It makes me sick to think about all the chemicals we surround ourselves with on a daily basis. I’ve always been relatively health conscious. My mother was a nurse so making sure our home was clean was a priority! We also ate healthy meals, worked out as a family, and even had some healthy home products like an air purifier.

But the one area we fell short was in toxic free cleaning. My mom used Clorox, Bleach and Lysol like the world depended on it! And, sure, she got rid of the germs…but she left a bunch of dangerous chemicals in her wake.

When we started our own family, I ferociously researched healthy home lifestyles. It still is one of my favorite topics of discussions whenever I meet someone.

In this post, I want to share a few important products that you need if you want to create a safe and healthy environment for your family.

Some of the links below are affiliate links. When you click through and purchase that product I receive a small compensation at no extra cost to you. The money I receive goes to helping me keep this healthy living blog live and filled with helpful information. Thanks for your support!

Non-Toxic Cleaning Routine for a Healthy Home

Over a year ago we moved into our new home. The house was built back in 1994 and the family before us had two dogs, four kids and very little time for cleaning.

I deep cleaned our entire house using just a few items:

• baking soda
• white distilled vinegar
• lemon essential oil
• E-cloths and Norwex
• vacuum
• steam mop

What’s not on this list? Chemicals.

Want to know my secret to cleaning 99% of germs without chemicals–Norwex and E-cloths. Both brands use the same principle though Norwex does it better and includes silver which allows the cloth to ‘sanitize’ itself.

The cloths are made from antibac microfiber. They are woven in such a way that allows them to wipe up germs and messes with just water because the germs get caught in the fibers.

Photo by Norwex

Does Norwex really work?

Yes, Norwex clothes work to clean the majority of bacteria from services and then the silver in the cloths that contain ‘BacLock’ neutralizes the bacteria in the clothe as it dries. The silver helps get rid of any musty smells which are common in kitchen and bath towels. However, there is some misunderstanding how Norwex works. The BacLock does not get rid of the bacteria. Even after the cloth dries you will have bacteria in the cloth that it had picked up so the best way to get rid of the bacteria is to boil the cloth in boiling water for 10 minutes. You do not need to do this every time you clean. However, you should thoroughly rinse out the clothes under warm water and launder them once a week if you’re using them often.

Please note, I’m not a Norwex consultant and all the products I recommend in this post I genuinely recommend because I love them. However, I am hosting a Norwex party, which means I receive a portion of the sales from my party in credit to buy products from Norwex. If you do want to buy Norwex online, please go through this link and choose Alicia’s party from the dropdown (see short video here). Thanks, friends!

I’ll be going through my detailed cleaning regimen with a free non-toxic clean your home checklist in a later post so sign up for my newsletter to get notified when it goes live.

I also mention in the list above a steam mop. We have tile in the kitchen and main entrance hallway of our home, which is notoriously difficult to clean.

Out of all the cleaning supplies I’ve used for tile, this steam mop is still my favorite non-toxic way to clean tiles.

Pure, Healing Water…Because What You’re Drinking Right Now is Probably Nasty

Water is the single most important ingredient in our body. It is practically involved in every function our organs and cells need to survive. Yet, you probably aren’t drinking enough and even what you do drink is probably filled with chemicals.

Dr. Colbert who wrote Eat This and Live! said when patients first come to his office he treats them first with water, “Drinking sufficient amounts of the right kind of water will also do more to improve your health than anything else you can do.”

Not just any kind of water…the right kind. So, what is the right kind? I know what you’re thinking, I should be safe, I drink bottled water. Actually, that’s probably worse.

There was a study done on 100 brands of bottled water that found about 30% contained arsenic, bacteria and other contaminants. Bottled water is regulated by the FDA, which allows certain amount of contaminants in the water. Tap water is regulated by the EPA, which makes cities test their water daily (FDA only tests bottled water annually). The EPA also requires no traces of bacteria (think, poop) but the FDA doesn’t, which means it is completely legal for poop to be in your bottled water. If you are going to drink bottled water, Dr. Colbert recommends Penta Water.

But just because city or well water is better than many common brands of bottled water doesn’t mean it’s the best kind of water.

You can create the best kind of water using a filtration system. Most filtration systems you buy at the store or for your refrigerator are carbon filters. These can remove 90% of lead and most chlorine but most toxins will still come through. It’s important to also keep these filters ‘fresh’ since the bacteria that the filter holds can breed more bacteria which could be releasing into your water as time goes on.

Two other common filters are distillers and reverse osmosis, both purify water from everything…including good minerals. If you use these filters, make sure you are adding in minerals to your water after it’s filtered. Here’s the trace minerals I’ve used in the past. Reverse Osmosis can also make your water acidic. Our bodies thrive in a slightly alkaline environment and since water is used all through your body it’s important to maintain those alkaline levels. But similar to trace minerals, you can buy alkaline drops to balance your water.

The best filtered water is from alkaline water filters. There’s a guy that goes to our gym who had stage 3 cancer and beat it using natural methods (no chemo!). A big portion of his cancer-free regimen was drinking high alkaline water since your body needs an alkaline climate in order to heal.

On a pH scale, our bodies ideal pH is 7.45. This guy was drinking alkaline water that was near a 10. Unless you are fighting a disease that would benefit from extreme alkaline levels in your body, try to keep it to 7.5 or slightly higher like an 8.

We’re currently saving up to install a full alkaline water filtration for our home that would filter all water, including shower and faucets. Your body does absorb water when you take a shower. Total home water filtration systems cost around $4k-7k.

Sign up for my newsletter to learn more about my water filtration search and installation.

If you can’t buy an alkaline filter, you can still drink alkaline water through the drops I linked to above or through one of the better bottled waters like Evamor, Abita or Eternal.

You may think this all sound expensive, but you could install a great water filter for your home for probably less than what you spend on bottled water/soft drinks in a few years.

(Note: Obviously, water is essential and if you can’t afford a water purifier then city water is better than no water.)

Breathe with Better Indoor Air Quality

When we first moved to Pennsylvania my allergies were awful! I had a constant sinus headache. But when we moved from our first apartment to a townhome that was just down the street a strange thing happened…my headaches started to ease up.

What was the difference? I’m pretty sure the indoor air quality at the townhome was better than the apartment. In the apartment there was carpet and probably poor air circulation but the townhome was fairly new with all wood or tile floors.

I never had allergy issues growing up (even though we had carpet) and I think that’s because we had several air purifiers running throughout the home.

Photo by Molekule

I’ve recently been obsessed with this new air purifier. It’s the latest in air purifying technology advancement. If you read the reviews, there is testimony after testimony saying how the Molekule helped their allergies to the point where they don’t even need allergy medicine anymore! It uses nanotechnology to capture black mold, VOCs (like from paint), bacteria and even viruses!

It is, however, expensive. But if you knew something would help your allergies and keep your home air clean for your family, wouldn’t it be worth it?!

I also fill my home with plants that are proven to clean the home. The two easiest to keep alive plants that clean air are the golden pothos (also known as Devil’s Ivy) and snake plant.

Carbon Monoxide Detector

Talking about indoor air, each year around 30,000 people get sick from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Carbon monoxide (CO) isn’t detectable by humans since it’s odorless and colorless but there are so many ways it can get in your home! Here are just a few:

• Car running in or near an open garage
• Charcoal grill
• Gas fireplaces (especially if it’s not ventilated with chimney this is a MUST)
• Gas stove

You can buy carbon monoxide detectors for only a few dollars on Amazon. We bought Nest’s Protect Smoke and Carbon Monoxide and love it! You can buy a wired or battery operated model. The wired you would have to replace your current fire alarms with it.

We bought the battery operated since I wanted to be able to move it to test various places in the home with a single detector. It will end up in the basement though where all of our HVAC unit is located and washer/dryer. There is currently no fire alarm down there.

There are two things I love about the Nest Protect: 1) It will notify you through your smartphone if it detects a problem. This means if there ever was a fire or CO problem at home and we weren’t there we would be notified immediately by the Nest and we could take action! This is such a relief when we go on trips. 2) This may seem insignificant but I love that it lights up when it senses motion. We currently have this in a hallway that gets pretty dark at night and having that motion sensor come on when we go near it really helps avoid any stubbed toes.

Germ Free Humidifier

Tired of stat-icky clothes and coughing from dryness at night? A humidifier would help with that! We bought this germ-free humidifier several years ago and we use it every night! I did a lot of research on humidifiers before buying one. Most humidifiers are a farm for bacteria, especially if you don’t take care of it properly.

Unlike other humidifiers that have a complex inner setting, which makes it impossible to clean, this Honeywell humidifier is basically a large wick with a fan (super easy to clean). Don’t let that fool you though, it is very efficient! You don’t see water necessarily going out of it but I can always feel the difference in the room.

Just make sure regardless of the humidifier you buy, you need to empty out the water container if it’s not in use. I usually empty it out right as I wake up and then leave the cap off the container to let it air dry.

Besides leaving your skin less dry, humidifiers can also help keep the temperature warmer indoors so you end saving money on electricity as well!

Non Toxic Cookware

Yes, even your cookware is trying to kill you these days. Well, cookware with non-stick linings like Teflon. This includes your tea kettle! The healthiest cookware you can get is glass or 100% ceramic cookware. I have two cookware sets: 1) ceramic, which I mostly use for dishes that go from stove top to oven (using less dishes means less dishes to wash) and 2) stainless steel with copper core (sauteing and I love the vegetable steamer).

My tea pot is also from Xtrema. One note about Xtrema cookware, it’s 100% ceramic which means they are heavy, expensive, and take a little longer to heat up (but they stay hot for longer). I’ve been using them for several years now. I’ve never broken a piece (even though I’m notoriously clumsy) but I have chipped the outer rim of two pieces. The chip doesn’t effect the cooking and the pieces are still 100% safe to use but wanted to mention this as part of my honest review.

Can you imagine how long we would live if we just eliminated these toxins from our homes?! Comment below with your favorite healthy home product or tip!