Less-Toxic Alternatives for a Clean and Healthy Home

There are several different ways to keep your home clean and smelling fresh using less toxic alternatives. Listed below are some tips for a less-toxic household:

• Remove your shoes when you enter your house. Your shoes can track in harmful amounts of pesticides, lead, cadmium and other chemicals. 
   

• Vacuum carpets and floors regularly. Use a fine particulate filter, such as a HEPA filter, in your vacuum cleaner if possible. 
   

• Single ingredient, common household materials such as baking soda, vinegar, or plant- based soaps and detergents work very well on your carpet or other surfaces. Soap and water work just as well to keep surfaces free of bacteria as antibacterial soaps.

Here are some easy recipes for home cleaning:

• Use baking soda on sinks, tubs and toilets.
   

• Vegetable oil with a little lemon works very well on wood furniture. 
   

• Simmer a mixture of cloves and cinnamon or use vinegar and water as a safe environmentally friendly air freshener.
   

• Use vinegar and water in a pump spray bottle for cleaning mirrors and shining chrome.
   

• Use dishwashing detergents that are free of chlorine bleach and low in phosphates.
   

• Use bathroom cleaners that are free of aerosol propellants and antibacterial agents.

As important as it is to keep intruders from entering our home, it is just as important to keep the inside of our home healthy and safe for our family and pets.  By taking a few steps to clean your home the natural way, you will reduce the existence of allergens.

-Dr. Zoe Simmons

Dr. Zoe Simmons, mother of two beautiful children, Naturopathic Doctor, and Hip Hop Dance Instructor offers the expertise of safe, effective, and quick house cleaning tips that wont hurt your checkbook.