How Clean Are Your Cleaning Products?

We all know keeping our homes clean and sanitary is an important part of good health. I know as a wife., mother, and grandmother, I want my family to live in a clean and safe environment. Cleaning product companies know how important that is to us also. And they are happy to provide us with an arsenal of sprays and liquids and wipes to help us out. Kitchen cleaners, bathroom cleaners, floor cleaners, fabric deodorizers, air fresheners...and specialty cleaners for each of those areas. Toilet cleaner and shower for the bathroom. Oven cleaner for the kitchen. Cleaner for wood floors. A different cleaner for tiles. Window cleaner. SOOO MANY CLEANERS!!! And all of them guaranteed to get rid of dirt and germs...AND leave your home smelling fresh and clean.

And for the most part, they live up to that promise. Most homes are pretty clean. But what the makers of these products don't tell you is the impact they can be having on your health.

I first discovered the problem when my children were small. When cleaning the house would send them into an full-on asthma attack, you know something isn't right. And so I started researching the ingredients in the cleaners I was using. Imagine my surprise when I found that many of them contained toxic chemicals. Yes, some of these could cause or worsen my daughter's asthma. Others could cause everything from breast cancer to birth defects. And yet they were in the products I was encouraged to use...IN MY HOME! EVERY DAY!

Unfortunately, you can't just look at the label and avoid products with harmful chemicals. Many cleaning labels will list ingredients that make little sense to us. Companies may list anionic surfactant or they may say dish protectant. What the heck is that? I want to know exactly what's in the products I'm spraying all over my home. But it seems companies are better at listing what isn't in their product. No phosphorous, no CFCs, and no bleach are popular things to tout on a label. But if you want to know the specifics, you often have to go through customer service to get answers.

How do you clean your home and keep your family safe from harmful, toxic chemicals? Here are some tips.

1. Make your own safer cleaning products. With just a little baking soda, white vinegar, lemon oil, and water, you can get a lot of clean. There are recipes for green, safe cleaning products all over the internet. Just Google them and whip up a batch.

2. Read the labels. I know I said most companies don't fully disclose their ingredients. But if the label has words like "poison", "toxic", "caution", "warning" or "danger", it does not go in my shopping cart. And don't be fooled by vague terms. Just because it says "natural" or "eco-friendly" on the label doesn't mean it's true. Those terms, and many others, are totally unregulated. there are no standards a company has to meet to say it's cleaning products are "natural."

3. Buy fragrance-free products. Synthetic fragrances can trigger asthma and may contain hormone-disrupting chemicals.

4. Stop using "disinfectants". If your family is healthy, you don't need to regularly disinfect your house. Improper use of disinfectants can contribute to "resistant" bacteria (meaning the disinfectant won't work anymore). Plus there are studies suggesting our fascination with keeping our environments as sterile as possible may be leading to the rise in asthma, autism, and other conditions. We aren't being exposed to common everyday germs and so we do not develop an immune system that can handle them.

There are definitely times when you will want to disinfect while cleaning. But there is no need to do it every time you clean.

5. Wash your hands with plain soap and water. Antibacterial soap provides no additional benefit over plain soap.

6. Use green cleaning products. If you don't want to take the time to make your own, there are more and more companies producing safer cleaning products. Check out this article for a list of the best natural cleaning products.

Or try the one I use. Versatile enough for every room of your home, this all-purpose formula uses natural baking soda and plant-derived surfactants to remove grease, dirt and grime, from upholstery as well as hard surfaces. You can get it here.