by Debra Bokur | photography by Andrew Purcell

A little loving care – along with a basket of eco-friendly products – can help transform your home into a sparkling, healthy haven.

Does the prospect of housework have you hiding in the accumulated dust beneath your bed? It doesn’t have to. A simple change in the way you perceive cleaning can make it more manageable. First, consider what your home represents – is it a sanctuary where you go to retreat or replenish your energy? A place filled with meaningful objects? A safe location where you connect with friends and family? When you view your home as a sacred space that offers shelter to you and your loved ones, and a private refuge from the world at large, taking care of it shifts from one of drudgery to an act of consciously and actively honoring it.

“It makes such a difference when we care for our homes with loving attention rather than suffering through it as a loathsome chore,” says Cait Johnson, MFA, and assistant producer of Care2’s Healthy Living channels. Johnson is the author of six books, including Earth, Water, Fire, and Air: Essential Ways of Connecting to Spirit (SkyLight Paths, 2003), and Witch in the Kitchen (Destiny Books, 2001), a seasonal vegetarian cookbook that restores a sense of the sacred to cooking and eating. “If, as physicists tell us, everything is energy, then the loving intention of our home-keeping is sure to affect ourselves and our families positively. My big revelation came when I started adding herbal teas to the water [I use] for wiping my furniture and mopping my floor. I chose herbs with qualities that would be helpful, like basil and marjoram for happiness and harmony. Suddenly, my housecleaning felt connected to the Earth, and every wipe-down became an act of intention for the happiness of my loved ones.”

Next, take control of your environment by banishing those harsh chemical cleaners that make it difficult to breathe, cause your eyes to water, and require protective gloves to handle. A whole new generation of cleaning products offers safe, environmentally responsible options for keeping your home clean. Created with non-toxic, biodegradable ingredients and gentle formulas, they’ll leave your home fresh without harming you, your children, your pets, or the environment. If you choose to mix your own, stock your kitchen with these basics: lemon juice, baking soda, white distilled vinegar, biodegradable liquid soap (such as castile), borax, tea tree oil, cream of tartar, and a selection of antiseptic essential oils. Good choices are pine, sweet orange, lemongrass, rose, clove, birch, thyme, cinnamon, rosemary, and eucalyptus.

KITCHEN

It makes sense that the room where we store and prepare food needs to be hygienic. It also makes sense to not potentially contaminate the beautiful organic foods we’ve just hauled home from the market by placing them on surfaces or in containers that have been washed with chemical detergents or products that contain toxic ingredients. It’s a sad fact that many chemicals found in conventional cleaning products are unregulated, and aren’t even permitted in public workplaces because they fail to meet regulations set forth by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). Happily, choices for ready-made green cleaning products have grown over the past several years, along with consumer awareness.

Try: Make a thick paste from baking soda and hot water, scented with a few drops of your favorite antiseptic essential oil, to clean counters, fridge interiors, pans, stove tops, and ovens. For crusted or difficult surfaces like the inside of your oven, apply the paste and allow it to sit overnight. In the morning, gently scour with a rough cleaning cloth or sponge, then wipe clean with a damp rag, rinsing as necessary. Disinfect sponges after cleaning by placing them in the sink and pouring boiling water over them, allowing them to soak until the water is cool enough to squeeze them dry. Choose biodegradable dish soaps such as Earth Friendly Products Ultra Dishmate.

BATHROOM

The smallest room in the house is often a trigger point when it comes to housecleaning, and for good reason – but when it comes to cleaning, it’s important to keep the whole issue of germs in perspective. As children, many of us were taught to fear germs and bacteria. As adults, this fear may have sparked a mission to eradicate them with bleaches and highly toxic cleaners.

Science teaches that bacteria are not only a fact of life, they’re necessary to the healthy functioning of both the planet and our own individual biological systems. Soil is filled with bacteria that assist in the natural process of biodegradation, and our own bodies are hosts to internal and external bacteria that keep it functioning at optimal levels. When we eliminate bad bacteria with toxic cleaning solutions, we also purge the good bacteria that are essential to the healthy function of the ecosystem, affecting everything from septic systems to the ratio of beneficial bacteria in our digestive systems.

“A certain amount of bacteria is necessary to life and survival,” says Ed Begley, Jr., who’s line of environmentally friendly cleaning products bear his name. “I myself had an issue with this. I’ve been using natural cleaners since 1970, but years ago, I used some highly toxic stuff to kill germs. Since then, I’ve found that certain citrus compounds and pine are powerful sanitizers, cleaning without killing everything they contact, and without damaging the environment.”

Try: Clean sinks, showers, and tubs with a paste made from baking soda and liquid soap. Remove stains in porcelain sinks and tubs with cream of tartar; mildew with tea tree oil and borax; white distilled vinegar to remove toilet stains and deodorize; and tea tree oil mixed with baking soda to sanitize. For mineral deposit buildups, try Super Pine Cleaner Lime-Eater, available at Gaiam.com. While you’re at it, restock your bathroom tissue with recycled paper products from Seventh Generation.

FLOORS

Depending on your floor surface, you can easily blend an effective cleaner. Finished wood floors respond well to hot water and soaps with a vegetable base. Murphy’s Oil Soap is biodegradable, cleans without needing to be rinsed, and has a gentle, fresh scent. Carpets are another issue. If the carpet is small enough, take it outdoors and shake it thoroughly, leaving it in the sun to air. Both small and large carpets can be deodorized by sprinkling them liberally with baking soda, and using a broom to distribute the soda throughout the fibers. Leave on for several hours to overnight, then vacuum clean. You can add fragrance to the baking soda by first mixing it with finely ground herbs such as lavender, chamomile, or rosemary. For stains and spots, try Begley’s Best Spot Remover, a 100 percent plant based product made with pine, citrus, palm, maize, fermented sugar cane, and olive seeds.

Try: For finished wood floors, mix two gallons of hot water with 1/4 cup liquid vegetable oil soap and 1/2 teaspoon glycerin. This blend won’t dry out wood. For tile, mix 2 gallons of hot water with 1/2 cup liquid soap. Rinse with more hot water with distilled white vinegar added (1/4 cup of vinegar for each gallon of water).

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