Non-Toxic Household Cleaning Products
Most popular household cleaners are actually very detrimental to our health. The ingredients they contain have been found to cause anything from minor skin or throat irritation to asthma or even cancer. Things like Windex, Comet, Drano and Cascade dishwasher detergents get Ds and Fs on EWG’s rating scale. Not to mention they come in containers that are usually difficult to dispose of.
When I first made the switch over to non-toxic items, I was using products like Mrs. Meyers and Seventh Generation. I’ve since learned Mrs. Meyers isn’t as clean as they’d like you to think, but most Seventh Generation products continue to be a decent store bought option. However, making your own household cleaners is actually really easy and very low cost; we do a little combination of both.
Store Bought Non-Toxic Cleaning Products
There are plenty of products that tout themselves as non-toxic, but when you really start diving into either the ingredients or their parent companies, they’re really not as “clean” as they claim to be; a.k.a., they’re greenwashing.
These are the products I buy and feel comfortable using:
Branch Basics oxygen boost & all purpose concentrate for stain removal, and I’ll be trying their dishwasher pucks as well
Everyone hand soap (the piece on a soap dispenser that actually dispenses the soap is not recyclable, so I purchase the refill bottle and pour it into a glass soap dispenser)
Better Life dish soap & laundry detergent
Homemade Non-Toxic Cleaning Products
I know a lot of people who will say “who has time to make their own cleaning products? I sure don’t.” I’m here to tell you, it takes five minutes every few months to mix up some cleaners, so time really shouldn’t be an excuse…sorry. And if you need an added bonus, you’ll save quite a bit of money making your own solutions. Clean Mama is a great resource for homemade, non-toxic cleaning solutions.
Our homemade cleaners include:
All purpose cleaner (I mostly use on countertops)
Bathroom cleaner (for toilets, sinks & tubs/showers)
Daily shower spray (just as it sounds, we spray in our shower after each use)
Window cleaner (found in the bathroom cleaner link above)
Room freshener spray
To store, I use glass spray bottles with little chalk labels on them. You can also change up which essential oils you use throughout the year, maybe clove and lemon in the fall, and peppermint around the holidays. I do truly find they clean the same as a traditional Windex or Comet, and I feel 100 times better cleaning the house, especially if my kids are around, knowing they’re not breathing in any toxic fumes.
Disposing of your toxic household cleaners and opting for cleaner, safer options is a great step into non-toxic living. I hope you’ll give some of these a try!