Eco-Friendly Ways to Clean Your Home
Although housecleaning isn’t exactly fun, it is a necessary practice that can be more pleasant if you use natural, non-toxic products. Besides, replacing toxic cleaning products with eco-friendly alternatives goes a long way towards ensuring you have fresh and clean indoor air. By renewing and rejuvenating our lives and the environment, clean and fresh air is quite beneficial. Apart from improving sleep and concentration, living in a home that is removed from neurotoxic chemicals and, therefore, less toxic makes babies less fussy and provides a higher sense of well-being. You can reduce the toxic burden of your household by taking the following measures.
Learn the basics of green cleaning
In place of commercial cleaning products, a variety of easy-to-use, safe, and inexpensive alternatives are currently available. You can, therefore, protect your health, save money, and sustain the environment by learning how to use ordinary kitchen cupboard ingredients. With a little understanding of how each component works, you can learn how to make homemade cleaning solutions. Isopropyl alcohol, white vinegar, baking soda, sodium borate, citrus solvent, cornstarch, and lemon are some of the common eco-friendly ingredients that you can use either alone or in combination for a variety of household applications. According to this, lemon is one of the best natural cleaning agents. Each ingredient is safe, effective, and useful for cleaning. Make your all-purpose cleaning spray before you start cleaning. To make your all-purpose cleaning solution, mix two teaspoons of borax or 1/4 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup vinegar with two liters of water.
Remove toxic products
Although household poisoning is one of the highest threats when it comes to the health of children, most homes have kitchen cupboards full of toxic products. Unfortunately, small amounts of poison can leak out of the containers and waft around the kitchen, which is why many cleaning products display words like corrosive, danger, poison, warning, or caution. Signal words usually indicate the potential impact such products can have on your health and the environment. As such, labels provide valuable information. You should replace every hazardous product with a safer version to protect your entire household and the environment.
Use natural and reusable cleaning accessories
You can reduce the use of non-renewable resources by avoiding accessories that have potentially harmful ingredients. For instance, some sponges have antibacterial ingredients. To save some money and sustain the environment, use cloth rags in place of paper towels or reuse old shirts as rags. Before you purchase cleaning accessories, look at their health and environmental impact as well as their durability. Go for recycled, unbleached paper if you have to use paper towels. Using HEPA vacuums, safe sponges, and reusable mops or rags reduces the consumption of nonrenewable resources while working towards providing fresh and clean air.
Conserve water
You should take special care not to waste water since it is a precious and diminishing natural resource. Refrain from running water unless you are collecting it in a bucket for later use or using it immediately. You can also conserve water by sweeping instead of wet mopping whenever possible. A tracking mat placed at the entrance is sure to collect mud and dust, reducing the need to wash your floors. You can also help to sustain the environment by finding out whether your water is hard or soft. If your water is hard, you will most likely need a detergent in place of soap so that you can avoid soap scum. Choosing the right product for every application helps to reduce the time and resources consumed.
Use plants to clean your indoor air
Studies show that plants are quite helpful when it comes to reducing indoor air pollution. Apart from cleaning the air, plants provide more oxygen. According to new research, old germ-killing solutions made of herbs and essential oils were developed on sound science. Studies also show that unlike common chemical disinfectants, antibacterial plant oils do not cause drug resistance while essential oils such as lavender and thyme have more antiseptic properties compared to phenol. Besides, you will save a lot of money if you use plants to clean your indoor air.