Especially when your only other choices are neat little packs full of colors and ingredients that should never be used to wash anything you eat off of, and powders that are harsh on the nose and leave nasty little particles all over your dishes.
My dishwasher detergent is colorless, granted it is a powder, and odorless. This recipe is even easier to make than the laundry soap. Here it goes:
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
1 cup kosher salt (I prefer kosher salt because of the larger particles, but regular salt (no iodine) will work fine)
Mix everything together and put it into your desired container. That’s all you need to do, and you have a great detergent for your dishwasher that you made yourself
I fill the “soap area” in the dishwasher about ¾ of the way full, and if you have a place to put a so called “shine agent” that’s a great place to put some white vinegar. If you don’t have one, I’d just splash a little right into the washer. That will help keep water spots off of your glasses. I wash without the heated dry and it works beautifully.
See what I mean? You already have the borax and washing soda. So there you go, almost two recipes in one! I love being thrifty and natural all at the same time. 
Oh and thinking about radioactive lemons made me remember a recipe I used this past week for Strawberry Lemonade. I had gotten a lot of lemons from my father in law’s lemon tree, and had some strawberries in my refrigerator just waiting to be used in something yummy.
First I lugged out my awesome hand press juicer, a fun gift from my father in law. Then juiced enough lemons to get around 1 ½ cups of pure lemony goodness. In the meantime, I had set to boil 1 cup water with 1 cup sugar until the sugar was dissolved and left it to chill in the fridge. Now, as the simple syrup (yes that is how easy it is to make simple syrup for all you cocktail fans) was chilling I mashed up my strawberries and mixed them in with the lemon juice and 7 cups of cold water. After the syrup was sufficiently cooled I mixed that in as well. Now there you have yourself an amazingly refreshing summertime drink. In the middle of winter.
Handmade, Non-Toxic Laundry Soap
Hello Fellow Laundry Doers,
A few weeks ago my husband and I were about to run out of laundry soap. We didn’t have a lot of money and ended up buying Target’s brand “Free and Clear,” detergent for around $8. We only get “Free and Clear” because my lady parts are super sensitive to fragrance, and we have a baby. Anyways, I got to thinking about making my own, that way it would be cheaper and less wasteful.
I did some looking around and found quite a few recipes online. Most of them ended up needing a five gallon tub to keep it in, that is not going to happen in my apartment! They also seemed like a lot of work, and I’m not into making this an all-day thing. I needed something that was powder so it had less work and took up less room. I ended up finding a few that were powder only and narrowed it down to the least possible ingredients.
Now you may be thinking, “Is this going to be a bunch of stuff that I have to go to a specialty store for?” The answer is a resounding NO! I bought everything I needed at my local grocery store for around $12. I know, I said that I thought 8 bucks was a lot for laundry soap. But the cool thing about this is you end up making quite a few batches of this soap, and use the ingredients for other cleaners as well.
Okay, so here is the recipe:
-2 cups Borax
-2 cups Washing Soda
-2 bars of soap
-A container to hold it in.
Now the type of soap makes no difference. You can use any type of bar soap you would like. I prefer to use Ivory simply because it has some scent but isn’t overpowering, and the ingredient list is full of words I can understand.
Now that you have all the ingredients in your possession, mix the Borax with the washing soda. They can give off a bit of dust so be aware when you are mixing and breathing over this. Next, take your soap and grate it as small as you can.
Lastly, mix the grated soap into the borax and washing soda and you now have your own handmade laundry detergent!
I use around 2 tbsp per load. You can increase or decrease depending on the amount of grime you are attempting to remove from your clothing.
Let me know how you like your detergent!
