We cannot avoid chemicals. They are everywhere. In our environment, in our food, in our skincare products, in our furniture, in our homes, in building materials, in cars, EVERYWHERE!

It can be very overwhelming and whilst we cannot control what’s out there, we can control our homes and what we bring into our homes to help reduce our overall toxic load. This can make a huge difference given we spend so much of our time indoors.

Many common synthetic chemicals have been linked to cancer or are known to disrupt hormones, lower sperm counts, irritate skin, and even contribute to obesity. Others are known carcinogens or release VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) into the air.
So how can we make our homes less toxic to our health? Ditch the supermarket cleaning products! Right now, go and pick up one of the commercial cleaning products you own and read the ingredients. Can’t find them? So how do you know what’s in them? Do you know if it is safe? How can you make an informed choice if you’re not provided with all the information?

The thing is companies don’t want you to know, because if you did, you would most likely be horrified. If it read on the back of a cleaning spray, an endocrine disrupter, known carcinogen, or respiratory and lung irritant, it’s not likely you would buy it right?

For me, it had to happen room by room. The overwhelm of it feeling like a massive job was to break it down into smaller jobs that I felt like I could manage. So the first area I started with was under my kitchen sink. I figured a lot of my products came from there that I used all over my house. I pulled out every bottle and spray I had and decided to make my own when they ran out.

About 7 years ago I already moved over to more “green, earth-friendly or organic” type products so I thought I was doing really well. It wasn’t until I started reading labels on my hand soaps and dishwasher soaps that I found hidden colourants, synthetic fragrances, petroleum-derived ingredients, ingredients environmentally toxic to our waterways and bioaccumulative in nature (meaning they build up in the system of animals and never go away). Harmful preservatives and surfactants like sodium lauryl sulphates which allow products to soap up and lather but are super toxic, just to name a few. I went out and purchased what I needed to make my own multipurpose spray. One spray to clean it all. Next was replacing my dish soap so I purchased castile soap and some on-guard cleaner concentrate from the Doterra range, a foaming pump bottle and made my dishwasher soap. I then found a recipe for my dishwasher powder my laundry powder the kid’s body wash and my body wash and the rest is history….