Cleaning Holistically in Your Home

If you’re anything like me, in your head you’re still a 23 year old child, but somehow life says you’re pushing 40 with the responsibility of keeping little humans alive. All of a sudden, you wake up one day worried about all the things in the house that are trying to kill you!! Just kidding – but it does creep up on you! This incessant need to make sure the house is as clean as can be! I’m not talking about keeping it tidy. Anyone who has kids knows no matter how hard you try to keep things tidy they will never be truly tidy until those kids move out, so don’t ever beat yourself up about that! I’m talking about this phenomenon that washed over me after I birthed my first tiny human. I went from binge drinking and partying when I was childless, to no longer using windex because I was scared the chemicals are too toxic to breathe in (which they are!) It’s wild how all of a sudden you become a freak researching every ingredient and label on every product you buy.
If you grew up like me, you think that for something to be clean it needs to smell like bleach or a strong artificial scent of lemon. WRONGO my friend!! It’s almost like we are programmed to believe for something to be clean it needs to “smell” clean. The truth is many of the scents added to these cleaning products are actually super toxic and easily absorbed by the skin. After reading up on these things a little, I started to realize to clean anything in your home you likely already own all the products you would need right in your pantry.
In most cases the ingredients you need at home to clean almost anything are the following: vinegar, water, baking soda, lemon juice, dish soap and salt. If you want your cleaning to smell good, all you need to do is add a few drops of your favourite essential oil!
I am lucky enough to have a cleaning lady who comes and does a massive clean of our house once a week to help me out and take that off my hands. One day in the spring, I was cleaning the backyard and at the time we were still in Pointe St-Charles. I was cleaning the glass fence that separated the pool from the terrace. She gave me a tip I still use to this day. She taught me that the best way to clean glass and have it shine bright and be streak free was to use white vinegar! I had some essential oil lying around so I added a few drops of lavender and away I went spraying vinegar all over the glass. It became crystal clear!! Someone could easily walk through it!! I was amazed at how good of a job it did. The best part was that my hands weren’t beet red by the time I was done. I tend to have super sensitive skin. Usually after a good cleaning session, my hands are dry, cracked and sometimes even bleeding. Below, I have compiled a list on how to make your own homemade holistic cleaning products.

• All Purpose Cleaner: Equal parts white vinegar, equal parts water + a couple of drops of essential oil
  Add to a spray bottle + shake
• Window Cleaner: 1 cup of vinegar, 4 cups of water + a couple of drops of essential oil
  Add to a spray bottle + shake
• Bathroom Cleaner: Equal parts white vinegar + equal parts dish soap
  Add to a spray bottle & shake. When cleaning, spray liberally onto shower surface and let it sit for 15-20 minutes and then rinse and wipe clean with a cloth.
  (For extra scrubbing power, you can add a little baking soda to the bottle)
  (To remove mold and mildew you can also add a little hydrogen peroxide)
• Floor Cleaner: Pour 1 cup of white vinegar, in 1 gallon of warm water. Add your favourite essential oil to give it a pleasant and fragrant scent
• Wood Floor Cleaner: Pour 1 cup of white vinegar, in 1 gallon of warm water. Add your favourite essential oil if you want. To make them shine, you can also add a few drops of olive oil or lemon juice.
  When washing, making sure to wring out all excess water and let air dry.

I know not everyone is sold on the homemade cleaning product thing, so I am also including a list of products that I have tried and loved and still continue to use. Before I buy something now, I use a website called Environmental Working Group Cleaner Guide it’s an online guide to healthy cleaning. You will gasp when you start inputting the products you are using to clean, especially if it’s the generic products you find in big box stores. If your mouth dropped researching what you currently use and immediately want to throw out all your products, I get you! I did the same thing! So, I have also included a bunch of products I have used, and or still use in this list below that get an A or a B rating from EWG.

• Glass Spray Bottles
• Puracy 99.9% All Natural Multi Surface Cleaner I had little faith in this product when I ordered it, but wow it’s incredible!! I use this to clean the inside of my oven after I just roasted a chicken, and the chicken juice is splattered and caked onto the base of my oven. I let it sit there for a few minutes and with little effort everything comes off.
• Clean People Fabric Softener Dryer Sheets I stopped using dryer sheets for wool dryer balls, but my husband complained his sweatshirts were full of static. So, I bought these, and still use the dryer balls
• Attitude Dishwasher Pods – I Did not like the clean people dishwasher pods, they did not work well at all. I felt I needed two pods/cycle to get clean dishes. I always wanted to try Branch Basics ones, but they are American and only sold on their website. The attitude ones are available on amazon. (You will soon realize I LOVE Amazon, it makes my life so much easier having the basics delivered to my door.) The Attitude ones were recommended by one of my followers and I do like these so far – they get a B rating on EWG which I am happy with.
• Wool Dryer Balls
• Microfiber Cleaning Cloths
• Attitude Dish Soap – EWG verified – To note, Attitude is a Canadian company
• Attitude Laundry Detergent – EWG Verified I also LOVE The Bare Home Laundry Detergent in bergamot and lime. What’s cooler is they are also a small Canadian company produced and being shipped out of Ontario. I plan to try more of their products in the future.
• Attitude Baby Bottle Dishwashing Soap – EWG Verified
• Reusable Scouring Pads I LOVE these!! They work super well without damaging your pots and pans, and you can wash them in the dishwasher
• Scrub Daddy Sponges I tried these from costco, and love them. Never buying a different sponge again
• Swedish Sponge Cloths If you haven’t tried these, you need to. I tried them because we sell Swedish sponge cloths at Florence Cafe. You can get them in really fun prints, they are reusable and washable and can be composted when they aren’t good anymore. I love using these to clean the counters, and wipe down surfaces.

Let me know if you have a cleaning product you swear by or if there are things you want to try or compare and I will test them out and give you guys feedback!