When you work all week and come home to a full house of family, with maybe a dog or a cat, it can be hard to justify preparing to clean.
It’s much easier to hire a cleaner or use products with “fancy perfume” or bleach to mask funky smells and clean up dust and grime spots.
If you do this regularly then you’ll probably also know that it’s not really great for you in the long term, dollar and health wise.
If you do this regularly, you probably also know it’s not great for you in the long term. There’s a little voice in your head asking, “Are you sure about this?” or maybe, “I know about safe products, but I’m still using these.” You know you should do something, but you’re not sure where to start.
Plus, it hasn’t harmed you in the past. Right?
That’s the thing though, isn’t it?
As you grow wiser you just don’t feel like cleaning again, and again, isn’t fulfilling, as you know it just coming back.
Having an extra deodoriser for the toilet or having an extra bench top cleaner or maybe some of those incense sticks in your bedroom to keep the musty smells at bay may provide temporary relief to the air, can knock you around for a day but when you’re younger you don’t really realise what you’re using and you can go on forever and ever.
Getting older has its drawback.
When you speak with friends, they seem healthy and happy, possibly because they have cleaners or are on holidays and don’t really notice what’s happening.
What if I told you there are ways to improve your health without sacrificing your entire life to cleaning?
The common sense approach
If you think about it, living beings have been breathing for millennia, since the day they take their first breath. So why are we resorting to weird scents and chemicals to replace clean, fresh air?
They’re using these cover-up scents because the air isn’t the same as when we lived in well ventilated, dry, well lit, clean homes. In most cases, especially if you don’t have specific preferences, you can simply change products.
The thing is, especially if you don’t have any particular preferences or loyalty, these fragrances can be composed of various synthetic or natural compounds, providing scents ranging from floral and fruity to musky or woody. In scientific terms, these fragrances are often referred to as “volatile organic compounds” (VOCs) because they can easily evaporate into the air. Potentially these contribute to indoor air pollution and in turn affect indoor air quality and occupant breathing space.
The more changes you make towards a healthy home, the better the improvements in your health and harmony in your home will be, and those products become less of a concern.
Three simple changes to make a difference
There are lots of changes you can make that will help you improve the health of your home, it will help improve your health, and by starting with these three will let you ‘experience’ those changes.
Let me guide you … if you’re going to do this, try this for a week to test out the air, and really take time out to just actually gauge what’s going on.
If you only change one thing this is THE NUMBER 1 THING!
I usually suggest reducing fragrances and unreadable chemicals used in the laundry.
Why the laundry and not personal care products?
Switching laundry care products can be relatively straightforward compared to personal care routine changes, making it a manageable starting point for those transitioning to safe, non-toxic household products.
By removing aromatic fragrant laden products from the laundry and replacing with non fragrant or non synthetic fragrances, improves the freshness of clothes and bedding, enhancing sleep quality.
On a personal note, the aftermath of my son’s overnight guests is glaringly apparent. Their arsenal of aftershaves, deodorants, and hair care products, coupled with their unique washing powders, fills the air with overpowering perfume that proves toxic to my senses.
It’s a journey of five wash cycles, facilitated by careful selection of washing powder and machine settings, to rid our sheets and pillowcases of these potent fragrances.
As for the duvets, a natural deodorizing process unfolds as they hang in the shade for a day or two.
So much more mmmm and yummy!
The next important change is to reduce kitchen and bathroom cleaning chemicals.
Simply reducing the number of these chemicals can improve bodily functions and eliminate unnecessary exposure to irritants for the nose, eyes, face, skin, and overall body surface.
The third crucial change is to eliminate chemicals from personal care products used for bathing, soaping, hair washing, and drying.
This improves the scent of your skin and clothing and enhances overall skin health, the skin being the largest breathable surface after the lungs, the focus.
PRODUCT:
Indoor Air Care Planner
Print this handy indoor air care planner and put on your fridge so the whole family can help take care of the indoors this year.
In my opinion you may wish to consider these resources …
Improve air quality in non-ventilated rooms, read about it here:
- Zeolite Bag of Rocks for wardrobes, cabinets and rooms – absorbs moisture and odours. Simply pop it out in the sun, does not change, between 10 am and 2 pm to get the most from nature.
- Dampp Chaser Storage Dehumidifiers, in confined spaces like wardrobes, warm air rises, replaces cold air, warms and dries space to keep your valuables dry in your wardrobes, cupboards. Electrical outlets are required to plug these in.
- Dehumidifier maintain indoor relative humidity between 45 and 55%. In light of client mentioning there was no indication on dehumidifier, consider purchasing a hygrometer from hardware store.
- An Air Purifier for your space – purifies air from contaminants including particulates, gases and viruses.
- Contact our inhouse Principal Consultant Tony Parr on 02 9986 432 who provides professional feedback on hiring Air Purifier or purchase from our range.
Give this a try and let me know how you get on
If you find this approach helpful and logical, you might consider exploring Hello Healthy Home.
It offers a one-hour consultation to find simple ways to improve the chemical load in your laundry, personal care products, kitchen, bathroom, or any other space you’d like to address, ensuring long-lasting health benefits.
You invest in your future in so many ways
You already invest in your future by contributing to life or by saving for a rainy day or enhancing your knowledge.
If you recognize that the aromatic products around you may not be beneficial, isn’t investing in yourself a wise decision? Join the conversation here.
Join the conversation here.
Washing Powder:
- Abode Laundry, Bathroom, Kitchen cleaning products that are safe, natural essential oil aroma and fragrant free sourced at tyour local Health Food Store
- Read Building Biologist Blog Post: Non Toxic Laundry and Cleaning Review
