Beware any products that have major warning labels on them. They are actually advertising the toxicity levels. (For more insight into toxicity levels in products, try to the Think Dirty app).
Think about it…should we really be killing 99.9% of all bacteria? Those products can’t distinguish between helpful and harmful bacteria and every product we use gets into our body through our skin or through the air, which means that what we use in our homes affects our bodies and our growing children. We need a certain level of helpful bacteria in our bodies for normal function. Being exposed to something that kills 99.9% of bacteria (bad AND good bacteria) does not serve our bodies on a day to day basis.
Need more reasons to switch out your cleaning products to ones that aren’t toxic? It can be cheaper to use simple cleaners—one concentrate that can be used to clean everything (like Thieves) can eliminate the need to buy a different product for everything. You don’t need a separate cleaners—one for floors, one for counters, one for the shower and one for glass. You can make one natural one that can be used on all surfaces.
It also decreases the safety risk for children. While there is no cleaner that should be ingested, having natural cleaners in the house is safer than having ones that need to be hidden behind lock and key and unsafe for children to use. My children have their own spray bottles of natural cleaner so they can safely help clean without me being fearful that a cleaner is “too dangerous” for them to use.
Have you ever choked on the fumes from cleaning products or needed to open up a window to air out a room you just cleaned because of those fumes? That’s a HUGE warning flag about the toxic level of that product.
Research cleaning supplies today. Write down what you find then choose from the list
- Stop buying cleaners that promise to eliminate almost 100% of bacteria…they don’t distinguish between the helpful and harmful kinds and make their way into your body
- Download and use the Think Dirty app on your phone and look up products in your house
- Make your own cleaners from concentrates (like Thieves)
- Educate yourself—learn what is in your products
- Choose sustainable products that you would feel comfortable entering a water supply
- Pay attention to scents—if they are overwhelming, smell like “chemicals,” or are simply “too much” for you, explore alternatives
- Make the main goal when choosing cleaning products the health and safety of your family, not convenience or “chemical clean”
- Commit to stop looking at advertising and sale tags and start looking at ingredient labels when choosing cleaning products
- Or come up with your own!