Ready to Spring Clean? Whether you’re feeling forced to by COVID19 or it’s part of your yearly routine, let’s look at what it really means to come clean and remove the toxins from our homes. This pandemic has brought health and wellness to the top of everyone’s minds and there’s a lot of buzz words out there, but what does it all mean and how can we simply apply this to having a healthy home?Local mom Nicole Christensen is partnering with Hinsdale Area Mom’s for a 3-part series to break it all down for us. She’s a health & wellness advocate with Beautycounter, the leader in clean beauty for the past six years and her motto is “layers of grace” (also her IG handle), do what you can, when/where you can and give yourself a huge amount of love and grace as we’re all doing the best we can!
Knowledge is power, so in this series we’ll look at how we can remove the overwhelm and ensure our homes and the products we use in them are clean and safe…especially as we’re all in them, all the time now.Indoor air can actually be more toxic than outdoor air so here’s Nicole’s Top 4 simple steps to remove air pollutants from your home:
1. Open the windows.
Hello sunny weather, this one will be super easy to start implementing! Since indoor air gets trapped when windows are shut, cracking a window allows the indoor air pollutants to move about and get filtered with fresh air from the outside. Even on cooler days cracking a window is extremely beneficial and advised. Various studies indicate air quality has a profound effect on cognition. With everyone working and learning from home we want that cognition to be able to thrive, so open up those windows!
2. Remove your shoes at the door.
More than just dirt clings to shoes. Everything from bacteria to herbicides to lead can be tracked into your home via shoes which can all add to the air pollution inside. This might take a few weeks to create the habit, but grab a cute basket from Home Goods and start implementing a ‘No Shoe’s Inside’ policy to immediately reduce the toxins from your home!
3. Remove air fresheners/fragrance sprays/scented candles.
Don’t shoot the messenger, but many air fresheners/scented candles are really harmful to our health. They contain phthalates, a known endocrine disruptor and most of the scents are made up of 100’s of synthetic chemicals to create the fragrance. Environmental Working Group rates fragrance as a harmful ingredient since many of the chemicals used are linked to asthma, allergies and even cancer. And if it’s an aerosol fragrance spray, it’s also emitting VOC’s into your home, another air pollutant. A great alternative if you like a scent in your home is diffusing essential oils or just open the windows and let the fresh air circulate your home!
4. Use the exhaust fan every time with a gas stove.
Even if it’s just to boil water for tea, turn the exhaust fan on every time you turn the gas burner on. Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide are all generated by a gas stove, simply turning on the exhaust fan can keep kitchen air clean and expel these pollutants!
These little big-picture changes can go a long way in making your home cleaner and healthier! Next time we’ll look at some of the products we use to clean in our homes from our laundry detergent to hand soaps and make sure they are good for us, here’s to your health and a truly clean Spring!
Any questions in the meantime, Nicole can be reached at [email protected]
This post is sponsored by Nicole Christensen
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