Are you looking for ways to be intentional about your wellness in the New Year? Ditch and switch toxic household products and replacing them with plant-based alternatives is a GREAT place to start!
Ditching and switching your products doesn’t have to be an overnight process. Start when you run out of a product and replace it with a cleaner alternative.
This post is all about common household products you can ditch and switch for safer alternatives.
My Journey
I have been on a journey to slowly ditch and switch the toxic products in my house. My journey started years ago with what I was eating. I am a researcher and wanted to know more about the food I was eating. A few years later I found out I was pregnant and the number of products they tell you not to use when pregnant is shocking! I thought to myself if pregnant women shouldn’t be using these products, why should anyone? Long story short after I had my sweet baby girl, I was obsessed with researching all the products I was bringing into my home. Then I found Young Living and my journey really began! Here is the list of the top products I recommend ditching and switching to start!
Top Products to Ditch & Switch
- Laundry Detergent & Dryer Sheets
- Candles
- Household Cleaners
- Personal Care Products
1. Laundry Detergent & Dryer Sheets
The skin is the largest organ on the body. If you think about all the fabrics that touch or sit on our skin everyday, it’s a lot! Our sheets, towels we use to bathe and clothes are all sitting on our skin all day long. Whatever is in our laundry detergent and sitting on our skin is getting absorbed.
Laundry detergent and dryer sheets are the most toxic product you can bring into your home! Dryer sheets are a proven carcinogen and loaded with synthetic fragrance. Here is an article with more information about fragrance in products. Laundry detergent is also filled with fragrance as well as SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate), phosphates and other chemicals.
The chemicals and toxins in these products are terrible for your health. An alternative product to dryer sheets is using wool dryer balls. You can even add essential oils to help to scent your clothes. My favorites are lavender for towels and sheets, citrus fresh for our clothes and gentle baby for my daughter’s clothes. A safer and cleaner product I use instead of conventional laundry detergent is the Thieves laundry soap from Young Living. Thieves laundry soap is free from SLS, dyes, petrochemicals, formaldehyde, phosphates, synthetic perfumes, chlorine, and optical brighteners. It is soft and gentle on our skin, safe to use for babies and children, and doesn’t have that strong synthetic fragrance smell.
2. Candles
When burning candles inside your home there are fumes burning off from the candle that are filled with toxins. Studies show that the toxins candles release are as dangerous as secondhand smoke. Anything that releases smoke decreases the air quality. Candles are another product filled with fragrance and they have been found to contain phthalates, formaldehyde, paraffins and other harmful chemicals. Inhalation of these dangerous chemicals can contribute to health complications like common allergies or asthma.
To avoid these toxins in my home I ditched candles and switched to diffusing essential oils. Not only does diffusing essential oils replace candles by making your house smell nice, but there are many benefits to diffusing. When diffused essential oils can help purify the air. They support our bodies, emotions, wellness, sleep and so much more. The possibilities are endless with diffuser blends to customize your scent and recreate those candle scents you love!
3. Household Cleaners
Do your cleaning supplies take up the entire space under your sink? Conventional household cleaners contain so many harsh chemicals that we’re cleaning our house with. Your counters, floors and other surfaces are getting “cleaned” with these harsh chemicals that little babies, kids and pets are constantly exposed to.
I was always researching ingredients to see if I what I was using was safe. It took up so much time and so many of the products I was using to clean my home had toxic chemicals in them. Here is article from EWG that goes into depth about the harmful chemicals used in cleaning products.
What if I told you that I replaced all of my cleaning supplies for ONE cleaner? I did! It’s the Thieves household cleaner from Young Living. This stuff is amazing. You use one capful of the cleaner to make a 16 oz spray bottle. There are also so many DIYs you can make using it. Thieves household cleaner is plant-based and safe to use around children and pets!
4. Personal Care Products
When it comes to ditching and switching personal care products, you can find yourself feeling a little overwhelmed. We use so many products that it may be challenging to pick somewhere to start. My recommendation is when a product runs out replace it with a safer alternative.
For example, some of the first products I switched were shampoo and conditioner. These products are used pretty regularly, so often one of the first products to switch. They are filled with SLS, parabens and more fragrance. We are literally rubbing this stuff into our scalp! Some other personal care products I switched out in the beginning were toothpaste and hand soap.
Alot of the personal care products I switched to are from Young Living! They have so many products which makes it easy to have a one-stop shop. I currently use the lavender mint shampoo and conditioner, thieves whitening toothpaste and Christmas spirit hand soap. I also DIY my hand soap a lot of the time but for the holidays I got festive 😂
Ditching and switching your products can seem a bit daunting at first. But a big weight can be lifted off your chest when you start using plant-based, toxin free products for your home. My easy button was Young Living! All of your household items can be bought from one place. I love being able to order clean products for my family and have them delivered right to my door. No more searching lists of ingredients or worrying about the products I am using around my family. If you are ready to start ditching and switching your products and make a clean start for the new year, check out Young Living products here!
[…] laundry soap is one of the most toxic products you can bring into your home. Read more about that here. This laundry soap is formulated to be safe for all skin types and is even safe for babies. No more […]