For those of you who missed it, I recently wrote a post about the toxins and harmful chemicals I found in my makeup. If you missed it, you can check it out here.
Anyways, I decided that my next area of my home to "green up" would be the household cleaners I use everyday. So just like I did with my makeup I took everything out from under my sink and put it on the counter. From there, I entered each product in the EWG database to see how harmful they really were. I wasn't shocked at how toxic some of the things I had were, but I was floored by the grades the so called "green" products I had got. I assumed the Honest Company multi surface cleaner I had would have gotten an "A". Same goes for the Seventh Generation dish soap and Method All Purpose cleaner I have. Not only did they not get an "A", but they didn't even get a "B". They all scored a "C" or lower in the database.
This sounds cliché, but I was one of the many who falsely believed that if it was on the shelves it must be safe to use. I never thought twice about wether the household cleaners I used were safe for me or not. I just assumed it was fine because everyone uses them. WRONG. Most of the products that I use everyday had some sort of cancer concern. And not to mention, I can't pronounce 75% of the ingredients listed.
But let's talk about those ingredients. One would assume that the ingredients would be labeled on the products they buy, but this isn't the case. I had to search and really look hard to find the ingredients in all my products. COMPANIES DON'T HAVE TO LIST THEM! How is that ok?! They're selling the general public products and we as consumers can't even check the ingredients unless we go online and do research. It's not only wrong on so many levels, but it's scary.
My way of thinking is, if I can't even say it then it must not be healthy for me. So after finding out that none of my cleaning products were very safe to use, I decided to do my own research. I found some great recipes for DIY natural cleaners.
At first, I'm not going to lie, I was skeptical. I just couldn't break my way of thinking. I'm a very clean person and I'm all about sanitation so I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about natural cleaners. I kept asking myself "Is this going to kill all the germs?" "What about cleaning the kitchen after using raw meat?" "Will this REALLY clean as well?" Over and over again I battled with myself.
But, with further research (it's become a theme now) I found some great information. Vinegar is the main ingredient in the DIY cleaners I found. Vinegar is also a natural disinfectant and in fact it kills 99.9% of food borne illnesses such as E. Coli and Salmonella. Not only is it a great food borne illness killer, but it kills about 82% of mold spores and other viruses as well. Another great thing about vinegar? It's all natural. That means it's completely safe to use on our near food and babies! Although it has a strong smell, it dries odorless and it could potentially help clean the air inside your home. You can learn more about vinegar and how it cleans here.
After I had convinced myself that vinegar is just as good of a cleaner as the harsh chemicals I had, I was ready to make my own cleaners! I decided to buy amber glass bottles from Amazon because I wanted to avoid plastic leaching. I LOVE these bottles. They come with caps for easy storage. They shipped super fast and are great quality.
I also decided to print off some cute labels.
Here's what you'll need:
- glass bottles
- labels
- vinegar
- essential oils
- water
- funnel
I made two multipurpose cleaners to try out first. I decided to go with orange and lavender scents.
I poured about 2 cups of water and ½ to ¾ cup of vinegar into the glass jars using the funnel. After I had the vinegar and water mixed, I added about 20 drops of lavender in one bottle and about 20 drops of orange in the other. I placed the caps on, gave them a good shake and then put the spray nozzles on. Last but not least, I added the labels. Voila! There you have it. Natural and safe cleaning products for your home! I love how these clean and in fact, I think they clean better than some of the harsh chemicals, although you have to get over the smell of vinegar it does dry odorless.
Next up my personal care items like shampoos and lotions! Keep an eye out for that coming soon!
