To ensure that your home is clean and safe without harming the environment, you need to get rid of toxic habits and products, and choose your replacements with an eye on their environmental credentials. When your home is free of pollutants, you breathe, sleep and concentrate better, babies become less fussy, and you have an increased overall sense of well-being. Here’s some eco cleaning tips to help make your home a healthy place to live.
1. Eliminate Poison – If you look under your sink, you will probably find a ton of products that say warning, danger, or caution. There are always trace amounts of fumes leaking out of caps and nozzles at all times. Unfortunately these poisonous fumes pollute your air, even when not in use. These products are dangerous to you, your children and your pets.
2. Learn to Use Non Toxic Products – You may be surprised at how easy, safe, and inexpensive it is to make your own cleaning products using ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, and lemon. You do not need harsh chemicals to clean, treat stains, or perform other heavy duty cleaning tasks. Every time you spray toxic cleaning products in your home, you are polluting the air that you breathe.
3. Evaluate Cleaning Accessories – It may be convenient to reach for the roll of paper towels to clean but it is just as easy to use old rags and worn out t-shirts that you can toss in the washing machine and use over and over again. Reusable mops, natural sponges, and HEPA vacuums will all help provide you with a fresh environment while reducing your non-renewable resource consumption.
4. Investigate Your Water – While learning whether you have hard or soft water may seem insignificant, it will help you to choose the right product that you should use to get the job done faster, which will reduce time and resources. With soft water you can use soap, while hard water typically requires a detergent.
5. Avoid Bleach – Sure, you have probably been taught chlorine bleach is the solution for cleaning and sanitizing everything, but unfortunately it also harms the environment. It is thought that bleach usage contributes to a build-up of chemicals in waste water streams, and this water pollution may be linked to instances of cancer. There are alternatives that are available from eco-friendly cleaning product companies that work fabulously.
6. Grow Plants – Rather than running an air purifier all day long, wasting electricity and throwing away filters that end up in landfills, why not grow a few plants instead? A little greenery adds ambiance to a home, cleans the air, and provides oxygen. If you don’t have enough natural lighting then it’s easy to setup a fluorescent lighting system that provides the plants with all the energy they need. The great thing about fluoros is that they also use small amounts of electricity compared to incandescent bulbs. Of course you also have the option of having skylights installed too.
7. Conserve Water – This is a valuable and diminishing resource. It is a fact that while 75 percent of the earth is covered with water, only 1 percent is drinkable. Don’t run the water for no reason! A little effort and common sense from everyone in the world would go a long way in the preservation of this important resource.
8. Dispose of Garbage Properly – Anything that can be recycled should be responsibly disposed of, and any toxic products you are getting rid of should not go in the garbage! Your local city hall can tell you when the next household waste pick-up is in your area. Dispose of toxic products the right way so that they don’t get burned in incinerators or leaked into water supplies. Additionally, electronics of any type should be taken to a depot that will recycle and dispose of them properly.
9. Use a Broom – Many people forget about this basic and handy tool. Rather than reaching for your vacuum to run on your hardwood or tile, sweep daily to reduce energy consumption.
10. Rely On Your Senses – When something needs to be cleaned, then tend to it. If you follow your smell, sight, and touch senses you will stay on top of little jobs to keep the air in your home cleaner. You know when pet beds or window blinds need cleaning, take care of it rather than letting dust and germs accumulate so you’re not breathing in these pollutants. Plus, the more often you clean, the less likely it is that you will feel the need to resort to harsh cleaning chemicals to bust the caked on grease and dirt.
There we have it! It’s really not all that hard to have a healthy home environment. All it takes is to break with your old habits and then replace them with the eco alternative.
Article courtesy of Housework Heroes, a company that offers exceptional house cleaning services and cleaning franchise opportunities. Photo courtesy of Green Works.