I never really thought a lot about 'going green' when it got popular. I bought cleaning supplies at the grocery store just like most everyone else. As my family grew, however, and I tried to find ways to save money each month, I cut back on the expensive cleaners, and began to use the cleaners I could buy at the Dollar Store.

Then, after our septic tank backed up and we had someone come out to work on it, we were told that our tank was too small to hold all that a family of 10 children and two parents tried to put into it. The very interesting, drunk man who came out to work on our tank told my husband that since we lived outside of the city limits, we should consider running a pipe from our bathtub and kitchen sink out into our pasture to save us from having to put in a new, bigger septic tank, which was going to cost hundreds of dollars.

Since we were trying to grow an orchard on our few acres out here in the Texas heat, I thought that sounded like a very good thing it sure made more sense to use that gray water to water our dying trees, than to just let it pour into the septic tank. So my husband ran the pipes out to the orchard, and we let the water flow out there.

I was already a soap maker, and I knew that the homemade soap would not hurt the trees. But I had never had good luck making laundry soap for a family with lots of boys who got very dirty. So I began to think about 'going green' with my laundry soap. Before long I was buying Melalueca soaps for laundry and dishwashing. I liked them so much I got a distributorship, not because I wanted to sell it, but because it was the cheapest way to get the products. Soon, I was buying extra, and giving it for wedding presents and birthday and Christmas.

That got me on a roll, and after having a few foster children, two of whom we adopted, with asthma moving in with us, I began to rethink a lot of the things I used to clean the house. After doing some research, I found that I could clean almost everything in my house with vinegar and baking soda. Not only did that save me a lot of money, because these two things are so cheap, but I felt good about knowing that I wasn't adding to my children's breathing problems, or to the environment.

I now mix baking soda and salt into a canning jar, and poke holes in the lids. I sometimes add essential oils, tea tree is my favorite, but sometimes I might add peppermint or lemon, just because it smells so good. For the bathroom, I sprinkle

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