Spring Cleaning with Less Chemicals: A Steam Cleaner

When I realized that environmental toxins might be a factor in the health of my family and that lessening my children’s exposure to chemicals might help them, one of the first things we did was throw out toxic cleaning products. We went from softscrub, fantastic and bleach to vinegar, baking soda and a steam cleaner. The new products we used to clean were all so safe you could eat them–which is probably a good standard to use when you are choosing cleaning products and beauty products.

My steam cleaner broke after magically cleaning everything from tile grout to my UGG boots. As a replacement, I just ordered the Wagner Power Steamer and Cleaner from Amazon. (And with Amazon Prime, two day shipping was free.)

A steam cleaner is an investment, but there are also simple, less expensive ways you can switch to safer cleaning products. The easiest way is to JUST STOP BUYING TOXIC CLEANING PRODUCTS! When you use up a cleaning product just go without it. Pretend you live in the 1800’s or you are on the TV show The 1900 House and use non-chemical cleaners. You actually don’t need these cleaning products to live and by opting out of buying these them you are not supporting a chemical industry that produces. And there is a lot of evidence that in order to be healthy we actually need to coexist with bacteria. Sure these products make things squeaky clean, but they also make indoor air more polluted than outdoor air. If you think you can’t live without this or that cleaning product just try going without it for a week or so to see if you really need that chemical in your home.

With the money you save NOT buying chemicals to clean your home you can invest in a steam cleaner!

Other posts on household cleaning: