In this 2 part 5 GIY House Cleaning Secrets, I will share reasons to incorporate sustainable green living habits to your daily life by making the switch to safe and non-toxic cleaning products especially if you have kids and pets.

How many times after watching a commercial about bathrooms and toilets, that your OCD hasn’t kicked in and you have either gone online or rushed out of your house to buy the recommended products?

Let’s get real, who likes to clean the house, the bathroom, or the toilet? Who likes using toxic cleaning products that you have to put gloves on, a gas mask, and goggles to get rid of germs?

Who enjoys the side effects of watery eyes, breathing problems, that chemical taste in the back of your throat and sinus issues? Not me.

Perhaps these are the true reasons we dread cleaning because of toxic chemicals masking themselves on the back of the bottle as “fragrance or perfume”.

The death of someone I knew for a long time that passed away a couple of years ago as a result of suspected chemical exposure hit home for me and made me ask, “what are we ingesting and inhaling that is making so many sick?”

It was time to learn more about everyday products I used and what was actually in them.

Chemical Exposure at Home and Abroad

There are two reasons why I decided to switch to safe and inexpensive cleaners. Learning about the effects of chemical exposure at home and abroad.

During a military exercise four years ago, I was drinking water from a water tank and all of a sudden, I felt sick.

I wasn’t alone. You know something is up when you find a container of baby wipes in a porta-potty. Little did I know, to make water from the Mississippi River drinkable, a little bleach is added.

Other countries add chlorine to their water. I can tell when I travel abroad and after taking a shower, (even after slathering on lotion) my skin itches.

At some point throughout the day, more bleach was accidentally added due to a lack of documenting the time it was previously added.

What was the side effect? For the majority of us affected diarrhea and a trip to the hospital for a few. Thank goodness we all recovered.

To be clear, if you find yourself needing to purify water during natural disasters, you can use household bleach to disinfect water until regular water service is restored.

Check out this article from the United States Environmental Protection Agency on the proper way to disinfect water using household bleach.

GIY House Cleaning Good Reads

I recommend you go to your favorite online or physical bookstore and buy the book, “Clean House, Clean Planet” by Karen Logan. Learn what chemicals are in commercial cleaning products, the health hazards, and why you can’t always trust what is listed on a product label.

While the book was published in 1997, after reading it, I realized the author was way ahead of her time in writing this book.

The recipes are still good to try and only require a couple of ingredients that are probably in your kitchen cabinet.

Still Don’t Believe That Some Cleaning Products Are Dangerous?

Suspicious or skeptical of environmental organizations? I am too. I am an avid researcher, a voracious reader, a documentary addict, and a skeptic.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a non-profit that provides information to consumers about everyday products. The more you learn, the more you can control what you and your family members absorb, breathe and ingest in the home and work environment.

The Bottom Line

Seriously, if you clean once a week, you shouldn’t have to go through tactics of using hazardous chemicals to be germ-free.

If you have to do all that to maintain a clean house, I recommend making an appointment with your primary doctor and find out why you are so funky. I am joking.

I know you just want a safe and clean smelling house like all of us. If you do end up seeing your doctor, he/she will likely tell you to stop watching so many infomercials.

Alternative cleaning products at health-food stores are expensive. The amount of time it takes to jump in the car, drive to the nearest grocery store, walk up and down the aisles, pick $20 worth of cleaning products, and check out, you could have made your own soft scrub, window cleaner, household wipes, and homemade air freshener.

Try the green recipes and judge for yourself which is better for your health and your pocketbook.

In Part 2 of 5 GIY House Cleaning Secrets, I will share 4 DIY cleaning products I use at home, plus a bonus recipe for parents.

An added bonus is these non-toxic cleaning products leave a wonderful clean scent.

How would you like to save $100 or more a year buying commercial cleaning products?