How to Create A Chemical-Free Home

Many health-conscious trailblazers are looking for ways to reduce exposure to toxicants all while being mindful of budget. We see you and we get it, and we want to show you how doable it is to create a chemical-free home. So today we’re offering up several free solutions for you to try.  

Chemicals and heavy metals are ever-present as we walk around in the world but that doesn’t mean we need to bring them home with us. We can quite literally leave them at the door. What if we told you that you could greatly reduce your exposure to chemicals and heavy metals just by incorporating a few simple practices into your day-to-day routine? Let’s look at how you can create a chemical-free home starting today.

Implement A No-Shoe Policy

As we go about our daily lives, our shoes grace lots of surfaces and pick up things we don’t necessarily want on our floors at home—where our babies crawl and where we walk with our bare feet. When you think of a perfectly productive day, do you remember all the places your shoes went? If we imagine this path in our minds it might include sidewalks, streets, lawns, construction zones, grocery stores, playgrounds, commercial buildings, you name it.

 On a daily basis, we can pick up, at minimum, the following toxicants on our shoes:

• PAH (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) from roads—these are associated with an increased risk of cancer, and poorly affect our immune, reproductive, and nervous systems.

• Pesticides from lawn care—they are associated with an increased risk of cancer, and poorly affect our nervous and endocrine systems.

• Lead from construction zones or soil–this is a potent neurotoxin.

• PFAS (or “forever chemicals”) from new buildings or artificial turf—they are associated with an increased risk of cancer, hormone disruption, and poorly affect the immune system.

These small exposures we bring into our homes can add up over time. Toxicants such as the ones listed can cause damage by accumulating in the body. But the good news is that you can remove your shoes after a long day and reduce your exposure by up to 60%! Simply wiping your shoes on a mat and leaving them at the door can make THAT much of a difference in your home, helping to protect not only your health but the health of your little ones!

Now, if you are unable to remove your shoes you can wipe them on a doormat several times, which still helps reduce residues of toxicants. Having a shoe locker by the front door makes this practice so much easier-to take make it seamless simply fill the locker with some extra slippers.

Ritual of Washing Your Hands 

In our homes, we can often forget that invisible toxicants end up on surfaces and in many corners of any room. While we do our best to avoid chemicals and heavy metals, they are intrinsic to many of the products we use and bring into our homes. As you continue to create a chemical-free home, one thing that you can do right away is to encourage hand washing more often, especially before eating, since we tend to pick up toxicants on our hands.

 Toxicants that our hands come into direct contact with at home include: phthalates, lead, and flame retardants. Hand washing is particularly helpful in reducing toxicants for younger children who are still growing and tend to put lots of things into their mouths. Since a child’s development makes them more vulnerable, they can be even more sensitive to toxicants on their hands that are ingested.

 To help make hand washing easy to practice, there are plenty of nontoxic soaps you can invest in, including Dr. Bronner’s Unscented Organic Sugar Soap.

Open Windows to Improve Indoor Air Quality

Letting your home breathe now and again can help to improve your indoor air quality. Believe it or not, our indoor air quality can be 5x more polluted than outdoor air! Our home interiors become polluted by the cleaning products and fragrance we use, our cooking habits, and the off-gassing of furniture.  

But we can help bring more fresh air indoors by ventilating and opening up the windows and doors, which can help reduce VOCs and formaldehyde. To know when to open all of those windows and doors, you can monitor the outdoor air quality on any weather app or purchase a monitor at your local hardware store. Letting fresh air in can reduce the amount of toxicants in your home and can help to improve the health of your family.

Creating a chemical-free home starts with making small changes that matter, that are affordable, and that fit into your life.

As you’ve learned, the health of our home has a direct impact on our own personal health, but making small changes can make a big difference.

Looking for more easy and affordable ways to create a chemical-free home? Check out 10 of our affordable home detox tips:

Artisan Home Health is here to support you virtually or in person in Boulder, Denver, and surrounding areas.