Well, I guess it all depends on how you view the world and your place in it. For many of us, we appreciate that the environment is there for us all to protect, and that if we want a healthy planet for our kids or grandkids to grow up in, then we should all do our best not to abuse it. In our homes, we should all want to use less harsh chemicals, not only to try and protect the environment, but to keep our family’s safe, too.
Clean air renews and rejuvenates; keeping not only our homes fresh but preventing the environment from becoming polluted. Sleep can be improved, as can concentration levels and our overall health is vastly improved when we remove toxic chemicals from our homes.
So, we know that the environment matters when we’re cleaning, but how do we go about helping to protect it?
- Remove toxic products
The cupboard under our kitchen sink is doubtless full of potentially harmful toxic substances, poisons no less, and eliminating these is one of the first steps you can take to helping to protect your home and the environment. Whether it be bug sprays, cleaners or waxes, these items pose the highest threat to young children in the home, and can damage the environment when used.
- Replace toxic products
Simply choose non-toxic, biodegradable cleaning products instead of chemical ones, and you’ll find a vast selection of these in all good homeware stores.
- Make your own, natural cleaning products
The internet and housekeeping magazines are awash with recipes for homemade, natural cleaning products, and the logic behind them using them is hopefully self -explanatory. Not only do you get to keep your home clean without using harmful chemicals, but often these products are cheaper and smell more pleasant, too.
- Use natural, reusable cleaning tools and accessories
Our automatic reaction when a sponge becomes grubby or a mop begins to smell, is to throw them out and replace them, but if we used items such as old t-shirts and rags to clean with, we can wash them and reuse them, without the need to dispose of them. Using rags instead of paper towels saves trees, and sponges often contain harmful ingredients, so use rags in their place.
- Stop using chlorine bleach
Disinfectants such as chlorine bleach are linked to cancer causing chemicals, and using bleach at home can cause these chemicals to form in the waste water stream. There are many alternatives to chlorine bleach that are just as effective at killing germs, simply visit your local natural food store and ask the shopkeeper.
- Save water
One of our most precious resources is water, and it’s fast diminishing. Not wasting water is one simple way in which you can help protect the environment, and can be achieved in myriad ways, such as not running the faucet while you brush your teeth, taking shorter showers and sweeping your floors instead of mopping them.
The environment belongs to us all and with so many simple and cost-effective ways to protect it when cleaning our homes, there really is no excuse for harming it.