At Picture Perfect Cleaning, we are dedicated to being part of the environmental solution, not the problem. For that reason, we have chosen to use Green Seal products to ensure our business doesn’t add any unnecessary toxins into your space or our atmosphere. If this sounds like something you’re considering for your own home, we have six reasons that might convince you.
We are advocates of green, non-toxic cleaning products. Learn more here.
Your Lungs
If the bottle reads “use in a well-ventilated area” you just know it’s full of harmful chemicals. Studies have shown that using a household cleaning spray can increase the risk of asthma and exacerbate allergies. If you clean to remove the triggers found in your home such as mold, pet dander, and dust mites you may be doing more damage with the caustic cleaners they spray indoors.
The added scent to cover up the chemical smell is typically made of additional chemicals. Those particles do not instantly dissipate when you have finished cleaning the bathroom. They will hang in the air, penetrating the lungs of anyone who uses the bathroom over the next hours, or even days. A better choice: use natural products like tea tree oil, lavender, or essential oils to add fragrance to your cleaners.
If you find that mold is a real issue in your home, we suggest you reach out to our local Calgary experts, Certified Asbestos Removal. They are the real pros, and offer air monitoring, mold and asbestos removal services.
Your Skin
As you clean, your skin absorbs the chemical in the cleaners you use. If you’re using cleaners that contain a large amount of chlorine or bleach, that could be an issue for you. Many cleaning products include hypochlorites, a caustic soda that causes the skin to burn after only a few minutes of exposure.
You may notice how dry your hands are after a day of cleaning. It seems that no amount of lotion can quench the dryness. This is because your cleaning products have leeched all your natural oils out of your hands. Alternatively, you may notice a rash, itching, or red bumps on your wrists, arms or hands. This is a reaction from your body indicating that the chemicals in your cleaners are irritants.
Your Eyes
Your eyes are delicate organs, vital to your life. When you use harmful chemicals in your cleaning you run the risk of splashing, spraying, and sprinkling them into your eyes, causing permanent damage. Your eyes are only protected by a thin mucous membrane and these toxic chemicals can be very dangerous.
Even when you are finished cleaning your home, you leave a small amount of residue on the surfaces you cleaned. Particularly in the bathroom, bleach and abrasive chemicals can be left behind to be splashed in the eyes when water is turned on.
Immediately following chemical contact with the eyes: Flush your eyes with cool water for 15 minutes. Your eyes may feel better right away, but it’s important to continue rinsing for the full 15 minutes to make sure the majority of the chemical is washed away. Once you have flushed your eyes out, immediately head to your nearest emergency clinic.
Your Home
If these toxic cleaning supplies are so caustic they burn your skin, trigger allergies, and irritate your eyes, what are they doing to your household? Cleaners that contain bleach will drain the colour from your furniture. Constantly wiping your kitchen or bathroom counters with aggressive chemicals will wear down the surface until there is nothing left.
Your wood furniture is sealed so that water and other liquids can’t ruin the strength and overall look. Cleaners strip your furniture of this important sealant until eventually, the wood is at the mercy of anything on it. Once this happens, anything you pour or spray on your furniture is effectively in your furniture.
Your Bank Account
We typically have a cupboard full of cleaners, each tasked with a specific area of the house. However, the truth is that most of the house can be dusted, cleaned and sanitized with the same solution. Not only that, but your all-purpose cleaning solution can be made from some of the cheapest items in the home – baking soda, lemon juice, vinegar, and water. Your costs are cut even more when you buy these items in bulk.
A tiny drop of essential oil can make all the difference in your DIY cleaning solution. Tea tree oil is a natural disinfectant while lemon juice can help break down dirt and muck. Adding your own blend of clove, orange, or lavender essential oil means your house will have its own signature scent that is consistent from room to room, without being overwhelming.
Your Children
Children’s bodies are more sensitive to everything, including household cleaners. The airborne toxins released when you clean bathrooms and the kitchen are inhaled by your child and taken in by their still-developing lungs. Any residue left behind after cleaning can get on their skin and hands, and evitably in their mouth.
Your kids are inquisitive, they love to explore everything. If your child finds brightly coloured cleaners there’s no reason for them to think they’re anything but delicious. Or when kids want to “help” you with the cleaning, you can gladly give them a spray bottle of non-toxic cleaner, but would you be happy handing them a bottle that says “use in a well-ventilated area”?
Our Environment
Cleaning products packed with nitrogen, phosphorus, and ammonia are dangerous to our earth. You may think that the damage is isolated to your home, but the effects of chemical cleaners go far deeper than that. They exit your home through your drains and pipes, into the sewers. Water treatment plants do what they can to strip harmful pollutants out of the water but those three remain as this tainted water heads to our natural waterways.
These residual chemicals now invade our lakes and rivers, affecting fish, ducks, and bugs native to those landscapes. These animals are eaten by the larger animals like mountain lions and wolves who live around the water source. It grows into the plants, which are eaten by the herbivorous deer and birds. Soon our entire ecosystem is living with the effects of your household chemicals.
Switch to Green Cleaning
The only benefit to cleaning with abrasive and toxic chemicals found in household cleaners is that they strip your surfaces more aggressively, meaning less intense scrubbing for you. However, they end result of non-toxic cleaners is the same, even if it took a little more work to get there.
At Picture Perfect Cleaning, we know the importance of your health, your children, and our environment. That’s why we’ve chosen to use Green Seal certified products. It takes a little more elbow grease but the overall impact of choosing non-toxic cleaners is something we can be proud of.
