How to Detox your Home in 5 Steps
Ever find yourself questioning the air quality in your home? How about your water?
Many of us have completed personal detoxes to eliminate internal toxins from our bodies. But how many of us tackle the toxins that reside in our homes?
Toxins are everywhere, even in the cleanest of living spaces. Indoor air quality is typically 2-5 times more polluted than outdoor air, too.
Worst of all? Abundant toxins can + do lead to health problems.
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There is good news, + it’s this: We can dramatically improve the health of our homes with simple changes.
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Start at home. Detox your living space in 5 simple steps that require little effort but pack a big collective punch.
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30 Days to a Total Home Detox.
Want a deeper detox? Do 1 new thing each day for big results.
Grab 30 detoxing strategies in this free calendar printable:
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Step 1: Get rid of unnecessary household trinkets + decorations.
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Did you know? Decluttering is a major step towards detoxing (It’s grounded in science, too!).
Here’s how. Dust – particularly dust bunnies – negatively impact air quality. They attract dust mites (ahem … bugs). Parasites, too.
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If you have less stuff to dust, you’ll have BETTER indoor air quality, FEWER items to clean + MORE free time.
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Look beyond the trinkets. What other items reside in your home that aren’t dusted or laundered regularly?
Curtains, wall art + bed ruffles are common housewares that harbor dust + negatively impact indoor air quality.
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Step 2: Set your bedding straight.
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Do you get 8 hours of sleep per night? If so, you spend one third of your day between your sheets.
Got children? They sleep considerably longer than their parents, upwards of 12 hours per night. As such, half of their days are spent cheek-to-cheek with their bedding.
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You + your family spend an awful lot of time in bed. It makes sense it pays to invest in quality bedding.
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Your Mattress: Purchase one that’s non-toxic + all natural. (I sleep on + love my Avocado Mattress.)
Your Sheets: Invest in organic cotton sheets + duvet covers. Conventional cotton growing practices use herbicides + pesticides; if you sleep on conventional cotton sheets, you are cheek-to-sheet (literally!) with chemicals.
When it comes to washing, wash your sheets more often (ideally every 3 to 4 days).
Wash your duvet cover + dust ruffle at least once per month.
Your Pillows: Replace pillows every 18 months. Call your local animal shelters + inquire whether they accept them as animal bedding.
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Detox deeper.
Grab 30 detoxing strategies in this free calendar printable!
Step 3: Invest in quality air filters for bedrooms + a quality water filter for your tap.
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Don’t assume your town or city offers healthy drinking water. Chances are the stuff coming from your tap is less than ideal.
Don’t buy bottled water, either. Thanks to all that plastic, bottled water is highly unsustainable. And the health benefits associated with bottled water? They’re largely unsubstantiated.
Say bye-bye to Brita: Invest in a quality water filter, instead.
Quality air filters + a quality water filter are big purchases. Perhaps view these purchases as investments into your future health as a means of lessening sticker shock.
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Step 4: Ditch the dry cleaning.
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Addicted to the convenience of dry cleaning? Dry cleaning uses chemicals to clean clothes instead of water. As such, residual chemicals from the dry cleaning process touches your skin + pollutes the air around your nose + mouth.
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When you bring newly dry cleaned items home, you’re inadvertently bringing chemicals into your living space, too.
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If you can’t ditch Dry-Clean-Only garments altogether, investigate into whether you have wet cleaning around you.
Similarly, remove that plastic bag off your items immediately upon picking up your clothes (or better yet, request no plastic bag altogether). That plastic locks harmful chemicals into your clothes; best practice is to let them air out as soon as possible, instead.
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Step 5: Clean the non-toxic way.
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If you spent both the time + the energy deep cleaning your house, removing the dust bunnies + purifying your air + water., you may as well clean green with non-toxic cleansers, too.
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There’s ZERO sense in detoxing your living space only to re-toxify it with harsh chemicals that pollute the air you breathe. And that polluted air? Thanks to walls, you constantly breathe the same, toxic air.
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If you’re wondering whether non-toxic cleansers actually sanitize, the answer is yes. Forego the notion that your house needs to smell like Clorox to actually be clean. Vinegar, vodka + other cleaning agents work just as well, without the toxicity.
Ever wonder which common cleansers are most toxic? Get easy swaps for the biggest household culprits here.
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