Don't use products that are toxic in your home
**Danielle is one of our guest bloggers from our listening area, you can read more from her blog at A Mom's Best Guess.**
Once upon a time, I loved to unscrew every fabric softener lid, spray every fabric refresher, and sniff all the cleaners in store before purchasing. I clipped the coupons and made cleaning smell great + be affordable.
What I didn’t do, read the labels of what I was spraying around my home. (Trick question, does your household cleaner have an ingredient list?)
Then I had a baby. This wasn’t a normal baby without complications (HAHAHA, psych! all babies have their own complications). This sweet angel had the literal most difficult skin. I couldn’t even lay her next to me without her face breaking out. As if nursing wasn’t hard enough! And her clothes…. when they touched her skin, an instant rash. Her scalp was flaky and nasty and oozing. Yuck! I put bows on her to cover it up. But the truth was, she was miserable.
And so was I. No naps because her skin hurt. She couldn’t nurse comfortably, because her neck was raw. Nursery workers had to lay her blanket on them before holding her. I ditched the fragrance laundry detergent and fabric softener, opting to make my own. That helped some. We switched to bamboo liners in her cloth diapers and used cotton wash rags as wipes with just water. But still, the rashes persisted some.
With the second baby, I decided to go all in. We were ditching candles, fabric sprays (that one was HARD!), aerosol dusting spray, window cleaner, everything. I was mad at finding out that the chemicals I was using to scourge our home of germs was what made me cough and have headaches followed by sneezing for a day after cleaning. I attributed it to “stirring up dust”. It was also what was causing the last little bit of these rashes. Even without contact to her skin, my babies were breaking out from airborne toxins.
I’m still mad about it!
54% of stay at home Moms have an increased risk of dying from cancer… due to things like INDOOR POLLUTANTS. Get outta here, seriously? Solution- stop cleaning.
Or…. make you own home cleaners using the old fashioned way- vinegar and water and baking soda. While this does clean off grime and scrub away soap scum, it’s not cleaning beyond what the eye can see. Let’s just say, when my kids have a stomach bug and I am on hands and knees praying, I mean scrubbing, getting it out of the house, I don’t trust vinegar.
I needed something quick and easy. I was already a loyal customer to YL since the lavender essential oil and shae butter cream I made in my kitchen helped soothe the baby’s rash. I’m a sucker for anything with the YL brand on it, because I trust their toxic free standard. I decided after a year of using oils to give the cleaner a try. It smelled like Christmas and I didn’t love that. So, I added some more lemon and got to trying it out.
I fell in love with Thieves cleaner when I sprayed it on my microfiber kitchen chairs and with one swipe of a rag, the crusty spaghetti sauce from last week came right off.
What the what…. was this magic?
I soon learned that the “plant power” of this cleaner was behind breaking down the dirt using plant based enzymes and essential oils. Perfect!
Dusting: Left side drawers are untouched. Right side, cleaned with THC.
Siding: Left side moldy and dirty. Right side cleaned with THC (no scrubbing- just a waterhose pressure)
Car: Works for upholstery too!
Bathroom: White doesn’t have to look dirty with THC.
Quick list of WHAT I use this cleaner on:
• Toilets
• Bathroom counters
• Windows
• Pet food bowls
• Bump up laundry detergent power
• Fabric refresher
• Wash dogs
• Clean jewelry
• Mirrors
• Interior of Car
• Carpet cleaner
• Soak the tub
• Shower door scum
• Mopping
• Dusting
• Kitchen granite counters
• Walls
• Shoes
….. I’m sure I’m missing something, but can you see how I use it for everything now?
Each bottle is 14 ish ounces. One oz of the cleaner + 30 oz of water makes you a full size cleaning bottle. Do the math and… it costs about $1.61 per 30 oz spray bottle. I was WINNING at life from the day I started using Thieves Cleaner.
Get yours for free from now until May 30th plus a glass spray bottle.
Curious about more uses or specifics? Leave a comment. Basically, I add water, baking soda when needed, and use cotton or microfiber rags to clean with the diluted Thieves Cleaner.