Recently in the news, the Consumer Reports brought some much needed attention to laundry pods; trendy, colorful, gel filled, gooey bundles of toxic chemicals that are easy enough to just pop in the washing machine and forget about it.  According to npr.org, “Through June, 6,046 incidents involving pods and kids younger than 6 have been reported to the American Association of Poison Control Centers. The exposures, as the AAPCC calls them, include ingestion, inhalation and contact with eyes and skin. Health problems after exposure include wheezing, gasping, extreme sleepiness, vomiting and corneal abrasions.”  Due to the danger of these pods, Consumer’s Reports says that the pods are “too risky to recommend” and “households with children younger than 6 should avoid them all together.”

Okay, so I had heard around the web over the past few years, chatter about the danger these pods are to children and pets.  So I cannot say that I would disagree with the risk factor, of course parents need to be safe too right?  I saw a lot of backfire on parents after this announcement, please I am not looking for that here.  I am looking for a call to march, to get toxins out of our home, especially the ones that look like candy.  How can we get toxins out?  Start choosing more non-toxic cleaners.  As you know I am an earnest supporter of The Honest Company who really works hard at making our homes cleaner, greener and more safe.

Most of the chemicals in our homes are brought in by us. Chemicals, cleaners, bleaches, all kinds of things that make our homes all kinds of unsafe.  Okay, so what do we do?  Well, like mentioned earlier there are brands out there that are working on making our homes safer, companies like The Honest Company, Seventh Generation, Method and Babyganics.  However, buying a whole new slew of cleaners may not be the most affordable right now, maybe try a Do-It-Yourself cleaning recipe. (Keep in mind that all cleaners, even DIY ones should be kept out of reach of children.

A glass and window cleaner that is tried and true, and totally chemical free only involves two very common ingredients.  Water and vinegar.  Reuse one of the blue, chemical laden glass cleaners’ bottles that you have recently dumped (because it contains toxins like ammonium hydroxide that is known to cause damage to vision and skin, despite its praised use in a popular Greek wedding film) and fill that spray bottle with a solution that is one part water and one part vinegar.  This clean and green solution will leave your windows sparkling.  For super streak free windows reuse yesterday’s newspaper and your windows will have your neighbors asking “what do they use?” **Be sure to only use black and white newsprint and not colored**

A great recipe that I found on Wellness Mama, is an All Purpose cleaner that has minimal chemicals and minimal cost.  Place one teaspoon of Borax, one teaspoon liquid castile soap (we love Dr. Bronner), one half teaspoon of washing soda and a few drops of your favorite essential oil to the bottom of a spray bottle.  Pour warm water into bottle and shake lightly to combine the solution (do not fill the bottle straight from the tap but from another bottle because the oxidized water from tap will cause to solution to become too sudsy to fill bottle properly).  This cleaner works great in bathrooms and in the kitchen. NOTE: Borax and washing soda, both being more natural alternatives are still caustic and as I mentioned earlier all cleaners should be kept our of reach of children and pets and even locked up.

Many more recipes are out in the world wide web, just search DIY cleaners and make your own safer and more natural cleaners to your heart’s content.  And if you are on the fence about making your own cleaners or do not want to spend on natural alternative cleaners, check out the current cleaners in your cupboard on the Environmental Working Group’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning where they have worked hard giving cleaners a grade (from A to F) according to their safety and toxicity.  See where yours rate today!  Also, if any earnest followers have any recipes for cleaners that we need in our life today, please head over to Earnest Mom’s Facebook Page and post your DIY cleaning recipes on the blog’s post.

Enjoy your clean cleaning earnest followers and be sure to let us know how it is going on your own crunchy journeys.

x.

earnest mom