A clean home is also a healthier home. Ready to transform your house into a sparkling clean-living space? When you start your spring cleaning, green cleaning practices can bring joy to some basic household tasks. Green cleaning uses natural, non-toxic methods and products to clean your home to create a healthier environment for you and your family.
Switching to eco-friendly cleaning practices has important environmental and health benefits. We can reduce our exposure to toxic chemicals and lower our carbon footprint while reducing pollution. Because we have built airtight spaces to make our homes comfortable and more energy efficient, indoor air quality can often be more polluted than outdoor air quality. Ordinary carpeting, furniture finishes and upholstery, and painted surfaces may emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), trichloroethylene and formaldehyde.
Green cleaning products are naturally derived, non-toxic, and biodegradable, meaning they have less impact on the environment. Other chemical cleaning products may contain ingredients from non-renewable sources and have toxic impacts that can negatively impact the world’s eco-system. Look for items that are: non-toxic, biodegradable, phosphate free, packaged in bulk and contain no dyes, chlorine, or hypochlorite.
The many benefits of having a clean home also include mental health. A clean house provides a host of mental health benefits including stress reduction, a boost in productivity and a positive mindset. The messier or more cluttered your home is the harder it is to feel content and fully relaxed. Life is stressful enough; your home should be a place of comfort and rejuvenation. When you use green products in the home, you can feel comfortable knowing that your family is not breathing in harsh chemicals or having them on or near their skin.
Contrary to what some might think, environmentally responsible cleaning products can be just as effective as cleaners you currently use for most household chores. Try to reserve your use of bleach and harsher cleaners for times when they are truly needed and not on a regular basis.
In addition to the benefits listed above, green products are even more important for your children and four-legged friends. Have you ever looked at the warnings on the labels? There are words like DANGER, WARNING, CAUTION, and POISON. Children and household pets are more vulnerable to chemicals due to their smaller size. Children crawl and spend time playing on the ground. They may even pick things up and put them in their mouth so it is always best to be sure that you are using non-toxic floor and carpet cleaners,
Here’s a few eco-friendly alternatives you can choose to replace what you are currently using:
Pictured Eco Clean Sheets
Replace your liquid laundry detergent with concentrated, plant-based, zero-waste laundry sheets from Eco Clean Sheets. No plastic, no mess. They work great with all temperatures of water. You can use them in all types of washing machines and even use them for hand washing.
Instead of disposable dryer sheets that can only be used once, try using wool dryer balls. They are very durable and can hold up for more than 1,000 loads. Dryer balls act as a natural fabric softener, help reduce wrinkles, are static and chemical free. They can even save energy by decreasing drying time by up to 25%,
Pictured: Common Good Dish Soap, Bee’s Wrap Swedish Dishcloth and Clean Planetware Loofah Scrubber.
Common Good creates products that are safe for kids and pets. Their product line includes dish soap and laundry detergents which are all formulated to comply with the strictest chemical regulations in the world. Surprisingly, skin-irritating and potential hormone-disrupting chemicals can even be found in products claiming to be green.
Instead of single-use paper towels, BeesWrap Swedish dishcloths are an eco-friendly alternative. Made from a mix of cellulose and cotton, they are reusable, highly absorbent and dry quickly. You can put them in the dishwasher to clean them.
Next think about the tools you will use to clean. Keep it planet friendly. Replace your plastic kitchen sponge with something natural instead. Clean Planetware loofas are completely natural, unprocessed, and extremely versatile. This 100% plant fiber can be used to wash dishes, wipe counter tops, and scrub sinks, tiles, and tubs. When they wear out and are no longer useful, you can put them in the garden to decompose.
Pictured: Dr. Bronner castile soap, the Naturally Clean Home recipe book, and Aura Cacia Essential oils.
If you want to do-it-yourself (DIY), you can find recipes using ingredients that can typically be found in your kitchen. Not many of us like the harsh smell that cleaning chemicals and strong fragrances can leave behind. When you use green cleaning products, you do not have to worry about lingering unpleasant smells and you can scent them by adding your favorite essential oils.
Here are some natural cleaning materials and their common uses: vinegar for disinfecting and deodorizing, baking soda for scrubbing and deodorizing, lemon for cleaning and disinfecting, hydrogen peroxide for disinfecting and stain removal, borax for laundry and cleaning, salt for scrubbing and deodorizing, olive oil for polishing and conditioning, and cornstarch for dusting and stain removal.
Castile soap as a main ingredient for making many household cleaners. In a recent National Geographic article here, Dr. Bronner’s castile soap was selected as the best all-purpose cleaner.
Wading through marketing claims and chemical definitions to find the best natural cleaning products can be tricky. Consumer product claims can be misleading to the average person. Words on packaging, including “green,” “natural,” or “nontoxic” are not regulated so you cannot be sure that the eco-friendly cleaning product you’re thinking about buying is in fact good for the planet. This article examined nontoxic and biodegradable ingredients using information from Environmental Working Group’s (https://www.ewg.org/) safe list.
A great resource if you are just getting started making your own products is Lisa Bronner’s blog. https://www.lisabronner.com/green-cleaning-starter-kit-video/ .
Another resource is the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. They offer science-based information on a variety of topics. Check out their green cleaning articles here.
Make the shift for the health of the family and the planet and declare every day is Earth Day in your home!
