In today’s digital age, we have access to information at our fingertips like never before. Major talking points around the globe at the moment are pollution, environmental betterment and general health. With plentiful information available on these topics, it’s become important to take steps towards a healthier home and a healthier environment. These five tips are easy starting points for when you want to detoxify your home but aren’t sure of where to begin.
We Are What We Drink
it’s essential to ensure what we are putting in our bodies is clean, natural and healthy for us. Water is a staple that most of us take for granted, so much so that we often forget about its quality or what nasty, invisible chemicals or bacteria might be hiding in it. Installing filtered water solutions in your home is a simple yet hugely important step in ensuring you’re drinking and using clean water, and is a major step in contributing to your detoxifying process.
Gorgeous Greenery
One of the most under-utilized, yet highly effective air purifiers are indoor house plants. With a wide variety of plants available to suit your needs, space and aesthetic preferences, indoor plants have numerous natural, purifying properties. They are able to process and filter air containing various airborne chemicals found in most homes. Indoor plants can work wonders for cleaning out these toxins before we breathe them in.
Do a Chemical Audit
Cleaning solutions are one of the primary culprits in spreading chemicals around our homes. From harsh bleaches to ‘lemony-fresh’ scented antibacterial wipes, it’s important to reconsider what you’re using to clean your home. Do an audit of the cleaning products you currently use and do some research into the chemicals in them. Natural, simple alternatives like lemon, baking soda and vinegar can make this an easy, practical change. Additionally, they are significantly cheaper and much safer for your family, the environment.
Say Goodbye to Aerosols and Synthetic Fragrances
Similar to above, synthetic aerosols and fragrances are filled with countless synthetic chemicals that are unsafe for inhalation. Alternative solutions could include burning natural beeswax candles or having flowers or indoor plants to create a natural fragrance that further frees your home from unwanted toxins.
Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST on Unsplash
Plastic, Not so Fantastic
As we all know, most plastics are designed to be used for the short term, but it have an almost unimaginably destructive long-term effect on the environment. Known for taking up to thousands of years to break down, plastic is killing our marine and bird life, leaching chemicals like BPA into our waterways and soils and clogging landfills. Despite the immense wealth of evidence showing the ills of plastics, we’re still using it liberally in our homes.
Taking small steps to reduce your plastic use and eventually eliminate it can be as easy as using glass containers, shopping at bulk bin grocers and farmers markets and using recyclable bags when you’re out and about. Finding ways to reduce your plastic waste will contribute to the all-round health of your home and your life, as well as having a positive impact on the environment.
No matter how many of these steps you choose to start off with, your commitment to making small, healthy changes to your habits will result in a larger-scale healthy home for you and your family. Be gentle on yourself, make sure you master the small steps so you can tackle the big ones with confidence and start living you best, detoxified life.
