Earth Day Green Cleaning Anti-Aging Too!

Earth Day 2009 is here, but recently there has been a movement to help make Earth Day every day. We see green messages everywhere: television commercials, television news, billboards, newspapers, magazines, radio, print mail, email. Many people are jumping on board and participating in all kinds of ways to help our planet.  Cleaner air, water, and homes can contribute to our staying healthier and our fight against aging.  Changing to energy efficient light bulbs and unplugging electrical products when not in use are two easy and measurable ways to do our own individual part. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of ways to be more ‘green‘.

My favorite way to help is to clean with green cleaners. Getting the chemicals and toxins, from every day cleaning products and personal care products, out of our homes provides huge benefits for both people and the environment. National brand cleaning products are heavily advertised (have been forever) and promise to disinfect, brighten, clean and make our homes and clothes clean and smelling fresh. But at what cost to our health?

Many popular cleaning products contain chemicals and toxins that are not earth friendly and have been associated with serious illness and even deadly diseases. These toxins have been linked with illnesses like allergies and asthma, and more serious diseases including cancer that sadly is not only a disease of aging.

Today, there are many earth day green cleaning alternatives. When first introduced, people weren’t happy with many green cleaning products that were offered. These healthier cleaners have come a long way, and we see brands that have taken their time and their resources to actually test individual green cleaners against familiar store brands. The outcome was that the green cleaning products performed as well or better than the toxic brands.

Many folks choose to clean with natural products that you probably already have in your home. Lemons, baking soda, and vinegar are common every day ingredients that can clean, freshen, and even disinfect your house. Others are more comfortable with purchasing cleaning products for specific jobs throughout the house. The new green cleaning products now offered are healthier to use and for your family to breathe.

While it might be a new concept for many families is to get a healthy financial stimulus from changing cleaners in their homes, it is real and can be done.   Thousands of dollars can be saved by switching to just one green cleaning product.   For example, one bottle of concentrated cleaner at around ten dollars can make thousands of bottles of window cleaner, at a few cents each, when you use only two drops and combine it with water in your spray bottle.  This is compared to buying thousands of bottles of window cleaner at two to three dollars each.  When you mix the concentrate a little stronger, you get the equivalent of hundreds of bottles of all-purpose cleaners that tackle many different jobs in the home.  One bottle of powerful concentrate adds up to huge money savings.

Next we consider the savings to the environment.   Keeping hundreds and thousands of bottles from our landfill is a lucrative contribution to keeping our planet clean.   On top of that if you consider the pollution effects of the manufacture and transportation processes, it is costly financially and environmentally to ship bulky water that we can be adding ourselves at home.

An important consideration of house cleaning is performance, of course.  We want our cleaning products to do their job and we want to see satisfying results. Green cleaning products have come a long way.   When first introduced, people weren’t happy with many brands that were offered.  Today, we see brands that have taken their time and their resources to actually test individual green cleaners against the popular store brands that have been heavily advertised for years and years.  The outcome was that the green cleaning products performed as well or better than the toxic brands.

Our health should be one of our top priorities.  We only get one body and it is our job to take care of that body.  It is not in our best interests to be breathing air that is polluted with toxins and chemicals and nasty fumes that are associated with respiratory illnesses and more serious diseases.  Allergies and asthma in both children and adults are on the rise, and they along with reproductive illnesses and cancer have been linked to everyday chemicals and toxins found in our homes.  The EPA has stated that indoor air pollution can be more dangerous than outdoor air.

When you combine the benefits of saving money, having a healthier home that does not raise our chances of getting sick, and helping our environment in significant ways, that is 3 reasons why to have a closer look at replacing cleaning products filled with chemicals that you many have in your home with natural, effective green cleaning solutions.  Given the serious state of our nation’s economy, we are currently being offered various stimulus packages that may or may not be seriously beneficial to us.   Green cleaning has no downsides that I can see.