Toxic-free Guide to Cleaning Your Home

By: Rasheedah Billups

Let’s hear it one time for clean kitchens, fresh bathrooms and dust free ledges! After all, cleanliness is next to godliness. If you’ve never met a stain or speck of dirt you couldn’t take down with the force of your lemon fresh bottle of ‘insert chemical filled formula here’ raise your hand! Clean homes are awesome.

Having a clean home goes along with the idea of home being a sanctuary, a loving and warm place to relax after a long day at work, a place for socializing with friends, and where you let go after taking on the world.

Having a clean home that provides a space to share with loved ones and unwind should not only be free of dust, disorder, and negative energy, but also toxic chemicals. But how clean is your home, really?

According to the Toxic Free Foundation, there are over 80,000 chemicals allowed for use in the United States alone, making maneuvering the cleaning isles seem pretty daunting, but hope isn’t lost. The more informed we become about the ingredients in cleaning products, the more successful we will become at removing known toxic chemicals from our homes.

What do I need to know about toxic chemicals?

Over the past 30 years, approximately 3,000 new chemicals have been introduced to the market on an annual basis. The chemicals flooding the market over the past three decades have been used in cleaning products, cosmetics, furniture, toys, foods, and packaging materials.

Not all chemicals are created equal; some may be innocuous, meaning they are not harmful. The trouble is, that of the tens of thousands of chemicals introduced, only a small fraction of them have been studied. The effects of these chemicals on the human body are unknown. As we wipe down our counter tops, scrub the tub and mop our floors with cleaning products made with these toxic chemicals, we come into contact with them, through skin and inhalation.

Fortunately, we don’t have to sacrifice our health for a clean and tidy home anymore. There are all-natural cleaning products like The Green Laundress Multi-Purpose Spray that can be used to clean nearly every surface in the home and without exposure to toxic chemicals.

Why should I opt for toxic free cleaning products?

With little to no research to clue us in on how these numerous toxic chemicals interact with our bodies, especially among children, we can only come to the conclusion that the connection is unfavorable. As the number of chemicals in use in the United States market increased over the years, so has the rate of diseases, including asthma, developmental disabilities, some birth defects, and certain childhood cancers.

How do I start a toxic free cleaning routine?

1. Remove these chemicals from your home

Although there are a lot of chemicals that we don’t have enough information about to know if they are harmful to us, there are some chemicals, that we know enough about to send them packing, for good!

Here’s a list of known toxic chemicals you should avoid having in your home:

• Triclosan
• Ammonia
• Phthalates
• Chlorine
• Formaldehyde
• Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
• Methylisothiazolinone and Methylchloroisothiazolinone

2. Go green

Transition from traditional cleaning products to toxic free cleaning products that won’t harm you. The Green Laundress Tub Scrub is made from all-natural ingredients that won’t harm you or increase your body burden. Body burden refers to the total number of toxins stored in the body at any given time. Sans the harsh chemicals, Tub Scrub cleans most things from the kitchen to the bathroom including: toilets, showers, tile, sinks, dirty dishes, and ovens.

You have options! PUR Home Multi-Surface Cleaner can be used to tackle every room in your home with the power of green. PUR Home Multi-Surface Cleaner is available in three scent options: lavender and lemon, mint, and citrus, giving you fresh aromas, without the toxic fumes. Diluted with water, it can be used as glass cleaner, dish soap, and multi-surface cleaner to clean any surface, naturally.

3. Clean often

So although you’ve made major strides by trashing the harsh cleaning products in your home, there’s still potential for exposure to toxic chemicals. Dust buildup holds on to chemicals from the products used in our home such as cleaning products, air-fresheners, furniture, personal care products, and even children’s toys. A regular cleaning schedule can help combat this. Using a damp cloth and a high-efficiency vacuum cleaner will help keep dust to a minimum.

Recent data from the Labor Department suggests that adults spend the largest amount of time in the home sleeping, engaged in household activities, and viewing television. This means lowering the amount of toxic chemicals present in the home could result in improved health, better mood, and increased productivity.

It is important that the home environment be free of chemicals that have negative effects on health. By using natural products in your home, you add a little more love and life inside the walls. Then of course there’s the added bonus of not coughing up a lung as a result of breathing in the toxic chemical fumes from the oven cleaner.

As you begin to introduce these toxic-free basics to your cleaning routine, here are a few extra tips to help cut back on the amount of toxins you actually bring into your home:

• Check your shoes at the door.
• Add salt lamps to every room.
• Take inventory of what’s in the kitchen and cut back on the plastics.
• Remove trash regularly.

What are some ways you can take you can reduce the amount of chemicals you welcome into your home?

Sending you love and light as you continue to create a loving and healthy environment for you and your loved ones.