Months ago I started thinking about the fact that Henning was going to start crawling soon. His little hands would be all over the floors we walk on everyday and then going straight into his mouth. It suddenly became very important to me to look into the products we were using to clean our floors. I will be the first to admit that I am not perfect – I don’t live in a house that is all nontoxic, but I have started to become more interested in a cleaner lifestyle so I knew I wanted to try and make better, cleaner decisions where and when I could. Starting with my floors not only felt manageable but also time sensitive and relevant because of Henning.
Long story short, I wasn’t far off and Henning started crawling right when he turned 8 months old {March 2020}. I had been following the Branch Basics story for a while now, so I knew their products were clean and non toxic and I loved that they were a Texas based company started by 3 women. I reached out to their team and they were kind enough to send me their starter kit and offer Being Bridget readers a 15% off code {BRIDGET15}!
The starter kit comes with a big bottle of their concentrate, three empty spray bottles, one foaming wash bottle, one laundry bottle and one ‘Oxygen Boost’ for all your laundry and stain removing needs. The best part for me is that you really only need the concentrate and water! With those two, you can clean the following: appliances, dishes, granite, grills, highchairs, jewelry, marble, natural stone, pacifiers, pots & pans, stains, stovetops, sticky spills, yoga mats….the list goes on. You can also clean anything in your bathroom like tile, grout, countertops, sinks, showers, tubs, toilets, fixtures, shower liners, and soap scum. The windex alternative helps remove streaks {and in my case, itty bitty hand prints} from windows, coffee tables, mirrors, computer screens, phones, tablets, shower doors and picture frames. Last but not least, the foaming wash {again, made with just the concentrate + water!} cleans your hands, face, body, baby, pets, make up, dishes, fruits and vegetables.
So far, I’ve used the streak free cleaner {bottle included in the starter kit} to clean the windows, coffee tables and mirrors. I’ve used the hand wash {bottle included in SK} to wash my hands daily as well as clean our fruits and vegetables when they come in from the grocery delivery. And last but certainly not least, the floor cleaner! Branch Basics gave me a break down on the amount needed to make the mixture myself, and the perfect mop to purchase so I was ready to make the super easy switch!
FLOOR CLEANER RECIPE + NEED LIST
1 oz {2 tablespoons} Branch Basics concentrate per gallon {or 16 cups} of water. Need: Mop + Gallon sized containers to hold excess mixture.
QUANTITY + PRICE BREAKDOWN
33 oz. Concentrate Makes:
- 3 All-Purpose bottles (24 oz.) at $2.90 each
- 3 Bathroom bottles (24 oz.) at $5.80 each
- 3 Streak-Free bottles (24 oz.) at $0.20 each
- 3 Foaming Wash bottles (10 oz.) at $2.90 each
- 64 laundry loads at $0.24 per load
Seriously – 2 tablespoons per 1 gallon of water! Thats it! Isn’t that amazing? Makes me feel so good knowing that I’m using a safe and clean cleaner while also saving a LOT of money. Hope this information helps you and your family feel good about making a healthy and easy switch, and I hope you are all staying safe and healthy out there during such a scary and unstable time for our world.
Lots of love! B