A Healthier Home: Reducing Toxins

Part of the Green and Frugal Series

I eat my vegetables, I exercise, I even have my supplements on most days.  But increasingly, it seems that exercise and proper eating isn’t enought for healthy living.  We also have to be concerned with enviornmental toxins.  The toxins are everywhere in cleaners, office items, under the sink in the bathroom and so on.  Fortunately, there are increasingly more options to use help eliminate toxins and use more natural products.  The following are just ideas:

In the kitchen: tap water is increasingly questionable, so filtering is encouraged.  For storage of food and other items, look for reusable glass containers with matching lids.  When cleaning the kitchen, opt for natural cleaners such as baking soda and vinegar.  They both have so many uses.

The dining room: The main thing here is to read labels.  Increasingly, I find myself preparing more and more of my own food and buying less of things with ingredients I can’t pronounce.  This means shopping the perimeter of stores, or better yet at the farmer’s market.  Since organic fruits and vegetables can still cost quite a premium, I prioritize purchasing organic where it counts the most.

In the living room: check that interior paint is made without toxic materials.  There are more and more items, including children’s toys made of soft plastics, and other materials that weren’t around several years ago.  Generally, if it gives off a strange scent when you open the package, it may be a sign of PVC plastic, in other words, not something you want around and possibly in the mouths of kids.

The laundry room: as a young child, I remember breaking out into hives and the doctor believed it was the laundry detergent.  There are now choices for laundry materials made without harsh chemicals or artificial fragrances, or check out some of the green and frugal laundry suggestions from readers.

The yard: increasingly, there are more options for lawn fertilizers and insecticides that are made of natural ingredients.

I’m interested in how you keep toxins away from your home.

shared at Works for Me Wednesday