Natural Cleaning for Floors

I often think that generations ago we only cleaned with household ingredients like vinegar and baking soda, but much like other areas of our life, we began to look for convenient and snazzy things to make our life seem easier. What we did not know then but NOW do is that some many of those things can be harmful to our health. Look at how far we have gone from using plants as medicine, and food from being nutritious to being packed with who knows what.

I get asked all the time what is the best way to keep all types of flooring clean, naturally. Sure, for awhile the smell of some of the store bought cleaners can make you think your floors are cleaner that using something that you may already have in your cupboards, but truth is they are packed with chemicals that can cause our lungs to feel congested and sometimes irritated and also our hormones to become disrupted which is especially important if you have children in your home. Plus, our little animal friends absorb EVERYTHING through their paws.

Whether you have hardwood, ceramic tile, luxury vinyl, or laminate flooring this recipe is SO easy, so affordable and you probably have the ingredients in your pantry. Not only will your floors shine, you will be savings tons of money and taking one small step to a having a non-toxic cleaning practice.

Pro tip: Did you know that citrus oils break down grease and grime and can eliminate sticky residue, grease stains and things that get spilled on a floor or tracked in from outside?

Floor Cleaner

Add about 1/4 cup white vinegar and up to 10 drops of essential oils, such as Wild Orange, Lemon, Peppermint, or my favorite combination Lime and Siberian Fir, to a bucket of hot water to clean hard surface floors.

DIY Dishwasher Tabs

Unfortunately, commercial dish detergent is loaded with awful chemicals that coat everything you eat off of. So here is an alternative that you can make right at home and have comfort knowing you aren’t washing your dishes in harmful chemicals!

1 cup baking soda
¼ cup citric acid
1 tbsp On Guard Cleaner Concentrate
5 drops Grapefruit essential oil (or any citrus)

? Directions:

  1. Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix together until the mixture is an even consistency.
  2. Place in silicone molds and let sit for 4 hours.
  3. Remove tabs and store them in an airtight container. Use in place of store-bought tablets!

This is a MAJOR impact DIY and a MAJOR money saver!

Are these types of non-toxic swaps important to you? Would you like to know more about the basic uses of essential oils? Check out this gorgeous ebook!

Natural Cleaning

?This is my entire cleaning cabinet. Want to know why???

? Environmental Working Group’s investigation of more than 2,000 cleaning supplies on the market found many contain substances linked to serious health problems. EWG concludes that:

?Fumes from cleaning products may induce asthma in otherwise healthy individuals. A large and growing body of evidence links frequent use of many ordinary cleaning supplies at home or on the job with development of asthma and other respiratory problems.

?Common cleaning ingredients can be laced with the carcinogenic impurity 1,4-dioxane. Independent tests have detected the presence of 1,4-dioxane in numerous name-brand cleaning supplies. Other products contain preservatives that release low levels of cancer-causing formaldehyde.

??Children born to women who held cleaning jobs while pregnant have an elevated risk of birth defects, according to a 2010 study by the New York State Department of Health.

?Some cleaners can cause chemical burns and poisonings as well as less severe irritations and allergies.

??Despite these health concerns, cleaning product labels often do not give consumers enough information about ingredients to make informed decisions on which ones are safe.

????Government agencies and independent research institutions have not adequately evaluated the safety of numerous substances found in cleaning products. Although government scientific and regulatory agencies have focused considerable attention on chemicals suspected of causing cancer, they have devoted far fewer resources to evaluating substances that may be toxic to the brain and nervous system, the hormone system and other organs. Investigating the risks of cleaning products to public health and the environment should be an urgent priority. Yet the problem remains largely hidden from the view of the American consumer.

?Inadequate assessment of the long-term health consequences of exposure to potent chemicals in cleaners stems in large part from the absence of federal regulations requiring safety tests & setting legally-binding upper limits on toxic ingredients and impurities.

I know, I was skeptical too because I grew up with Clorox. Don’t worry, it gets easier ? and healthier!

Check out this free ebook to learn how to get the essential oils you need to get started and then you’ll get access to my VIP community of education and more!