Are You Living In A Toxic Home?

Most of us are not even aware of the scary statistics that exist in our own homes. The EPA estimates that air pollution in our homes is actually 2 to 5 times higher than outside. This statistic is made up of many different things but a lot of that statistic is actually our made up of our cleaning products. Most of us spend 90% of our time indoors instead of outdoors exposing us even more to those toxins.

Here are some more statics that could really scare you:


* There have been 81,000 chemical have been registered with the EPA in the last 30 years and fewer than 20% have been tested for toxicity.
* The poison control center also reports that 90% of all poisonings actually occurs in our homes and in 2005 there were 218,316 reported poison exposures from household cleaning products.
* 20 million people in the United States suffer from asthma
* 1 in 13 school aged kids have asthma.
* The asthma rate has gone up 160% from 1980 to 1994 for children under the age of 5 and that was the last large study done. Who really knows how much worse the statistics could be today.

We know that these changes are effecting our children. Common household cleaners and appliances give off fumes that can cause developmental damage in children and have been shown to lead to cancer in adults. Dr. Herbert Needlman a pediatrician and professor at the University of Pittsburg states " We are conducting a vast toxicological experiment in our society in which our children and our children's children are the subjects."

Here is an example:

Butyl Cellosolve, found in many household, window, shower and tile cleaners. Is noted by the EPA as a Harmful Respiratory Irritant. When you spray products that contain this ingredient you and your family actually inhale the toxic fumes EPA study shows that women who spend 15 min cleaning the shower scum inhale 3 times the acute limit of this chemical.

The most toxic culprits that can be found in most households are oven cleaners drain cleaners, wood and metal cleaners and polishes, tub tile and shower cleaners, toilet cleaners and chlorine bleach.

So what can you do to change this? First and foremost get rid of all the culprits!! All of the cleaners that are listed above are all designated hazardous household waste. Improper disposal of these items according to the CPA can cause harm to the environment and human health. So you do need to contact your city's waste management to see how they would like you to dispose of these products. You will not make a bit of difference in your home if you do not first and foremost get rid of these products.

Do your research. One of the most important decisions you can make is to decide what you will bring into your home. You can visit the website listed below and find out exactly what chemicals are in each cleaner you are using and who are the worst culprits.

http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/ingredients.htm


Next, find an alternative. There are many brands popping up left and right in stores and online claiming to be non-toxic environmentally friendly cleaners but beware. Educate yourself. Simply changing the bottle that they use for their cleaner does not make it non-toxic and safe for your home. There are many chemicals as well that are not listed on the backs of cleaning bottles because they are not required to. Companies are able to get around this by saying these ingredients are their "trade secrets".

The alternative that I personally use is Shaklee cleaner and later started my own business. I started using them about two years ago because of the background that I found out about the company. It has been a "green" company since the 1950s when green was just a color. Everything about the company says non-toxic and environmentally friendly. Everything is packaged in a condensed form so as not to produce additional landfill waste. So it's not just recyclable it's REDUCED, which we all know is just as important if not more. My favorite product that they have is Basic H2™. It's only $12 and you can use it for years. It will save you thousands of dollars. Just this one bottle I use for all of these purposes and I am always learning more.

* Window Cleaner (the only thing that gets my doggies nose prints off my window without smearing:)
* De-greaser (heavy duty cleaning)
* Unclogging Drains
* Mopping the floor (I mixed it up and put it right in the bottle on my Swiffer)
* Hard Wood Floor Polishing
* Removing Paint
* Washing Dishes
* Mixed as Regular Household Cleaner is a bug repellent
* A couple of drops in bath water to clear up skin irritation and rashes
* Carpet Cleaner (spot remover and in your carpet cleaner as well)
* Laundry Pre-Spotter
* Washing The Car
* In Place Of Armour All


Oh my gosh I could go on forever. As you can tell this one bottle can basically replace everything in your cleaning cabinet and unlike a lot of other non-toxic environmentally friendly cleaners it does not require you to work any harder to get things clean.

I personally went on the quest for cleaning changes when I saw an Earth Day special a couple of years ago on the link between cleaning products and allergies and asthma. My little boy had been diagnosed with indoor allergies at less than 3 months old. By the time he was 5 he was on 6 different allergy medications a day. Within a few weeks of seeing that special I had successfully switched everything in my house. I took all the old stuff out and brought in my handy starter kit. I cleaned my house from top to bottom and for the first time was able to wash his laundry with the rest of the families with the new detergent I got as well. Three weeks later...yes literally 3 weeks..he was off all of his allergy medicine. He is now 7 years old and I am happy to report we have never had to revisit the allergy specialist nor take another allergy medicine or breathing treatment. He hasn't had an ear infection which he had at last count 28 of them in his 5 years. There have been no health problems at all. He rarely even brings any bugs home from school.


I can't even explain the need I feel to scream about these products from a mountain top. After all Shaklee is a great company that has 250 products and every one of those products is natural, non toxic and have nothing but health injected into them. But for me the Get Clean™ lined literally changed not only my son's life, but mine as well. I understand that in these tough economic times we all need to cut corners where ever we can. Understand that this does not have to be at the price of your health. With everything included in the Get Clean™ starter kit you will actually save $2400 over the next year. It's time for you to stop and think before you spray. Really think about what you are inhaling and know there are alternatives out there.


To Find Out More About The Get Clean™ Starter Kit which can replace everything in your home to a non toxic environmentally friendly alternative from kitchen to laundry and also save you $2400 over the next year visit http://www.SwitchYourHouse.com

School Supply Hypocrite

So I have been mulling this one over for a while and maybe it's just me I don't know. But it's irritating me. We turned in our school supplies earlier this year. I really do love our school district so do not get me wrong by this post, but this to me is something that I think only parents can change.

Our school has stickers posted everywhere that they use only environmentally friendly cleaning products as a lot of school districts do now which is GREAT! For me personally this means my son no longer has to take allergy medicine at home, because we now have environmentally friendly cleaners at home and at school. His allergies after years of illness I found to be from cleaning products. But one thing alarmed me, as I was browsing the school supply list guess what is listed. Please include a box of CLOROX WIPES!! Are you kidding me??

The school has to be aware of what is in these products or else they would not have gone through the trouble to change the entire school district last year. I do understand the convenience of having those cleaning wipes handy but there are environmentally friendly alternatives that come in easy to use methods. I normally do not get crazy about little things like this, but why change the entire school and then request something like this? We all know the dangers of that stuff and also know that there is really no need for it. Of course the company wants us to think so or they would have no way to market their product! Some good soap and warm water does the trick just fine. But seriously Clorox wipes, the friendly company that makes bleach! So there is my two sense. I will be writing a letter to the school district and I am not sure that one voice will make much of a difference but my feeling is my district does seem to live in this century since they did change over their other products I just don't think they always think things through.

Oh I should say since this is my going green blog let me rephrase. I will EMAIL a letter to the district...not write one lol.

Back To School Green School Supplies

I noticed this year when I was doing my back to school shopping for the kids that so many places now offer recycled or renewable recourse school supplies! Green school supplies seem to be popping up everywhere. But that can be a catch for those of us watching how much we spend. While that is all great I noticed for example a composition notebook that was around $1.50 was around $2.75 for the same recycled version. A lot of the plastic boxes that we used in the past have now changed also to materials that are renewable and while this is good for the planet to have these great options sometimes it's not as good on our pocketbooks.

We have all heard every little bit helps so here is a tip for you. We all know the general essentials the kids are going to need each year. Maybe we can't pinpoint the exact list, but we know the basics. So why not go green school supply school shopping now! You maybe saying what I just got done! That's exactly the point. Now that all the kids are back in school many large stores such as Wal-Mart and Target put those extra supplies they had left on clearance. For example right now most of the supplies at Target right now are 75% off. So why not set aside a drawer somewhere or a storage container and grab those supplies for next year now. Then you can purchase those wiser options that we now have at a price even less than the regular notebooks you purchased two or three weeks ago. It doesn't hurt to have a stash anyway. I know for my kids I have to keep them for the year anyway because there is always a orange folder getting torn up, or using up a notebook so plan ahead now while you can and grab those recycled paper items that maybe you couldn't afford the 1st time around!

Don't forget looking for the BPA free lunch items you can find as well. After all our children's health is worth more than a couple of extra dollars and I bet those are on sell right now too:)

Coca-Cola Shows It's New 'Plant Bottle" To The World.

According to information from the company, the new PlantBottle™ is fully recyclable, has a lower reliance on a nonrenewable resource, and reduces carbon emissions, compared with petroleum-based PET plastic bottles.

“The PlantBottle is a significant development in sustainable packaging innovation,” says Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. “It builds on our legacy of environmental ingenuity and sets the course for us to realize our vision to eventually introduce bottles made with materials that are 100-percent recyclable and renewable.”

The new bottle, made from a blend of petroleum-based materials and up to 30% plant-based materials, is made through a process that turns sugar cane and molasses into a key component for PET plastic. Coca-Cola is also exploring the use of other plant materials for future generations of the PlantBottle.

Something good to know!

Get Off Junk Mail Lists For Free!

Hey everyone! I am sure you have heard a lot of people talking about all that junk mail that we seem to get in our mailbox. Everyone of these services that I have checked out over the last couple of years seem to charge a fee for their service. Don't get me wrong. Most of them are not expensive on average about $33 a year which isn't a lot, but I have found a service that cost nothing! :) Nothing is better than $33 a year I figure. So Click Here and check out Direct Mail's free service.

Chat soon,
Karen Pore

Mobile Recycling..Such An Easy Solution!

In this day and age we spend so much time in the car. Driving back and forth to work, carting the kids around everywhere. Heck some of us spend more time away from home than in their home. Those of us who have the little organizers in our cars usually have a mobile trash stand. A lot of stores have bags that are made for cars and a lot of people use those. So if we do all that to keep our cars organized and control trash why not create a mobile recycling center? I created a trash bag and then on the floor board I just placed a reusable shopping bag on the spare little space on my floor board to use for recycling. I was putting it all in one container and found that I would get lazy and just get rid of it all in the trash. By separating the things you have as you go mobile recycling really seems to work because it doesn't take any time to throw it in one bag versus the other. So a new idea I tried that I thought I would pass it along..and the best thing? This doesn't cost you a dime:) You gotta love that.

Til next time,
Karen Pore

Cheap Way To Go Green? Turn Off The Water

Here is another cheap way to go green. Turn off the water while you are brushing your teeth!

Depending on the make and model of the faucet the average faucet uses about 1.5 gallons of water a minute. Turning off the faucet while you are brushing your teeth can save you some money throughout the year and also save 2,160 gallons of water per year, per person in your house.

Just a little tip to pass along to you!