Non-Toxic Floor Cleaning

When I first started getting interested in improving my health and “greening” my home to make it less toxic, I started replacing many of the cleansers in my home with natural, non-toxic versions. But I’ve found a series of options that I am very happy with in terms of keeping my home clean and safe for myself, animals and children.

The toxic chemicals found in many cleaning products are a hazard not just to the environment, but to our personal health – causing problems with lungs, skin and internal organs. I have spent a lot of time in Health Kinesiology sessions for myself and clients to help detox from these toxic chemicals, many of which just keep building up inside our bodies and causing a multitude of health problems. While I was aware of how these cleansers affected me, I felt particularly bad when I realized my cat is walking and laying on the floors cleaned with these products, and then licking himself clean, no doubt ingesting them, not to mention inhaling the fumes from close up.

Today I want to focus on floor cleaning, since it’s one of the last green cleaning products I considered when switching over, and there are a lot of wonderful options out there now. Note: do check with your floor manufacturer for any special instructions on using these alternative products. Even simple steam can be damaging to some floor surfaces.

Young Living Essential Oils makes a wonderful product line called Thieves. Thieves essential oil blend was created based on the historical tale of four thieves in France who protected themselves from the black plague with cloves, rosemary, and other aromatics while robbing victims of the killer disease. In modern days, these same herbs and essential oils have been found to be an effective barrier against topical and airborne microorganisms. Young Living’s proprietary Thieves oil blend includes clove, cinnamon bark, rosemary, lemon, and eucalyptus. Thieves has been university tested and found to be highly effective in supporting the immune system and good health. Their Thieves Household Cleanser product is an effective, safe product for cleaning floors (as well as other surfaces in your house). Here is a brief video about the Thieves line:

 

I was reading an article recently called How to Eco-Hack your Swiffer Mop, which is what gave me the idea for this post. In her article, author Sayward Rebhal explains how she replaced the wasteful, disposable mop-head with a washable, reusable terry cloth towel, and how she refilled the chemical cleanser container with a green solution. She used vinegar, but Thieves Household Cleanser would also be a good option, as well as other green cleansers. Not only would this save money, but a non-toxic cleanser would be greatly beneficial to both your family and the environment. I wish I’d read this article before giving up my Swiffer Mop for greener solutions!

Biokleen is one of my favorite brands of green cleansers, and one I will write more about in the future. They have multiple green products that work on floors, from bare floors to spot cleansers for our rug and – a big surprise to me – a cleaner made just for carpet shampoo machines! I was ready to toss out my Bissell shampooer because of how strong the fumes were from their cleansers. Now we use the Biokleen Carpet & Rug Shampoo exclusively. It does a wonderful job of cleaning our rugs with an almost non-existent smell, and we can feel comfortable about the safety of the product for our health.

Another product I recently purchased is the Shark Steam Pocket Mop. This is a lightweight floor cleaning mop that uses the power of steam to clean and disinfect bare floors. The pads are machine washable and all you need is water to produce the steam needed. It has done a wonderful job lately on our vinyl kitchen floor which takes quite a beating!

Whatever method you use, I hope you’ll consider switching over to a less wasteful, less toxic alternative for cleaning your floors and coming in for a Health Kinesiology session to begin your body’s detox of these chemicals.

 

Note: Due to FTC guidelines, I am now required to disclose that if you click on a link in this post (or any other post or link on my blog) and purchase Young Living Essential Oils, books/products through Amazon.com or nutritional supplements through AIM Companies, that I will receive a small commission as a result of those purchases. Thank you for your support.

Comments

[Cecilia]

I have been wanting my building to try this too! They always clean with some really strong smelling chemicals and I have been trying to suggest using other, more natural janitorial cleaning supplies. Thanks for sharing!

[SeattleHealing]

Thanks for your comment, Cecelia! I recently set up a store through Amazon that has many of the items that I mention in this post: http://astore.amazon.com/heallife08a-20 Sue