Welcome to day 8 of our 10 Days of Non-Toxic Living in 2016!
Yesterday , on Day 07, we explained how the chemical that has been hailed "the most toxic plastic for children" is oftentimes hidden underneath you and your children's bedsheets in the mattress protectors- and how to make a one time switch to a safer 100% non- toxic material.


1. Pour distilled vinegar into an empty spray bottle until the halfway point
2. Add water until spray bottle is filled
3. voila! You just made a basic, germ fighting, multi surface cleaner



TIP 8: Thursday, January 14, 2016: STOP buying toxic cleaning products for your home. Try -just once- to make your own. I promise once you do you will never go back to buying multi surface cleaners full of dubious chemicals


WHY?:

1. It is so easy (and safe/non-toxic) that even a 5 year old can do it. Yes: that is my 5 year old mixing our home's multi surface cleaning spray. (Recipe below)

2. Cleaning products are infamous for the amount of toxic chemicals they release into the environment; that means into your house and you and your family's bodies.

Did you know that the law in the US currently allows manufacturers of cleaning products to use almost any ingredient they wish, including known carcinogens and substances that can harm fetal and infant development?
Even worse? Cleaning companies do not have to list the ingredients they decide to use and no government agency reviews the safety of these products before they go on store shelves and into your home.
Common chemicals used in most mainstream chelating products include formaldehyde, chloroform and 1,4 dioxane, all known carcinogens, chemicals known to cause asthma in otherwise healthy individuals, and of course fragrance (smells like lemon and pine most of the time!) that are known endocrine disruptors (imitate our hormones) . We are talking pretty bad stuff.
The good news? There is absolutely no need to use toxic chemicals, or any chemical to clean around your house. Think about it: why would you wipe a surface where you baby crawls or plays or eats with a toxic chemicals? Clean doesn’t need to smell like pine and lemon clean should smell like… well like nothing.
Enter Vinegar. Vinegar is amazing on many levels , but white distilled vinegar is a great natural antibacterial cleaner. It works really great on most surfaces (kitchen, bath and children’s room, even toys) and is also great at degreasing the range hood in the kitchen (or barbq), cleaning mold and mildew in the bathroom, cleaning and descaling the coffee maker, replacing Jet-Dry as a rinse aid in my dishwasher, replacing fabric softener in the clothes dryer and in the shower as a daily shower spray to control mildew and soap scum (although, I find dish soap and castle soap to be better at soap scum and soil removal in general)
DIY These three letters strike fear in many an adult. I will admit, I avoided making my own cleaning products for years (and still buy non-toxic but remade scrub cleaners for toilets and other surfaces even though we could make our own! ) but a multi surface vinegar cleaner is so so easy- well, as I mentioned before, even a 5 year old can make it (yes see the video! Its my 5 year old son making the vinegar cleaner)
Ingredients: 50% water 50 % vinegar
That is is. No kidding.
If you absolutely hate the smell of vinegar (I don’t even notice it anymore but my husband used to detest it. Now he doesn’t mind at all either… and it does evaporate quickly) add a couple of drops of an organic essential oil of your choice (I like eucalyptus which is a spider deterrent too )

This New Year , why not try making your own cleaning product? It will save you money and you will feel absolutely comfortable when your kids decides to lick the counters or floors !