Introduction
I've slowly been eliminating chemicals from my home (and my life in general) for some time now, and I'm often asked for the recipes, resources, and methods on how to do so. So I'm putting this down in a Guide so I can share my knowledge with others.
In North America, we spend millions (maybe billions) each year on products for our home that contain toxic chemicals. You're probably familiar with the hazard symbols that appear on some cleaning products, along with words like "poison", "corrosive" or "irritant." These hazard symbols warn us about acute health hazards associated with a single or short-term exposure to chemicals in the product. But there is no parallel requirement for manufacturers to warn consumers about the health and environmental hazards associated with chronic, or long-term, exposure to chemical ingredients in household cleaning products.
That worries me. Although I know I won't be able to eliminate all harmful chemicals over night, I'm slowly eliminating the ones I can and finding alternatives that won't cause harm to me or my family.
This guide will be updated as I find more ways to eliminate chemicals easily from my home, and hopefully based on your feedback and suggestions. I used a lot of content from David Suzuki's Queen of Green (she's my go-to source of information for living a more sustainable life), but also added in content from other sources, and other recommendations just based on my own experiences. The first section gives you a breakdown/reference guide to the most common household chemicals, as well as which household products they can be found in.
The remaining sections of the guide are broken down into these areas:
Please let me know if you have suggestions, other sources of information that could be helpful, or questions about anything contained within this guide. I'm always happy to connect with others who are just trying to live more sustainable, chemical-free lifestyles!