Simple Non-Toxic Product Swaps to Make in Your Home
Inside: Simple non-toxic products to swap in your home.
Making the swaps to cleaner products in your home can feel overwhelming and financially burdensome. In this blog post I would like to share some of my favorite clean and non-toxic swaps in hopes that it will help eliminate some of the decision fatigue, plus give you some low budget swaps you can make right away.
Before I dive into some of the clean swaps, I want to just remind you that some of the best things you can do for your health don’t cost anything.
- Get morning sunlight
- Go for a walk everyday
- Cook at home to ensure clean ingredients + avoid seed oils and dyes
- Open your windows for 20 minutes every day
- Drink plenty of water, optimally with added electrolytes
- Laugh with your family and friends
- Prioritize your time with God
All of these things are incredibly beneficial for not only our physical health, but our mental and emotional health as well.
Where to Start with Clean Swaps
When I began our journey toward health and being intentional with the products we use in our home everyday, I quickly became overwhelmed. There are SO many voices out there telling us what to use and just when we feel like we’ve made a good swap, we hear yet one more opinion telling us its no good.
What I have come to learn about living a cleaner, non-toxic lifestyle is that it is all about balance and controlling what you can control. There will always be things we can do better and we will never be perfect.
In reality, being stressed about the toxins we encounter or the food we’re eating is actually more toxic than the item of concern. If we can learn to control what we can and not stress about the rest, we will be far ahead.
That being said, I do think it is important to make intentional choices with the products we bring into our homes and put on and in our bodies. Some clean swaps are super inexpensive, others cost more. Just remember you don’t have to switch everything out all at once. Take it one thing at a time and make the best choice you can.
Let’s dive in!
Making Household Swaps
Laundry Soap
Let’s start with general household products. I like to start here because one of the most toxic items in our homes and one of the first things we should consider switching out is laundry soap. Commercial laundry soaps are full of harsh chemicals, fragrances, and endocrine disruptors.
For many years, I made my own laundry soap using a recipe similar to this one and it worked very well. Over time, and with very hard water, we began noticing yellowing and smells just weren’t coming clean from our clothes.
I finally made the switch to Truly Free Home laundry soap and let me say, it is WORTH the hype. It truly cleans so effectively and leaves our clothes smelling so fresh. I love that I can use a laundry soap that smells good and cleans our clothes without worrying about what toxic effects it is having on our health.
Ditch the Fragrance
Another HUGE and relatively simple sway is to ditch the fragrance. Yes, it is in absolutely everything, but once you start getting rid of it, you will be amazed. I can no longer tolerate artificial fragrances without getting headaches and my skin is quickly irritated if I use a soap or lotion with fragrance in it.
Think about things like candles and air fresheners. These are a huge place that artificial fragrances hide. The thing is, many many things that have fragrances in them don’t need to be replaced, but some of us just adore our candles and have a hard time parting with them.
I was stoked to find Antique Candle Company, a clean burning candle company that does not use artificial fragrances. I can burn their candles for hours and not get a headache, truly amazing! Check them out if you need a good, clean burning candle.
If candles aren’t your thing, you may also enjoy making simmer pots or diffusing essential oils to help your house smell fresh.
Cleaning Products
Cleaning products are another huge thing to swap out, but take it slow. One of the best (and cheapest!) swaps you can make for cleaning products is a simple vinegar and orange peel cleaner. This is a great blog post detailing how to make it, but essentially you just save your orange peels in a glass jar and cover with vinegar. After a couple of weeks you have a cleaner that you can use for floors, mirrors, sinks, and so on.
If you don’t have time or capacity to make your own cleaning products, and I totally understand that, Truly Free Home also has an incredible line of household cleaning products. Shop them here.
Hand Soap
Hand soap hides all sorts of harsh chemicals and fragrances and it is one of the easies things to swap out, plus can be made super cheaply at home. Be sure and read this blog post where I detail how to make your own hand soap with two simple ingredients.
Swaps in the Kitchen
Cutting Boards
Cutting boards made with synthetic materials could be introducing harmful chemicals into our foods. Conventional cutting boards often contain phthalates and BPA and over time these things can begin to leech into our foods. Not good.
A safer option for food would be a wooden or bamboo cutting board. Wooden cutting boards are not only a safer option for food prep, but they are also environmentally friendly and just beautiful.
Cookware and Pans
Personally, I have never been a fan of non-stick pans. I feel like food actually sticks to them more and they are a pain to clean. Over time, the coating begins to flake off, leeching into our food and potentially leading to ingestion of those materials.
We made the switch to cast iron pans several years ago and I will never go back. Once seasoned they are actually very easy to clean and I love that they can be used on the stovetop, the oven, or even over a campfire.
Some other options if cast iron isn’t your thing:
- For baking: stoneware is amazing and stone baking sheets for cookies, pizza, etc
- Stainless Steel pans are another great option
- Caraway Ceramic Cookware
Use Glass Storage Containers
For similar reasons why it is best to avoid plastic cutting boards, we also want to avoid plastic storage containers. An added concern here is that often we are reheating food in the storage containers and plastic, when heated, can release BPAs phthalates and other harmful chemicals into our food.
Glass storage containers are a much better option and they are durable. An added bonus is that you can slide them into the oven to heat food or even serve directly from the glass container.
Utensils
Don’t forget the utensils. I know plastic is so popular, cheap and easy to use, but the toxic effects to our health are just not worth it. I recommend switching over to a good set of wooden utensils and stainless steel serving pieces.
Personal Product Swaps
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is a fantastic product swap for so many things. It is clean, natural, incredibly moisturizing and has many benefits. Personally, I use coconut oil as an oil cleanser for my face; it removes make up like a charm. Its also great in the shower as a shaving cream and is super moisturizing when rubbed into the skin.
Clean Skincare
Conventional skin care products are chalk full of harsh chemicals and preservatives. Because they are more than 70% water, all of these extra ingredients have to be added to keep the water from growing mold and bacteria.
It is no wonder that so many people have problems with their skin with all of the toxic ingredients in our skincare products.
This was one area I was slow in coming to swap out, but I finally made the jump to Oliveda skincare and my skin was so happy that I did. Every single Oliveda product uses an elixir called hydroxytyrosol as its base. This product comes from the olive leaf and is a magic ingredient, full of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, and healing benefits.
Because Oliveda products are made with 100% active ingredients, they are not only effective, but you only need a small amount, making the products extremely cost effective over time. You can shop the products here or take a free skincare quiz at this link to get a personalized recommendation.
Deodorant
Personal soap and deodorant were some of the first swaps we made as well. I have tried several non-toxic brands including Just Ingredients, Earthley, and Bend Soap and Bend is definitely my favorite. My husband uses their deodorant too and likes it well. I have also heard good things about Primally Pure deodorants.
Medicine Cabinet Swaps
Although I have a background in nursing, I prefer to try a natural remedy first before turning to conventional medicine and in our home, I use a mixture of homeopathy and herbal tinctures from Earthley.
Overhauling your medicine cabinet is HUGE and there are a couple of ways to approach it. You could choose to swap out things as you run out, replacing the product with something more natural.
It could also be helpful to make a list of the most common health concerns your family has and then slowly add products to your wellness toolbox for those needs.
No matter how you choose to overhaul your medicine cabinet, two things that I would add to your wellness toolbox right away are elderberry syrup and fermented honey garlic. Both of these are incredibly simple to make, but pack a powerful punch against viruses.
For more on my favorite natural remedies, be sure and read this blog post.
Conclusion
Making the switch to non-toxic products in your home can feel overwhelming and expensive. Take it one thing at a time, control what you can, and over time all of these choices add up. Few people overhaul their home overnight and neither should you. I hope this has been a helpful place to start with some of the more toxic products and easy swaps.
