This is Day 73 of the Green in 365 series!
Last week for Spring we talked about decluttering as a part of Spring Cleaning, and once you’ve worked on clearing out some of the clutter, you may also get the urge to do some deep cleaning. (Full Disclosure: I don’t get the deep cleaning bug very often, so no judgement from me if you don’t either!)
I want to encourage you though, as you’re getting ready to do your Spring Cleaning, to ditch the toxic, chemical-filled cleaners and replace them with safe, non-toxic, cheap, and effective homemade green cleaners! Because we’ve talked a lot in the past about homemade and green cleaning, and you can go here to find the homemade cleaning recipes, I want to talk today about why it’s important to remove those chemical-filled cleaners from our homes.
5 Reasons To Avoid Chemical Cleaners
1. Indoor Air Pollution
The air inside your home can be 2-5 times more polluted to the air outside (source), and a main contributor is the chemicals and pesticides found in household cleaners. This indoor air pollution can lead to problems like allergies and asthma, headaches, dizziness and fatigue. (source)
2. Poisonous to Children
The dangers of chemical poisons in conventional cleaners are real. Every day 300 children are treated, and two children die, from poisoning, some of which is attributed to household cleaners. (source)
Doesn’t it seem ironic that we’re told to keep chemical cleaners in a locked cabinet, and yet we then spray, pour and wipe them all around our home? It’s not a risk that we need to take with our children, when there are safe and non-toxic cleaning alternatives!
3. Environmental Harm
Chemicals found in cleaning products have been shown to have a negative effect on our environment when they are released into the air through everyday use, and rinsed or poured down the drain and into our water system. These effects include contributing to smog, toxicity and reproductive effects on aquatic species, and adverse effects on water quality. (source)
4. Toxic to Workers
Many cleaning chemicals are labeled as hazardous material in concentrated forms and if the chemicals found in these cleaners are so toxic, poisonous, and harmful, how much more are the workers who make these cleaning products, or those who work in the cleaning industry and use them every day, affected? (source)
One of our family’s main reasons for living a green lifestyle is to limit the negative impact of our choices on people, both those close to us and those who we’ll likely never meet and may even live on the other side of the world.
5. Serious Health Effects
In addition to all of these things, cleaning chemicals have been associated with some serious, negative health effects, including cancer, birth defects and other reproductive issues, asthma, and neurotoxicity. (source 1, 2)
For all of these reasons, and more, we have chosen to remove conventional chemical cleaners from our home to reduce our family’s exposure and risk, and I hope to encourage you to do the same!
Find all the Green in 365 posts.
*Disclosure – There are affiliate links in this post. If you make a purchase through one of my links, I’ll receive a small commission. Thanks for supporting Live Renewed!
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