Natural Cleaning Products: How & Why to Switch

Natural Cleaning Products: How & Why to Switch – Angie Cruise Blog

Natural Cleaning Products: How & Why to Switch

If you’re new to natural cleaning products, it can be a bit overwhelming.  Today I’m going to share some tips and resources to help you get started.

There was once a time when we didn’t really have options when it came to cleaning our homes. You bought the couple of products that were proven to work, and that was that. Now, there are entire aisles dedicated to cleaners at the store, which is both a blessing and a curse. Too many options

be a bad thing. Add to that the growing desire for natural cleaning products and it can be hard to know what to buy.

If you’re new to clean living and feel lost or overwhelmed, you’re in the right spot. Keep reading for tips on how (and why) to swap out your cleaners, plus some of my favorite products and recipes to use in my own home.

Why Natural Cleaning Products are Important

There are a lot of reasons to choose cleaner products for your home. They’re better for the environment, better for your health, and you have less worry about kids coming into contact with them.

But, those are all pretty obvious reasons, and they’ve become talked to death.

And, while those reasons are generally enough for me, I want to help

know you’re making the best choice.

It can be really hard to understand why the ingredients

when you’re not planning on eating or drinking something, but they do.

We’re inhaling these products as we clean. When we wipe down a surface and then touch it, we’re absorbing those ingredients through our skin. And, we’re wiping down food prep surfaces with products labeled

not safe for human consumption

, and then prepping food on the same surfaces.

What we clean our homes with does matter. Probably a lot more than we think.

These ingredients we’re trying to avoid – ingredients

found in conventional household products – are linked with health issues such as:

and chronic fatigue

We can’t keep assuming that just because it’s on a store shelf, that it’s safe. It’s up to us to do the research, learn as much as we can, and make the best choices for our own families.

Ready to get started? Keep reading for tips on how to make the swap without feeling overwhelmed.

How to Swap to Green Cleaners

Switching to natural cleaning products can be easier said than done. With so many options available, and so many marketing terms to navigate, it can be hard to know where to start.

While there are many brands for sale boasting “natural” and “non-toxic” labels, it’s not that simple. The FDA doesn’t regulate those terms,

nor does it require cleaning brands to disclose their ingredients on the label

So, how do you know what to buy??

I’m not the blogger who’s going to tell you to throw everything away and start fresh with better products. If you read the bio in my sidebar, you’ll see I’m not about those kinds of extremes.

While I think those stories are cool, and sometimes inspiring, I

think they’re reasonable for most regular people.

First of all, buying all new products isn’t cheap. And second, if you throw everything away and don’t know what to replace it with, you’ll find yourself in a pickle come cleaning day.

Instead, I recommend you

. As each product runs out, work to find a more natural solution for it. (I’m including some of my favorites further down in this post, so check them out).

Work on replacing one or two products at a time, instead of trying to overhaul your whole life. It’ll take longer, but it’ll be less stressful.

easier on the bank account.

Learn Your Ingredients

There are a lot of apps I see floating around to help you navigate the world of clean living. I’ve even recommended them myself. But honestly, the

thing you can do is learn how to read labels and know the ingredients you should avoid.

Of course, it’s probably impossible to memorize and understand every single ingredient that

cause harm, but some are more noteworthy than others.

Explaining each and every one would require an entire blog post on it’s own, so instead, I’m going to encourage you to do some research on your own. (Check out the “further reading” section in this post). If you need help getting started, I’ve created a printable that you can download for free

e. It has a list of the top ingredients to avoid, which gives you a great jumping point for doing some research.

If there’s one piece of advice I can give those trying to make this change, it’s to

. Throwing out every single thing and starting fresh isn’t an option for most of us.

Figure out which products in your home are the

for you, your kids, and the environment, and start there.

For me, that was the products I was using to clean my bathrooms. Every time I did a deep clean, I’d get light headed, nauseous, and end up with a headache and an asthma attack. We didn’t have any windows in the bathroom, and even with the fan on, I’d get sick. (

Disclaimer: I wasn’t doing anything like mixing my own cleaners that could cause a reaction. I was just using pre-made products like Scrubbing Bubbles and Lysol. You know…the products everyone uses because they’re safe and effective).

to find a better option. I couldn’t keep getting that sick just cleaning the bathroom. So, I started there, and found more natural cleaning products. My bathroom was just as clean, smelled great, and I felt so much better.

That one change made a

impact, and encouraged me to keep making changes as I could. And for you, figuring out that pain point could be just as great! Once you make one small change, it encourages you to make another, and another.

Find Your Favorites

Finally, you can start finding your favorite products for green cleaning. Ask your friends, read blogs, and check out the popular brands to find what works for you.

Personally, I do the best with a combination of homemade cleaners and pre-made. I’ve experimented a lot, tried many different brands, and found my favorites to use in my home. Want some recommendations? Here are some of my favorites!

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