"Detox your home" and create a healthy space
The modern home can be greened up and cleaned up, simply. Let me show you how...
Remove any products from your bedroom, bathroom and house that contain 'fragrance', 'parfum' or claim to be 'natural' but cannot be supported by the ingredients list. If they are toxic or contain toxins then please dispose of them responsibly, please not down the drain, that is our drinking water!
Open windows daily
Ideally leave an upstairs window open to allow complete air exchange.
Opening a window is a great way of getting fresh air into the home and it is cheaper than a spray can of air freshener! Even in winter there are the occasional sunny days when opening a window is a great idea to freshen up the house.
Simply opening a window each morning, is a safe way to freshened the home and feel more awake and alert. We need oxygen!
Dishcloths
I use a cotton dishcloth, which I wash twice a week, it is a very eco-friendly way of keeping the house clean. Reusing a cloth, to clean the kitchen and household surfaces, saves on waste of disposable cloths. There are even cloths out there that are microfibre that make mirrors and taps look seriously shiny and all they need is water. I just choose a simple cotton cloth which does the job and lasts for many years. To freshen up cloths, soak in bicarbonate of soda with a drop of peppermint or lemon essential oil!
Pull back the sheets
When you get up in the morning, pull back the sheets or duvet on your bed and leave open for at least an hour. This allows the bed to air and cool down. It is thought that bed bugs are less likely to thrive in a cold bed. Another nice way of freshening the bed is to use an aromatherapy spritz, see the home made recipe below!
Have house plants
Easy to care for house plants are a joy to see growing and they also have a great purpose which is to absorb air impurities.
Spider plants, peace lillies and geraniums are easy to care for and grow well with a little indirect sunlight and they need the occasional water and a little plant food and a weekly dust with a wet cloth (no chemicals please!). I have a geranium near my computer and it grows away blissfully and I have had to re pot it twice since buying it last year as it grows so much!
Clean surfaces with probiotics
Rather than anti-bacterial cleaners and sprays why not use a living product that uses beneficial bacteria? I use one made by Miessence called BioPure and it is highly effective at cutting through household dirt and grime. This video is of Narelle Chenery who is the creator of Miessence describing BioPure at the Australian conference in 2007. Narelle is right, BioPure smells delicious with the essential oil of vanilla. I use BioPure on kitchen surfaces, mirrors, baths, floors, windows and in our rubbish bin/trash to deodorise it.
Air Fresheners
I dislike home air fresheners as they make me cough. Is the spray can or diffuser, of unknown ingredients, actually helping 'clean' the house? I am not sure but these air fresheners are big business. Statistics from Information Resources Inc. state the U.S. mass air freshener market was worth $971 million in 2006. The largest segment, home air fresheners, accounts for over 91% of total air freshener sales, with $889.2 million in sales.
We spend a great deal of time in our homes. We have introduced a whole host of synthetic chemicals to our air and furnishings that are doing nothing to enhance air quality and are thought to be a top contributor in ill health.
According to The Ecologist magazine, "Household products such as cleaners, polishes and air fresheners are not obliged to list their ingredients and from a health perspective this maybe a costly omission. In spite of their name, air fresheners do not freshen the air. Instead strong long-lasting perfumes mask odours while other chemical ingredients alter your sense of smell making it less acute."
Sales are driven apparently by 'home cleaning replacement' where those pressed for time, in fact do not clean but merely spray in order to give the allure of a clean home. Could this mean that we actually have dirtier homes with yet more synthetic chemicals to breathe in?
It was reported in New Scientist, back in 1999 from studies done with a survey of 14,000 women, at the University of Bristol, showed that women who used aerosols and air fresheners most days suffered 25 per cent more headaches and 19 per cent more postnatal depression than those who used them less than once a week; their babies had 30 per cent more ear infections and more frequent diarrhoea. The study continued saying "caution should be advised" on the use of aerosols or air fresheners more than once a week. Yet some ten years later air freshener sales have sky rocketed.
Aromatherapy is a healthy alternative to air fresheners
We need oxygen! Simply opening a window can create freshness in a room that no can of air freshener can replicate. and using a drop of lavender essential oil or sweet orange essential oil to freshen a room. It is so easy to get a small spray bottle and put in a few drops of lavender and orange essential oil, it does a great job and is safe.
A simple air freshener recipe is
125ml bottle
Fresh, filtered, water
3 drops of lavender essential oil
2 drops of sweet orange essential oil
2 drops of eucalyptus essential oil
Mix together in the bottle, shake before each use, this is ideal to use as a room freshener.
Turn off the cell/mobile phones at night
Sleep is a time to unwind, relax and allow the body to recouperate. Having a cell phone/mobile phone on at night means that it is sending and receiving a signal, albeit a weak one. Some feel a cell phone can disrupt the quality of sleep and the body's ability to repair sufficiently at night.
The Independent newspaper in London, reported back in 2008 on studies findings from the Uppsala University in Sweden and Wayne State University Michigan, these studies found that cell phones interfered with the body's ability to repair damage and the body, when it did get to sleep, spent less time in the deeper states of sleep.
Alarmingly children that used cell phones showed increased signs of ADHD-like symptoms and depression. Professor Bengt Arnetz, the leader of the study, said "We did find an effect from mobile phones from exposure scenarios that were realistic. This suggests that they have measurable effects on the brain." He carried on to say that he believes that the radiation may activate the brain's stress system, "making people more alert and more focussed, and decreasing their ability to wind down and fall asleep." See full article
Clear the clutter!
"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful" William Morris.
A cluttered living space can feel stressful. It can hang over us and can prevent us from moving forward in our life.
Having old clothes around, that you no longer use, or shoes that need repairing is not creating a tranquil living environment suitable for someone who wishes to lead a successful life.
Clearing clutter can be exceptionally liberating, and there are many in need who might well want what you no longer feel is useful or beautiful.
Clearing out the trousers that you don't like or a t shirt, that still has that tomato sauce stain on, is not wasteful if having the clutter is getting you down. My rule is that if you have not worn an item of clothing in the last year then sent it to a recycle centre or charity clothes store. It is freeing and liberating.
Old socks can be handy though and this article shows you how to make drier balls from those old socks!
The Keys to a Successful "Detox your Home"
The key to success with making any changes, doing clearing out, or new regimes, is start slowly and maintain momentum. Perhaps choose to clear out just your underwear, or just the kitchen cutlery draw. Keep it simple. When the regular cleaning product has finished, look into an eco-friendly way of cleaning, in the morning pull back the covers on the bed and get into the new habit of opening a window.
Detox your Home and create a healthy space today!
©Actual Organics 2009