Welcome to another version of ditch & switch, where we show you healthy, toxin-free alternatives to the cleaners being used in your home. Over the past couple of months we have discussed alternatives to laundry softeners and shampoo; today we are talking about cleaning supplies. So what is the big deal with bleach, disinfectants, and the world's best smelling sprays? Simply put, many have toxic ingredients and even claim on the bottles how toxic they are. And why are conventional cleaners, even the "green" ones, bad? Here is a quick breakdown:
✖Mystery or vague wording. What does inert ingredient even mean? This was taken from the Method website "
5% citric acid and 95% inert ingredient". This is same when we see vague terms like "fragrance," "natural scent," etc. If you look back at our other swap posts you will see more on this, even from brands like Mrs. Meyers.
✖Warning labels about inhalation risk, skin contact, etc. Think bleach. It is full of warnings and can cause corrosion, skin and lung damage, asthma symptoms, and when mixed with other chemicals (like ammonia) can be deadly. Recently employees at a Buffalo Wild Wings DIED from a bleach chemical mixture and many were hospitalized.
✖Many contain harmful preservatives, we broke this down in our Methylisothiazolinone post. Many green product contain this as well as phenoxyethanol which is another major irritant to the skin. We have not (yet) posted about that blacklisted ingredient but more can be found here.
So what do we do?! Here are some safe swaps we have rounded up.
💚Branch Basics-- plant and mineral based, super concentrated, makes several products from one base. I use the entire line in my home and have been extremely impressed with the cleaning, especially in the shower. For $10 off your first order, click here.
🧡Vinegar and essential oil or Hydrogen Peroxide-- safe when made correctly. Here is a guideline for making your own vinegar spray, the only word of caution is using it as a mold cleaner. Surface mold may come clean but that doesn't mean the roots are gone. It also doesn't address the cause of the mold growing so please be cautious if using it as a mold remover. In some cases, especially military housing, further investigation will be required. Hydrogen peroxide is another good cleaner and disinfectant and is a suitable bleach replacement. If you go to Living Well Mama on Facebook and search 'hydrogen peroxide' she has a recipe for a disinfectant using peroxide.
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Dr. Bronner's pure castile soap-- it has 18 uses, is organic, non-toxic, and obviously versatile. We have used the bar soap and love it but the liquid can be made in to cleaners as well as body wash and comes in concentrated form and packaging.
❤Better Life-- we use this for our dishes since we hand wash, but they also have other products that are non-toxic. We love this dish soap and have even included it on our
Resources page.
We hope that this helps explain why so many conventional cleaners are bad. You do not have to sacrifice performance for safety and there are lots of safe, affordable, effective cleaners out there that are toxin-free.
Here's to moving on,
B&R
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