There are hidden dangers lurking in a ‘clean’ house: chemical residues, fumes, and toxins. But clean doesn’t have to mean toxic - and you can still clean green and kill harmful bacteria at the same time.
Cleaning the Kitchen Naturally
Using a Mabu clothin your kitchen is a simple way to green up your cleaning regime. The Mabu is made of sustainable wood fibre, and it never gets stinky because it repels 99.9% of bacteria naturally. You can keep a Mabu a lot longer than you can keep a regular cloth, which means less garbage goes to the landfill. Always have a few of these fantastic cloths on hand to clean dishes, counters, sinks -- and even little baby faces. (They’re available everywhere, including Home Depot.)
When cleaning your kitchen, instead of reaching for harsh abrasives and chemical-laden antibacterials, pamper your granite, wood, and steel by looking no further than your own pantry:
- Vinegar is a powerful cleaning agent and can be used in many ways to keep your kitchen clean. Click here for ideas. Also check out Simply Clean’s super concentrated vinegar formula.
- Baking Soda is another superstar all-natural cleaning agent. Use it to clean greasy pots and all kitchen surfaces. All it takes is a sprinkle, some water, and your Mabu cloth.
Cleaning the Bathroom Naturally
Don't throw bleach and other foul stuff down your drains and toilets. It’ll quickly make its way into the water supply and cause all sorts of trouble, such as disrupting marine life. Instead, try some of these natural cleaning product lines to clean your toilet, sink, and tub using biologically derived cleaning agents, natural oils, and absolutely nothing nasty:
- Green Works, from the makers of Clorox, available almost everywhere you shop
- Seventh Generation products, available at most health and specialty stores and also becoming available at large chain stores, too
- Nature Clean, another line quickly moving from specialty shelves to a big box near you
And rather than spraying noxious - and potentially carcinogenic - substances into the air (and straight into your family's lungs), deodorize the air naturally with:
Pure Ayre. It’s made using a proprietary food grade enzyme technology combined with natural mint, and it’s safe enough to spray around babies.
Victoria & Co. uses natural enzymes and botanical fragrance to remove odours from the air, and upholstery and fabrics, too, with thei Purifying Odour Neutralizer.
Doing Laundry with Natural Products
Don’t let your quest for a greener, cleaner home stop at the laundry room door. Cleaning your clothes with natural products is important because your clothing and linens spend a lot of time making direct contact with your skin, and synthetic cleansing agents and fragrances can be toxic and carcinogenic. Try:
Soap Nuts from Heartfeltliving Health Products Inc. Soap nuts come from a special tree in India and have long been used by East Indian Women to gently wash their colourful and delicate fabrics. Heartfeltliving sells this product in two forms: the Sapdu-Clean Soap Nuts or Sapdu-Clean Liquid Soap Nuts. This product is absolutely biodegradable, skin friendly, baby sensitive, and gentle on all fabrics and colours. Plus, soap nuts grow back so the product is 100% sustainable. Ecover and Seventh Generation also make good natural laundry soaps.
For more reasons and ways to clean green, and ideas on household items that can be made into cleaning products click here. And create a non-toxic cleaning kit using household essentials.
Marissa Ponikowski - Marissa Ponikowski (nee Stapley) has been a journalist since 1998. Her work has appeared in The Toronto Sun, The Globe & Mail, TV Guide, ...
