Living natural is becoming an increasingly popular way of life. This is the choice many make for a number of reasons; allergies, to be environmentally friendly or maybe it is so they give their bodies only the best. I started searching for more natural products when B2* was approximately 6 months old due to his eczema manifesting to more than just dry and itchy skin; his cheeks were raw red and painful. To this day I still don’t know what caused his flare ups but it has since subsided and now at age 5 very rarely makes an appearance. I know certain washing powders can cause trigger eczema which is why it is great that there are wonderfully clean products available like Euca. The range covers everything you could need while including no fillers or synthetic perfumes and as the name suggests contains Australian Eucalyptus Oil.
Euca
Euca Soaker
B1 and B2 have white school uniforms. White! Who does that for young kids? Regardless the job of keeping them white is left up to me and I have found that the Euca soaker works a treat. You can use it to soak in the tub/bucket over night to maximise the effectiveness or you can put it straight into your washing machine (front or top loader) and use the soak cycle. The boys shirts always come out clean and white.
Euca Laundry Powder
This is my favourite of the four products shown above. It is great for front and top loader machines; giving 100 washes for front loader and 50 top load washes. It is 100% soluble and is grey and septic safe! Another benefit this Euca powder has is it is perfect for both hot and cold water.
Euca Laundry Liquid
The laundry liquid is basically the same as the powder except that it is liquid. So if you prefer liquid than this is the one for you. Ideal for both top and front loaders with top getting 50 loads and front getting 65 loads per bottle.
Euca Fabric Conditioner
The Euca fabric conditioner makes ironing easy (not that I EVER EVER iron) but it does help to give the clothes less wrinkles. It is extra light and really doe make the clothes soft with a hint of Eucalyptus scent from the Australian eucalyptus oil. It can be used in the bucket or the machine and you will get up to 65 loads from the 2L bottle.
Overall I would recommend this if you are looking at going natural and still want a product that works. In addition to it being a great product it is also Australian made.
Prize contains: 2kg Euca Laundry Powder, 2lt Euca Liquid, 2kg Euca Soaker, 2kg Euca Fabric Conditioner. 2x PRIZE PACKS UP FOR GRABS – Each valued at $49.80 (total prize pool = $99.60)
**As the winners are chosen based on skill and not chance; you will be sharing for 0 extra entries however I’d love you to share the giveaway with friends and family. Sharing is caring and karma loves kind people. **
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Disclosure: I received one of each of these products for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.
we reuse as much of the plastic and paper rubbish and the kids make all sorts of toys and gifts with it all.
Up-cycling is a great way to reduce our plastic wastage.
We avoid buying products that have excess packaging. Hopefully one of these days those companies will pay attention!
That is thinking Soni. Thanks for entering.
I use natural cleaning products (vinegar and bi-carb soda) instead of nasty chemical-laden products.
Bi-carb is great for so many things! Thanks for entering.
I recycle everything!!!
That is wonderful to hear Karina. Good luck.
YOU’VE WON!!
We don’t really, we recycle but that’s the extent of it.
That’s a start Diana. It’s better than nothing
For cooking, cleaning, garden greenery to see…
Wherever we live, we GROW A LEMON TREE.
It’s simple as well to give packaging the chop,
And we use FARMERS’ MARKETS!… Top green way to shop!
I add eucalyptus oil to my mop bucket. It not only cleans even the toughest grime but also sends a beautiful aroma through your home!
use eucalyptus oil when mopping the floor which gives the house such a beautiful smell. & we recycle which is very important thing to do.
Cold water to wash our clothes, drying rack instead of a dryer.
Recycling everything , avoid plastic bags, always 😀 I also am trying to make my own cleaning products.
YOU’VE WON!!
We have used (and are still using) Modern Cloth Nappies for both of our girls. I originally fell in love with the designs and how cute their tooshes looked covered in the like of lady bug spots and cupcakes… but it has saved THOUSANDS of disposable nappies ending up as land fill. We also use environmentally friendly detergents in our washing machine, sink and for the floors
They do look very cute on their tiny little bums. Thanks for entering.
We ride our bikes or walk to our local shops. There is a much nurtured herb and vegetable garden that we raise organically and share with other family. We recycle where possible, and use our food scraps for compost, chook food or worm fodder. We buy in bulk and freeze into usable amounts to save packaging. We try but there is more to learn.
Solar power, solar hot water, cold water washing and natural drying. No town water just rain water tanks X10 and bore with potable water which we still use sparingly. All grey water is used on the garden, and we grow our own vegetables and compost to the max. We try to make all car trips have as many purposes as possible If we just need to drive for one thing, and can wait, we do..we walk a fair bit. All things recyclable are recycled and anything we can reuse or repurpose we do.
I don’t use any nasty chemicals for cleaning, just bicarb and vinegar, it does just as good a job! Always wash laundry with cold water and avoid using the tumble dryer unless it’s an emergency in rainy weather.
What can be recycled IS! When possible I use vinegar for much of my cleaning, it not only cleans but is non harmful for occupants with lung problems
Instead of a commercial softener in my wash rinse, I use vinegar and this not only removes suds more efficiently but also softens the wash, and on top of that it is so much better for the washing machine as softeners build up in the washing machine and can eventually cause problems
We repurpose, keeps the landfill cleaner. It’s amazing how one unwanted, past its use by date item can be turned into something quite different. I’ve made hot water bottle covers out of old knitted jumpers and jazzed them up a bit, a small cabinet door is now my hanging pot holder in the kitchen, a small picture framed turned into a tree elf door in the garden etc… all you need to do is think outside of the square, not only does repurposing help the environment, it also saves $.
Absolutely! I love re-purposed items, they look unique and are 100% originals.
I found that like most houses we were wasting a huge amount of food, not good due to the energy it takes to produce all the food and packaging. So I am now very careful about food wastage, which saves us money too!
We moved to acreage 2 years ago and have a septic tank so out of necessity I’ve had to learn how to clean without chemicals otherwise the good bacteria in the tank will die and our toilets will back up.
I think you have to get into a particular mindset to think and go ‘green’. We walked through out house seeing where we could improve. If you can have insulation put through your house, walls, roof, flooring it makes a remarkable difference in conserving heating and cooling. Double glazed windows also work really well with heavy curtains or blinds.
We incorporated solar water heating. Outside we installed two big water tanks. From this we water the garden and run our washing machine and toilet from the tanks as well. Use biodegradable washing liquid, the rinse water goes directly out onto the lawn. Our son loves to use the good old fashioned push lawn mower – no petrol power. Must be the macho man in him. It works really well if you don’t let the grass grow too long. Vegie scraps go out into the compost heap to later be used on the garden for nutritious compost.
Don’t run the tap whilst you’re cleaning your teeth or shaving your legs. Turn off your appliances at the power points when not in use.
Try to walk whenever you can – and enjoy the family time together whilst getting exercise. And we try to do Earth Hour once a month, turning off all TV’s, lights and appliances. We use the kerosene lamp and play board games – such great family fun. We look forward to it.
It’s amazing all the little things that make a huge difference and you can make it fun for the family as well. It’s great to teach kids from a young age about being green, second nature to them.
I try to reuse and recycle (I LOVE op shopping), and I use eco friendly cleaning products.
My mum used to take me op shopping when I was little but I haven’t found any good ones here in ages.
I received a small sample of the laundry powder myself the other day from Aussie Farmers Direct : it smelt awesome and so does my cloths they feel fresh ,would be great to win the whole set !!! we are Eco friendly in our house with power, water and rubbish , every little bit helps to make the planet more sustainable and a wonderful place to live .
Yes indeed the smallest acts make a difference. I love the Euca products as well (obviously) they are great.
No cleaning chemicals here bi carb and vinegar and lemon juice work wonders
It’s amazing how well it works isn’t it!
Grow fresh organic vegies with the kids, better than packaged foods, it’s healthier and environmentally better.
When cooking a meal my children put the vege scraps in a bucket and we give to our friends who have some chooks.
We use more blankets in winter to reduce the heating costs.
My children have become the eco team, watching that we only use minimal lights in the house and no taps are dripping.
Where possible we keep the lids of the bottles and jars, and after cleaning we send them to the local schools and kindy’s where they use them for a whole host of things including maths counters.
We recycle a load of our packaging and send them to the school, kindy’s and child care centres for the kids to build and make things.
My children when they grow out of their toys recycle and like to give them to charity shops or to families doing it tough to share.
Whenever we know a friend or family in need we go to our freezer and hand them a feed.
We are lucky where we are because we can recycle our drinking cans/bottles, so we save them up and take them in and it helps also to keep the streets clean.
This is a start of what being green, whilst we make a stand in our eco clean.
I turn my old bath towels into dish clothes. Sewing a patch of hessian on the back makes a great scourer and they go through the wash for a cleaner kitchen environment.
We have compost bins, a vegie garden and fruit trees, installed solar power, use vinegar and bi-card for cleaning, and constantly try to Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Every little thing we can do all adds up!
I can totally relate to your little B2 – I have suffered from eczema my whole life and it’s horrible. I remember blowing out my birthday candles as a child wishing my eczema would go away and never come back.
I go through horrible break outs and am currently in one at the moment that has patches from head to toe on my body – I am mainly effected on my hands which is the most worst place to get it seems this is what people will see and you are using all the time.
I’m all in for using the more natural products so it won’t affect me as much. I would love to try Euca out and will definitely be keeping my eyes out for this one.
We buy in bulk packets and use lunchboxed for smaller amounts.
It saves on lots of plastic rubbish.
LOTS as it is part of our way of life (sorry it is long but i am hoping that it might give other people some ideas) – for example we :
– Buy second hand where possible – ie. most of my childrens clothes, toys etc are second hand and once finished I pass them onto others; where available, we buy stuff we need from the “dump shop” ie. we got a bath, shower screen etc from the dump shop; garage sales etc.
– Reduce consumption in general – we make a conscious effort to reduce our consumption and we cannot change our past consumption but any new purchases we analyse to determine if we really do need it.
– Recycle our old towels/sheets and use them for dropsheets/painting sheets for kids, make a cubby house out of them over the table, use for cleaning the house, homemade baby wipes (warm water and pieces of sheet clean a baby’s bottom perfectly fine), donate to charity etc.
-We only use natural cleaning products, hair care products and skin care products – this is of utmost importance to my family.
– Have fruit trees and a veggie patch to grow as much of our own food as possible (free of chemicals) plus nothing tastes better than freshly picked and eaten the way nature intended. Also this reduces the food mileage on our food as a lot of our fresh food travels directly from our garden to our plate. Over time our goal is to keep increasing the amount we grow so we eat more of our own.
– We have our own chickens which free range and get fed our food scraps which they love. From these chickens we got lovely fresh free range chemical free eggs which mean we don’t buy eggs that have food miles added to them.
– All our other scraps/organic matter go into our worm farm or we dig them straight into the vegie patch. We even compost my in-laws fruit/veggie scraps to reduce their landfill waste. By having chickens/worm farm/compost all organic matter goes back into the ground somehow which is way better than putting it into a plastic bag and then landfill.
– We also buy food where possible in bulk so we don’t have much waste in our “normal” rubbish bin every week and buy local where we can to reduce the food carbon footprint. Where possible we buy chemical free or organic food (and go without other non-essential items so we can afford to buy some). We always have a pile of eco/material shopping bags in our car and some in my handbag.
– Make as much food as I can from scratch as this also reduces packaging etc and is a lot healthier for our children as I know what goes into a product.
– I also have used stainless steel water bottles for our family for quite a few years now – and am very happy that it has now become mainstream as when we first brought some there was not a lot around. My children use stainless steel lunch boxes for school and if we need to “wrap” food I use 4myearth food wraps.
– We have friends that drink coffee that comes in glass jars so they give us their glass jars to store all our bulk food purchases in ie. Nuts, flours, grains, rice etc.
– All year round (except when our tanks are overflowing and the ground is saturated) we have quick showers and collect our water for the garden etc as we are on tank water and water is precious. Our children know not to flush the toilet unless needed as we do not see the need to waste water unnecessarily ever.
– We have indoor plants to help purify our indoor air.
– We go to our local garden centres and often buy “marked down” plants/flowers that look like they are struggling (which is why they are marked down) that does not cost much and we then plant them out in our garden and they blossom beautifully.
– We turn off all our powerpoints at the wall and unplug them when not in use. We don’t use lights at nighttime unless necessary.
– We play boardgames a lot so we don’t rely on television, computer games etc to keep us entertained. This is not only eco friendly but also brings the family closer together.
– We saved up over quite a few years and were recently able to install some solar panels.
– When our old Christmas tree needed replacing a few years ago we decided to be as eco as possible and so decided to get a native tree (a lilly pilly) that we could use for years to come. We keep it in a pot and even though it is not big and bushy, with some Christmas decorations it looks lovely and our kids think it is great. Even though it needs to stay outdoors on our deck, the kids don’t mind having their Christmas tree outside. If it ever needs to be planted out in the future we will plant it out and do the same thing again.
– For family/friends Christmas presents we give homemade food gifts. I either bake presents such as biscuits, gingerbread men, cakes etc and my husband makes strawberry jam, rosella jam, chilli sauce (which he makes during the year and we keep for Christmas).
– My children love arts and craft so we use materials such as egg cartons, toilet rolls (also great for protecting seedlings when planting out in the garden), used envelopes, leaves and other natural items, scraps of wool/material, etc (we get these from friends that sew/knit) and anything else we can find – imagination is the key. They recycle anything and everything to make “gifts” for family and friends.
– Even though our children are still young, it is important we teach our children to be eco aware in the hope that as they grow in their lives they can teach others and live sustainably as they get older.
-Take one step at a time and every little bit counts no matter how small that step is. To us, life is about living and enjoying the simple things in life and being environmentally responsible is an important part of that for us – we are just doing as nature intended. I also try and “convert” friends and family into being environmentally responsible as every little bit helps. I make my children and others aware that we are part of a whole system which includes every other living organism and nature – we cannot function as individuals or separately as everything we do affects something else. Just having that in the back of your mind can influence the decisions we all make. Being “eco/sustainable” does not mean you go without, in fact it means that life is lived the way it should be lived both for our own and others health and happiness and for mother earth.
-We are but visitors on this planet for such a short period of time and we need to preserve rather than destroy – there is no other way if we want to keep mother earth healthy and happy.
We reduce, reuse, recycle. We have a veggie patch, worm farm and solar hot water and are looking at installing solar panels soon too.
Most importantly I recycle every material possible, Its the one good habit I have that would have the greatest impact for change. I’ve also recently began making a conscious effort to use the car less, instead walking to local shops and only waiting until there are multiple errands to run at once rather than making single individual trips.
I re-use as many things as I can. Bottle lids make great counters for board games, bingo, or for maths activites with the kids. Old salt and pepper containers or talcum powder containers (once washed) make great dispensers for glitter. We re-used baby formlua tins for storing hubby’s bolts, nuts, screws etc (and they have added safety as they have the lid!), We have a herb garden, and vegie scraps/bread crusts get fed to our bunny Magnet. I use re-useable lunch wrappers and food covers. I even use old toothbrushes for cleaning the drains and window sills! For cleaning, a mix of lemon juice and salt will remove stubborn stains in tea cups, and I use vinegar to clean bench tops, etc. I keep envelopes from bills, letters etc to write notes and shopping lists on. And old magazines get given to kindy or school for craft activities (if they are recent, I put them in the staff room for the teachers to enjoy!) There so many ways to do our bit!
I don’t buy something just to upgrade to the latest or greatest. My fridge is 22 years old, my car 21, my TV 10. I know these might use more energy than newer versions, but it costs more of the planet’s resources to upgrade. My power comes from 100% renewable resources. I reuse where I can, recycle where I can’t and am an avid supporter of my local Red Cross store, both as volunteer and shopper.
using homemade natural cleaning products of white vinegar and baking soda. recycling and up-cycling materials around the home.
We’ve connected a grey water hose to our washing machine so that whenever we’re cleaning our clothes, we’re watering the garden too! Grass stains are eradicated while the grass is fed, perfect!
I’ve switched most of my beauty products to natural, i’m loving organic ACV, baking soda scrubs and hemp oil OCM… No nasty chemicals down the drain
I have three strands to my action plan to reduce our imprint:
1. Refusing plastic bags/containers at every opportunity and reusing/recycling those that are unavoidable
2. Walking rather than taking the car as much as possible (great health benefits too!)
3. Stopping to consider whether we really need something before purchase, would it really improve our life? often that stops the impulse buys we really don’t need.
I use an old cane basket to do my grocery shopping. Once its full I stop…saves money and I stop spending $$$ on things I dont need
We grow our own herbs and some vegetables, use compost, buy in bulk and recycle our cans and paper! We do everything we can and the girls bring home little tips and tricks from school as well!
We use old wine barrells connected to the guttering and underneath down pipes to catch rainwater for our vegetable patch and gardens.
I set out on my cleaning chores with mop in one hand and cleaners in the other, I like a clean smelling house especially in the kitchen and toilet areas which are most important, and I love cleaning with natural products like Grandma put me onto, they clean the best and give the most sparkle
Recycle. One of the bare necessities in any green kitchen is a basic recycling station. Much of what we normally throw away can be recycled, but check with your local recycling center about any special guidelines or exclusions for organizing and delivering your recyclables.
Would love to try these products we try to recycle as much as we can grow our own vegetables and harvest rain water
Never heard of euca, going hunting tomorrow to go find this product. Sounds perfect for our way of living. Cheers for that
How do you live clean/green?
I try to teach my 3 year old son what impact we have on the environment and how we can reduce our families impact. This is the first step in us becoming a greener family now, and importantly, into the future. He reminds us regularly about composting, buying fruit and vegetables in season, how he can reuse items for craft and even asks whether we really need an item; putting the pressure on us to always ‘walk the talk’ and actively consider our impact! He also picks up many ideas from daycare about sustainable living and teaches us when he gets home.
Everything gets recyled be it council bins or our own compost bin and we strive to use natural products whenever possible
I would love to clean up with Euca, Love natural products and I always have.
Would love to try Euca products we try very hard at our house to recycle and care for the environment we think it is very important for the kids to learn about looking after the environment
I’ve stopped driving the kids to school we all now enjoy the walk together. And we recently upgrade to the extra large recycling bin. More recycling less landfill!!
I reduce my waste, recycle what I can, upcycle, reuse everything possible, pass along items no longer in use to those who will use it, it it’s not in use-turn it off, rug up instead of heat up.
I try to buy organic and home made products from markets and local businesses as much as possible, avoiding harsh chemicals. We also grow a lot of the food we eat.
I refuse to buy chemically based household cleaners, not only are they expensive but they are so environmentally unfriendly! Besides, who needs them when you have sugar soap, vinegar and bi-carb in your cupboard!
The chooks and the worms
Recycle all the food scraps
And bring much laughter
To our little ones who love to help!
I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I have only recently made a conscious decision to be green. My kids were the catalyst for the change. I realised that many of my choices will have a flown on effect and are likely to be repeated by them as they grow up. We talk more about recycling, why we are choosing certain products and why we even raise worms!
I would be interested in trying these products. Our laundry is not yet green. It’s the final frontier in greening out home (well, that and my shampoo) and may provide us with the nudge we need,