Category: Uncategorized

Making your home healthier and greener doesn’t have to be expensive, or overwhelming. Here are two changes that can improve the health of your home and our planet.  

Use non-toxic cleaning products.  Most coventional cleaning supplies under your sink have warning and poison labels on them, which means those products contain a potent mix of chemicals.  These chemicals, like ammonia, have a very powerful effect on kids with asthma and they pollute indoor air.  When washed down the drain, they also pollute rivers and lakes.

Look for green cleaners that don't contain chlorine or ammonia. Choose ones that say petroleum-free, biodegradable, or phosphate-free.

Or, make a cleaner yourself.

• Use vinegar instead of bleach, baking soda to scrub your tiles, and hydrogen peroxide to remove stains.
• Vinegar also removes grease and soap buildup.
• Need a window cleaner? Try diluted lemon juice or vinegar. Use borax to inhibit mold growth, boost the cleaning power of soap or detergent, remove stains -- even kill cockroaches, when sugar is mixed in.

Keep house dust under control.  House dust aggravates allergies. It also contains more hazardous chemicals than you might think, including lead, fire retardants, pesticides, and other chemicals.

Vacuum frequently, getting into corners, along the floorboards, and moving furniture to get those dust bunnies.

Make sure your vacuum has strong suction and a HEPA filter so that dust and dirt go into the bag.

• Vacuum at least two times each week.
• Clean the vacuum bag and filter every time, so dust isn't spewed back into the air.

Maid Brigade House Cleaning Services cares about the health of you and your family.  For more information on healthy green living and green cleaning, please log on to greencleancertified.com or maidbrigade.com. For more information on "Household Cleaning Products and Breast Cancer", please watch our video at greencleancertified.com/greentv.

According to a recent World Health Organization report, antibacterial soaps are helping to promote growth of resistant bacteria. 

Chlorine bleach, a common disinfectant frequently found in scouring powders and cleaning solutions, is highly caustic, meaning it can burn skin and eyes.  Plus, it can be fatal if swallowed. When it travels from your drain into the natural world, it can create organochlorines (suspected carcinogens), as well as reproductive, neurological, and immune-system toxins. 

Bleach (also known as sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide), should never be mixed with any product containing ammonia or quaternium compounds. Doing so creates highly toxic chlorine gas. Many conventional scouring powders and cleaning solutions contain chlorine bleach.

Solution.....

Instead of using antibacterial soap, do a thorough hand-washing (about 2 minutes) with plain soap and warm water.

To disinfect bathroom or kitchen surfaces, try white vinegar, which helps kill bacteria, mold, and viruses.  White vinegar can be used on everything from kitchen surfaces to toilet seats. The only foolproof way to kill food-borne pathogens such as salmonella or E coli is to use hot, soapy water to wash all cutting boards, dishes, knives, and surfaces that have touched raw meat or eggs.

Scrubbing sinks, tubs, and countertops with a paste of baking soda (or washing soda) and water effectively removes dirt rings and some stains.  For cleaning windows, fill your own spray bottle with water and either one-quarter cup white vinegar or one tablespoon lemon juice to cut grease.

Maid Brigade House Cleaning Services cares about the health of you and your family.  For more information on healthy green living and green cleaning, please log on to greencleancertified.com or maidbrigade.com.  For more information on "Household Cleaning Products and Breast Cancer", please watch our video at greencleancertified.com/greentv.

Is your home filled with piles of paper on tables?  How about books so thick on the nightstand that you can't even see the time on the clock?  Are your closets so overstuffed with clothes that you can never find what you are looking for, and the clothes you do find are full of wrinkles? 

Then consider these simple steps to help declutter your home:

Junk mail.  The average American household receives about 850 pieces of junk mail every year, so it is no coincidence that paper makes up 1/4 of all landfill waste, or that the junk mail industry's environmental footprint is equivalent to the tailpipe pollution from 9 million cars.

Redeem your tables and countertops by decluttering them!  Go online and register for the Mail Preference Service on the Direct Marketing Association website.  For only one dollar, your name and address will be removed from prospective mailing lists, ending 75% of junk mail in about 90 days.

Empty those closets.  It is very easy to to clutter our closets with so much stuff, but there are also many ways to get rid of the stuff we no longer want.

Start with your closet and all those clothes you think you might wear one day.  Try them on and get rid of anything that doesn't make you look good.

Get rid of clothes by donating them, giving them to a friend, turning them into rags, or sell them.  Thanks to Internet innovations, we can make money by selling our clothes online through Craigslist, ebay, and even clothingswap.com.

Grocery shopping simplified.  The average American uses about 500 plastic bags every year.  Instead of stuffing those bags under the sink for future use, get a couple of good reusable bags and make a habit of storing them in your car so you can use them on your trips to the grocery store.

Are you tired of lugging big cases of soda and water from the grocery store only to watch them clutter up your closets and countertops?  For water, a reusable bottle and a good filter will pay for themselves in no time.  And even soda and seltzer can be made at home with simple home carbonation systems.

Even the most well-organized kitchens tend to overflow onto countertops.  One way to keep that overflow from looking like clutter is to turn it into decoration.  Get a simple decorative fruit bowl and substitute your junk food snacks for fruit.  This way, you are more likely to choose a healthy snack if it is right in front of you.  Since the majority of household waste is made up of packaging, you'll also cut down on the number of times you have to take trash to the curb.

Library books.  If you are one of those people who keeps piles and piles of old magazines or newspapers, it may be time to reintroduce yourself to the local library.

Borrowing one book at a time not only saves you money, but it will cut down on clutter. Using the library will definitely keep your home clutter free!

Clear up a little space around your home and breathe a little easier!

Maid Brigade House Cleaning Services cares about the health of you and your family.  For more information on healthy green living and green cleaning, please log on to greencleancertified.com or maidbrigade.com.  For more information on "Household products and Breast Cancer," please watch our video at www.greencleancertified.com/greentv.

The beginning of every year is a perfect time to start re-organizing and de-cluttering your life and your home.  But where do you begin?

Here are some suggestions to help you get started:

Cupboards and drawers.  Take on manageable amounts.  Begin with a drawer or cupboard, perhaps the toothbrush/toothpaste drawer.  Throw away the extra toothpaste caps and frayed toothbrushes.  Put the head bands back in the comb drawer.  Dig the dental floss out from the back of the drawer and wipe the dried toothpaste off the drawer bottom.  Next, take on the toiletries drawer.  Stack the extra soap, shampoo, and toilet paper neatly.  Put the brushes back in the comb drawer.  Get rid of all the old hair ties that you found in the back of the drawer that you won't use anymore.  Move on to the linen closet.  Fold and stack the towels.  Sort the ratty ones from the nicer ones and tear the old ones into rags.  Put the washcloths in a box or plastic container to keep them contained.  Keep sorting through drawers and closets for as long as you can.

Clothes closets.  Tie a ribbon in the middle of the hanger rod, with all of your clothes hanging to the left of the ribbon.  After you wear something, launder it and hang it up on the right side of the ribbon.  After two months, see what is still hanging on the left and take it to Goodwill.  This method can work assuming you store your clothing seasonally, and you keep costumes, and special outfits and dresses in another place.  If you don't, this project may take up to a year until you have gone through all of the seasons.

Try and keep your closet floors for your shoes, not boxes.  This will keep your shoes from getting squished and ruined.  Closet floors are a magnet for boxes that hold things you don't know where else to put.

Basements and attics.  Out of sight, out of mind!  Moving something to the basement or attic usually means, "I don't want to deal with this now, get it out of my sight."  Attack these piles one at a time and get rid of those stacks once and for all!

Garages.  A thorough housecleaning is going to result in more junk in the garage.  There are going to be some things you just can't part with yet, but after reading about basements and attics, you wouldn't dare send the junk there!  Instead you will send it to the garage!  The garage is a project all in its own and needs time budgeted accordingly.  Begin sorting in the house so that by the time you get to the garage, you're a pro!

Remember:  The important part of de-cluttering is beginning.  Start de-cluttering today!

Maid Brigade House Cleaning Services cares about the health of you and your family.  For more information on healthy green living and green cleaning, please log on to greencleancertified.com or maidbrigade.com.