Safe Eco-friendly Household Cleaning
A Safer Way to Clean Your Home
What do you clean your house with?
Many household cleaners, which do not have to list all ingredients on the label, contain synthetic chemicals that can be damaging to our health. I can still recall, when we lived in England, using a well known brand of spray cleaner to clean our bath and I literally had burning eyes and had to go out into the garden to breathe fresh air as my lungs hurt. My eyes and lungs hurt well into the evening.
It is
important to look at what you are cleaning the home with,
especially if you have a child or family member with asthma or
eczema.
Bear in mind many cleaners pretend to be 'green', 'natural' or 'eco-friendly' when their ingredients are nothing more than the same ingredients with slick marketing. This is called Greenwashing. Many household cleaners do not even say the full ingredients on the label!
The air quality in the home is important as we spend a great deal of time in our homes. With some great eco-friendly products available (be careful to avoid mainstream greenwashed products though!) and mounting evidence that our water is being affected by what we wash and scrub with, perhaps it is high time to look at switching back to what our Grandmothers used to clean...
Bicarbonate of soda with white vinegar is a great simple and very cheap solution to the toxic chemicals that one can buy to spray about the bathroom.
Bicarb Cleaning Solution
Suitable for baths, sinks, kitchen sides, floors, showers and mirrors. I use bicarb and white vinegar to clean most things.
ECO-FRIENDLY BICARB CLEANER
- 750ml bottle, with a spray
- 1/2 cup of bicarbonate of soda
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- Fill the bottle up (slowly) with water
- 4- 8 drops of your choice of pure essential oil
Be careful: Mixing bicarb and vinegar can be exciting, as they foam fairly violently! So please mix the water in first and then slowly add the vinegar to stop the mixture going wild. I simply mix in a spray bottle for shower windows, mirrors and toilets.
For hard water around
taps or toilets & for removing limescale: I make a
paste with some more bicarb and a little vinegar and water. I
leave this mixture around the taps for about ten to fifteen minutes
and then rinse with a little cold water.
I also sometimes add two drops of peppermint essential oil- or whatever oil I feel like on the day; geranium or orange are good uplifting oils.
For stains on ceramic hobs: sprinkle a tsp of bicarbonate of soda onto the cold hob, then a tsp of vinegar and leave for 15 minutes, then rub gently with a soft cloth and rinse with a little cold water.
To deodorize training shoes: add a little bicarbonate of soda to the shoes and a drop of eucalyptus essential oil.
To clear a sink that is not draining: add 1/2 cup of bicarbonate of soda and 1/4 cup of vinegar and some hot water, flush the sink with these and that usually is enough to lodge whatever is lurking in the drains!
To clean the orange scum off showers: mix a paste of bicarb and vinegar with water and essential oils and smear the paste on the seals round the bath and shower. You can also just spray the bicarb cleaning solution on the mould too- using eucalyptus essential oil is good for this as it is a gorgeous clean essential oil smell. I also like sweet orange essential oil as it is uplifting!
Another alternative that I use on our sinks and toilets as I like the vanilla essential oil smell, is MiEnviron BioPure- this is a revolutionary cleaner that is probiotic. What that means is that it puts beneficial bacteria to work rather than an anti-bacterial cleaner that 'kills 99.9% of germs' what happens to the 0.01% of germs that it doesn't kill...well the science is such now that it appears those tough little germs actually multiply and according to Pat Thomas of The Ecologist "The huge popularity of antibacterial household cleaners is encouraging superbugs, allergies, immune-system failure and dangerous environmental pollution. It's time to stop cleaning ourselves to death."
I grew up in a house with a dishcloth which was, and still is, made of cotton and washed once a week, or if it gets really smelly then maybe mid-week! We use the smell test... it either smells fine we keep using it... or it doesn't and we wash it!
The Danger of Using Anti-Biotics
The danger of using anti-biotics regularly is that the bad bugs gradually mutate over time and become resistant. Perhaps you have heard about MRSA in hospitals? Pat Thomas in her article 'The Dawn of the Domestic Superbug' published back in July 2005 (I remember reading it back then in the magazine!) says that "Today we use a variety of synthetic antibacterial chemicals, in particular quaternary ammonium compounds and the chlorophenol Triclosan, to keep the bugs at bay. Unlike soap and water, which work efficiently by physically loosening dirt and germs from surfaces and bodies and washing them down the drain, antibacterial chemicals are designed to kill. Worse, Dr Stuart Levy, director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, and chairman of the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics, says: 'What is being touted as an antibacterial in household products is really, clinically, an antibiotic.'"
That is why I am so keen that we clean our homes with simple things like bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar or for extra cleaning power Mienviron BioPure is a highly concentrated effective safe household cleaner
The problem is that
many feel antibacterial cleansers are the answer. This is
sadly now affecting our waterways. Many household anti-bacterial
cleaning agents actually contain some very nasty synthetic
chemicals, one such chemical is Triclosan
(5-chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol) (found in most
antibacterial soaps, alarmingly some toothpastes, cleaning fluids,
baby lotions, baby wipes and now in fabrics and plastics, mouse
mats and chopping boards) has dramatic oestrogenic affects and has
been shown to alter endocrine function in a variety of species.
These studies at the University of Victoria, British Columbia are highlighting a sad fact that what we use to clean our kitchen and bathroom affects those living downstream, both human and wildlife.
Concerns with Triclosan
I am not alone in my concerns with triclosan. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration regulate triclosan in consumer products. Last October, after reviewing the existing science, the EPA decided to approve the chemical for continued use. The EPA said triclosan "may bioaccumulate, potentially posing a concern for aquatic organisms."
The EWG (Environmental Working Group) has produced a great guide called "The Guide to Triclosan- the antibacterial pesticide." It highlights where triclosan hides and what to do to empower your family & friends to avoid it.
We no longer can say we didn't know as there is a mounting body of evidence that provides us, the consumer, with many reasons to switch to genuinely pure organic personal care products, not only for our own health but the health of our children and our very planet's future.
Join our Facebook fan page to hear first about any special organic promotions from Miessence, using the coupon codes often you can get 20% off Miessence organic skincare & healthcare products. All year round there is FREE SHIPPING worldwide when you spend over $100.