Crunchy Stewardship

Clean Living Made Easy: Natural Solutions for Every Room

• Katie Jones • Season 1 • Episode 18

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Ready to ditch the toxic chemicals and create a healthier home environment? In this episode, Katie and Chrissy dive deep into the world of cleaning products - from the hidden dangers lurking in conventional cleaners to simple, affordable alternatives that actually work.

We cover everything you need to know about transitioning to non-toxic cleaning, including why it's often the second step people take after switching to healthier food choices. You'll learn about the balance between staying clean and not over-sanitizing (spoiler: your immune system needs some exposure to build strength!), plus discover why that dust in your home contains way more than you might think.


Chapters: 

00:00 Welcome to Crunchy Stewardship

01:04 Introduction to Today's Topic: Cleaning Products

01:22 The Risks of Conventional Cleaning Products

01:38 Homemade and Natural Cleaning Solutions

05:17 The Importance of Multipurpose Cleaners

07:37 The Role of Bacteria in Building Immunity

13:45 Dust and Indoor Pollutants

21:38 Floor Cleaning Tips and Tricks

30:26 Kitchen and Bathroom Cleaning Essentials

31:18 Finding the Right Toilet Bowl Cleaner

32:17 Toilet Hygiene Tips

33:27 The Importance of Gloves in Cleaning

35:12 Exploring Non-Toxic Cleaning Products

42:45 Homemade Laundry Detergent

48:17 DIY Dishwasher Tablets

51:56 The Downside of Dryer Sheets

55:42 Challenges with Cloth Diapers

57:05 Starting Your Non-Toxic Journey

59:03 Encouragement and Final Thoughts

59:48 Listener Engagement and Feedback


Key Takeaways:

Whether you're just starting your crunchy journey or looking to make the switch from conventional cleaners, this episode gives you practical, budget-friendly solutions to create a healthier home environment for your family. It doesn't have to be expensive, in fact it could actually save you money while also keeping your family healthier! 


Links We Mentioned

Recommended Brands:

  • Grove Collaborative Multipurpose cleaner  - https://amzn.to/4fLeyPo 
  • Branch Basics Concentrate cleaner for all purposes - https://amzn.to/3HP3zIa
  • Molly Suds Dish and laundry detergent - https://amzn.to/3UCHqjn
  • ECOS Toilet bowl cleaner - https://ecos.com
  • Nature's Promise - Toilet bowl cleaner (available at various retailers)
  • Seventh Generation Various cleaning products - https://amzn.to/45sS56q
  • Puracy Dish detergent pods - https://amzn.to/4oNqh4h 
  • Aleva Naturals Laundry bars for DIY detergent - https://alevanaturals.com
  • Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap Multi-purpose soap bars - https://amzn.to/45Nq3Bt

Helpful Apps:

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Follow us on Instagram @crunchystewardship

FREE How to Afford Non-Toxic Living Workbook: https://crunchystewardship.com/how-to-afford-non-toxic-living

Katie:

Hey, and welcome back to Crunchy Stewardship. My name is Katie Fiola Jones.

Chrissy:

And my name is Chrissy Rombach. We are two cousins who are passionate about learning and sharing knowledge to equip others to steward their spiritual, mental, emotional, financial, and physical health in order to honor God with every aspect of their lives.

Katie:

In our podcast, we take deep dives into what it means to steward our lives as God originally intended for us with the resources that he has given us. We look at all sorts of topics like food, medicine, finances, mental health, and lots more through a natural lens and with a biblical foundation.

Chrissy:

Before we get started though, if you have been enjoying our podcast and want to hear more of it, please make sure you subscribe and leave us five star rating. This is tremendously helpful in helping other people find our show in the future. And if you aren't already signed up for our weekly newsletter, go ahead and take a moment to do that by clicking on the link in the show notes. So today. We are going to be talking about cleaning products. This is one of those items that after food is kind of a next step for a lot of people on, transitioning their home to a healthy, non-toxic environment. And let's be real, a lot of those conventional cleaning products out there do quite the opposite of clean. They might make the surface antibacterial with absolutely zero microbes on it at all whatsoever, but at the same time, they come with a huge risk to our health. And so today, Katie and I are just going to be talking about those risks that conventional cleaning products, um, serve to us when we use them, and then some ways that you can get around them, other cleaning products that we use, that we love, um, even some homemade methods that we use and love. So stay tuned. I'm actually really looking forward to this episode. I think it's gonna be great.

Katie:

Yeah. I actually find it really funny that we have not had a podcast episode on this. I know when you and I were talking about our plan of what to talk about next, we were like, how have we not done a cleaning products episode? Because what's actually kind of interesting for my journey, the kind of like getting into crunchiness journey. I actually switched a lot of my personal care products and cleaning products pretty early on, and this was like years ago before I would ever consider myself crunchy. But when I was going through this like switch of these home products, whether it was cleaning or personal care, I was doing it more with this mindset of being more environmentally friendly. And you are kind of going down this environmental route, or just the health and crunchiness route, they tend to collide in many ways because a lot of the products that tend to be healthier for our bodies are also healthier for the environment because a lot of the conventional products that we use in our homes for personal care or for cleaning, tend to be very toxic and have chemicals in them that like are endocrine disrupting. So for our health, that's really bad, but they also have negative impacts for the environment and they intoxicate or they, what is the word I'm thinking about? They, they make our water supply bad. I can't think of the word, but they, they're, they're basically bad for both things. And so I originally got into this like cleaning product journey myself, just from more of an environmental thing. And now that I'm learning, oh, it's also actually they can be really bad for our health as well when we're using some of these more conventional products. So, yeah, it's kind of funny, you're right that it is typically one of the first steps if, if, if it's not the first, it's usually the second step that a lot of people take after food. So one of these two things tends to come first or second. And we haven't had a, an episode yet on it, but here we are. It's never too late. Right, Chrissy?

Chrissy:

Yeah. That's so funny that you say like you started your cleaning product journey way before your food journey. I was kind of the other way around. I, well, not even the other way around, just a mixed mosh of a lot of things. I started my food eating healthy and then I started cleaning products, eating healthy. And slowly but surely both of them have been evolving as I've been running out of cleaning products that I've been using and replacing them with healthier items. And then same thing with food of like changing my grocery store. I immediately have access to so many more healthy food options than I did before at a previous grocery store. And so it's a process and by no means are either Katie or I perfect at it. Um, we both. Still, I know I still have a few things in my house that I cannot wait until that bottle is empty so I can get something better. Um, so yeah, we're just gonna go through it and we have a little bit of an outline. It's actually crazy. We made an outline for this episode, unlike previous episodes. Um, so we'll just start off today talking about multipurpose cleaners. What are the best, how can we do it?

Katie:

Yeah. I think multipurpose obviously is one of those like products that obviously there's many purposes for it, and it's one of the cleaning products that I think should be switched the soonest if you can, because you use it everywhere typically. You know, you use it on your kitchen counters, you use it in your bathrooms, you use it, I mean, anywhere. Everywhere, right? And so one of the things that I've learned about multipurpose cleaning is that we often use these like bad products, and more expensive products, but your multipurpose cleaner can be as simple as just vinegar and water. In fact, that's kind of like the traditional and original cleaning for anywhere around the house was just vinegar, like using vinegar on everything because it kills the bad stuff that you don't want and, and it still is safe and healthy for your family. Because, I mean, one of the big things for me too is like with, with having a baby around, if I use any of the products that are your typical, like, have Clorox and all the nasty stuff in it. You think if I'm spraying that on kids' toys or even on the kitchen counters or on my chairs or anything like that, that is stuff that Malakai puts in his mouth on a daily basis or eats off of or he touches or something like that. I mean, even our floors, you know, you think about all the things that we are touching and getting into our bodies. And so even just having any of the other stuff on these things, like any of the other cleaning products, um, on these items in our house, can be disruptive for his gut especially. We're just really, I mean, after him being on so many antibiotics when he was born, we're always concerned about, his gut and keeping his gut really healthy and just building up his immune system. And so, mean, this is something we didn't talk about in the introduction, but something that is on my mind and I've actually been learning more about is that sometimes it's not actually really good to go and disinfect everything in your life because we kind of need the bacteria in order to build up our immune systems and to keep our guts healthy. Because if we don't have them, we like, we need that bacteria in order to grow good bacteria to then fight off infections and and things in the future. I bet you probably have more to say about that because you probably know more about like the bacterial growth and funness and stuff. I dunno.

Chrissy:

I have to say, I have not studied bacterial growth before, but in general, the way it works is when your body is exposed to, microbes, slowly but surely, you get a little bit of this, a little bit of that your body's immune system has the natural ability to fight off little pathogens here and there. You know, that's why when kids are little, a lot of people are say, say, ah, it's fine. He can eat the dirt.Well, yes, quite literally, dirt is actually known to have a lot of really beneficial microbes in it, like probiotics. Um, it, it does have actually probiotics and prebiotics in it, which is fascinating. Maybe don't go out and just like eat a spoonful of dirt. But also, um, when we talk about like buying fruits and vegetables, if they have dirt on them, especially if they're organic, if they're not organic. Don't take this advice, but if you're eating organic, then it's very good for those fruits and vegetables to still have the dirt on them and you just eat it like straight out of the ground or you rinse it underwater real quick and then take a bite of it because those little micro doses to these pathogens give your body the ability to fight them off quicker. So essentially you're telling your immune system, Hey, I'm bad. I'm a little tiny bad guy. And your immune system's like zap little, tiny bad guy. You're gone. Well now the immune system has a memory, which is wild. God. The the more, actually, let me just side note. The more I learn about the human body, the more I realized just how amazing and beautiful God's creation is. Like God created our bodies to heal themselves and he also gave us. The ability and the resources through our natural environments to maximize that healing. And so if we are exposing ourselves in micro doses to these pathogens that are naturally around us, our bodies will have the innate ability to protect us from those. So like I was saying, a little dose of, say a flu virus. You know, one kid in the classroom, way on the other side of the room has the flu. Your kid is on this side of the room, the flu virus does travel that far. It goes bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop all the way. And your kid gets a little tiny sniffle. Okay, that's it. They'll get it at maybe the first time, or they'll get the flu the first time. Well, the immune system has a memory. And so when. A kid or a person is exposed then to that pathogen a second time, they're not going to have that same reaction as they did the first time. So essentially the way it happens is our bodies have a memory. Our immune system has a memory. So as it's exposed to these tiny little pathogens repeatedly, it creates a memory of what that pathogen is like, and then is more able to fight it off in the future. For instance, the common cold, um, kids get colds all the dang time. I swear. Toddlers are little snot balls. We're running around with boogers hanging out their nose. Especially the daycare kids, they always have a cold. But how many of those kids who always had a cold as a child grow up to continue always having colds? Very few. It's those repeated very small instances of illness or pathogens or bad bacteria that your body is exposed to earlier in life gives your body the ability to then fight it off quicker and more easily as an adult or even like the second time your body's exposed to it. Um, now at the same time, I do have to caveat. Allergies are different because allergies are opposite. If oftentimes with allergies, if you're exposed the first time, your body doesn't know what it is and so it doesn't react. And then the second time it knows what it is. And so it overreacts, but that's not what I'm talking about.

Katie:

Hmm.

Chrissy:

I'm talking about illnesses. Allergies are a completely different ball game. If you wanna talk to me about allergies, you can definitely open this conversation up on our Facebook group Crunchy Christian Mamas, on a Budget, because that's just a whole nother rabbit hole that's really fun to go down. So that's my little sciencey tidbit for today.

Katie:

Yeah. So what I am hearing is it's, it's kind of like this balance, right? We don't want to be. Overly clean. In fact, I've actually heard some now like new ideas about like, washing your hands constantly or I, I mean all the things like, we don't want to completely disinfect our lives because we need the organisms that are living on our bodies because it, it's kind of like a symbiotic relationship is kind of what I'm hearing from you and, and what I've been hearing from other professionals that it's like we kind of, we want to work together and it helps to build our immune systems and help us to fight off worse things in the future. And so it's actually kind of a good thing, but we also don't want to live a very messy life. We, we don't wanna be sloppy. Especially actually, the, the interesting thing I've been learning about in our home is dust and like not leaving all of the particles, like just leaving, like living around in our house because dust itself on all of our surfaces is not just. Like, I know that a lot of us like kind of have the idea that yes, there are dust mites and there's skin cells that are like left around in dust and there's pet dander if you have pets, but. Not only is dust made up of those things that were, that are pretty common that we understand, but it's also made up of pollen from the outdoors. Um, it's made up of mold spores, insect particles. That was one thing that I was like, oh, yeah, that probably makes sense of, with all the like spiders that I kill in my house and flies that die. Like, so there's like insect pieces and then you think about like if you have windows open or even just when your doors open. But like you think about all the stuff that comes in, like, if your neighbor is doing some kind of renovation project and you guys live near each other, the drywall from your neighbor's house is going to get into your house. But also if you're walking around in the yard and like your neighbors are spraying insecticide or herbicide or anything, like they're spraying their yard, or if you're walking around the park, the park usually sprays their lawns. If you track that inside with your shoes and don't take your shoes off, then all of that gets into your house as well. So it's on your floors and then gets into the air. And so dust is like, not just these like common things that we think of, of like dust mites and skin cells and stuff, but it's also just all these other pollutants that are kind of like hitching a ride into your home. And so it's really important still to clean up your house, um, because there's, there's other stuff besides kind of the germs that we're thinking of. And so in my mind, that's like the one thing that I am trying to battle against, I guess. Especially with a baby who's now, you know, scooting around the floor everywhere. He's like picking up everything. And a lot of times, oh my gosh, he literally, Chrissy the other day he's doing this funny, like, crawling thing with his, like, he like. Puts his face on the couch and like on things and he like literally like mouth open wide, just like drags his mouth on things. And so he's like picking up whatever is on the couch or on the floor or on whatever he is putting in. And I'm like, oh my gosh, like what was on there last, you know? So I'm like, try not to panic, but I'm also like, okay, yeah, build that immune system. But if it's like glyphosate on the floor, I'm like, no, please don't put that in your mouth. So anyway, it's this balance of like, okay, we need to not disinfect everything, but we also wanna be aware of the other things that could be polluting our homes as well. So we need to kind of have that balance of like cleaning it and keeping it sanitary, but also not like overdoing it. So anyway, all that to say, we'll go back to now talking about multipurpose cleaner because you do want to clean off your surfaces and stuff. I personally have completely switched to just using vinegar and water, and it's kind of like a, I actually can't remember if I did like a 50 50 ratio or, slightly more of vinegar, slightly more of water. I, I honestly can't remember, but I literally have just a spray bottle that says vinegar on it, and it's just a diluted vinegar mixture that I spray on everything to clean it. And that's, it's just a tried and true way of cleaning and that's what I use for multipurpose cleaner. Um, sometimes if I'm getting fancy I'll add like some essential oils to it and stuff, but I mean, at that, it's just kind of like, nah, it's kind of a waste. I just like to, um, just do the basic vinegar and water, but I've, I've committed now to just doing that for multipurpose. Um, what do you use for multipurpose, Chrissy?

Chrissy:

I actually use one from Target. It's called Grove, and I originally got this more so because of the environmental aspect to it. I have a friend who's like big onto clean cleaning and everything like that, and I got this actually before I started my crunchy journey. So I've had this multipurpose cleaner for at least a year now, I think maybe longer. And you buy it in like a little, maybe one or two ounce jar and then dilute it in a full spray bottle of water. And, I personally think it's a much better option if you don't like the smell of vinegar, because I know that's a huge turnoff for a lot of people. Vinegar is very, it smells very pungent. It kind of smacks you in the face after you're cleaning with vinegar. It's like, oh my gosh, my whole house smells like vinegar. Um, and so this one, it actually has a very pleasant smell. There's a few different options.

Katie:

So we actually did use Grove for, oh, actually a few years we were using Grove. Um, I think, I don't know for sure, but I think that they may have fragrance in them. They had some ingredient in it that I was like, I don't know if we wanna do this anymore. But I really enjoyed using Grove. We have all of their bottles still, like their glass spray bottles. I really like them and I like that they have nice little labels on them that you can kind of switch around and stuff and, and it's really nice. Um, I also just decided that, you know, vinegar and water does the job and it's the least expensive way of cleaning, and so I kind of just decided that. I don't really care about the vinegarey smell and I'll just get over it because it's saving me money when I'm like spending more money on our groceries typically when we're, you know, since we do all organic and all the healthier options and stuff. So we've been doing that, which does cost a little bit more than just your traditional, you know, conventionally grown foods. So that's kind of one of the compromises I've made. I don't love the vinegar smell all the time, but you know, it gets the job done and it's cheap and so it kind of what we're, what we're doing now. But I do really like Grove other than that.

Chrissy:

I did actually just do a quick little Google search of Grove, which is always the best way to learn information, do a quick Google search. Um, apparently they have quote unquote, like natural fragrance in it, which I have actually heard that if a company is clear on how the fragrance is created, then some fragrances can be okay. But in general, for the most part, fragrance is no bueno because it is an endocrine disrupter. So it is something you want to stay away from. Um. But I also, at the same time, some companies have figured out a way to create fragrance that is actually okay. So I don't know where Grove is on that one, but I think fragrance is the only ingredient in there that is like questionable for that

Katie:

Yeah. I think you're right.

Chrissy:

at the same time though, vinegar and water works fantastic and still smells fine if you add, a little bit of essential oils to it. Or if you do like a one quarter vinegar to three quarters water, then it's not gonna be as aggressive and pungent of a smell. So, yeah. So let's transition to talking about floors.'cause Katie, I know you mentioned, um, of course with Malakai scooting around and everything on the floors getting on him and in his mouth. So, let's talk about some of the things that we use for our floors. How frequently do we clean our floors? I'm not very good at that all the time, but that's just a side note. Um, so for me, I am someone who vacuums on a daily basis. I have one of those little cordless handheld vacuums that I will go through the apartment, boom, boom, boom, 15 minutes done, got the whole thing every single day. And if I didn't, if I miss something, then I will sweep it up because. I like, one of my biggest pet peeves is things sticking to my feet when I'm walking around my house. I don't like wearing shoes in our apartment or in our house. I not even like, my not wanting to wear shoes is not even from a cleanliness standpoint because I grew up in a shoe wearing household. We always wore shoes in the house. It's more so of like a, I just don't, like, they just get annoying on my feet. They get in the way and they're clunky, and I just don't like the way they are on my feet. And so that's the reason that I don't wear shoes in the house. Not necessarily because of the cleanliness of it, although that should be another reason. But yeah, so I vacuum every single day. And then in terms of cleaning, mopping my floors, I unfortunately don't do that very often. I think honestly, probably maybe once every other month, once every three months. And. Just because it's an, it's an annoying process and I just don't like doing it. And because of that, unfortunately it is taking me so long to get through my floor cleaner from my pre crunchy life that I'm still using my pre crunchy floor cleaner, but I'm a little bit less concerned about it because I don't have a baby crawling around and I usually don't sit on my hardwood floors. So that's generally how that goes. What about you, Katie? I.

Katie:

Yeah, we, we vacuum all the time. We have a, just one of those simple, you know, battery operated ones that I vacuum our kitchen area especially, I probably vacuum it like two to three times a day just because Malakai is throwing food all the time. So we just have stuff all over. And I'm the same way. I, I hate stepping on food. I did recently go to the thrift store and get some indoor flip flops for myself just because the floor here for some reason, walking on it. It's the, the place we're in. We're not in our actual home. We're in a temporary house. We're living in somebody's guest house right now. While we are in the process of looking for a new home, as we've just moved to Michigan and i, I don't even know how to describe it, but it's just, for some reason, my feet are just really tired on it. So I wear indoor flip flops because I don't want to wear my outside shoes inside and, and drag around all the dirt and nastiness. And so I do like that it is like a laminate flooring because I actually hate carpet like decently with a passion. I enjoy the cushiness and the comfort of it, but it is so hard to clean and keep cleaned, and it just like attracts all of the nasty pollens and dust and all the things that I was talking about that are, are just in our air and, and in our households. And the carpet just sucks it all up. And so I hate it.

Chrissy:

I love carpet. Because it's so soft and cushy on my feet. And it's more cozy and I feel like I can sit on it. Especially like if you keep it clean and you vacuum your carpet at least once a week like you're supposed to do, then it doesn't get all that nasty. And if you're not wearing shoes, then it continues to not be all that nasty and it absorbs sound so your house isn't nearly as echoy. I'm not even kidding you, Katie. Our apartment is probably majority laminate flooring, and I have rugs in every room that does not have carpeting because I love carpet. Like I actually have a rug in my kitchen right now.

Katie:

I do like rugs. I, I like rugs because they're a little bit more cleanable and, and especially if they're the rugs that you can put into a washing machine. I love that. I, I started hating carpet more once we had foster children who spilled stuff on the carpets all the time. They like, kid, you not, Chrissy, they peed on the carpets and, and then you think about like, with pets and stuff, when they pee on carpets or like, you know, heaven forbid they poop on it. And it's just like, you just think about all that nastiness, like getting stuck in the carpet. And I just feel like no matter what you clean it with and how often you clean it, it just stays there or the smell stays there and all this stuff. So yes, I, it, it depends on who's living in the home. If it's just like Wes and I, then I'm like, yeah, carpet's great'cause we know how to handle it and take care of it well. But kids are, and pets especially are a different thing. Not that we would ever have dogs, so, um, that's a different story, but

Chrissy:

We can agree to disagree on that topic. Granted, I am speaking from a pre-child perspective.

Katie:

Yes, it changes, everything changes when you have kids. You're like, how can I keep my house as clean as possible? It's so hard when you are a neat freak and have children because they don't understand yet. But I have learned that with carpets, um, and with, when it comes to vacuums that, HEPA vacuums, so like having a HEPA filter in your vacuum is the best because they pick up the highest percentage of dust and pollen, mold, bacteria and, and anything else that would be on the floor. And we do not currently have a HEPA vacuum at least I don't think our big one is. And I can't check right now because our big one is in storage right now. We've been using our little one. And then our friends that we're staying with have a bigger vacuum here. And I, I haven't looked at that one, but our little kitchen one that we use, um, it. not a HEPA filter, but when you use that, it, it gets the best. Like it cleans the best. And so if you can look for that, um, HEPA stands for like high efficiency particle or particulate air, I think. Something like that. So it's, it's supposed to be the best for cleaning. And so I, I have that written down and it's like, oh, at some point when we, you know, get a new vacuum, maybe I will over to that, but. of the best ways to keep your floors clean are just to like, not wear shoes inside. Again. Like you just never know. What if you did step in dog poop and you just didn't realize, and then now you're wearing your shoes inside and you're getting dog poop everywhere. And then you're like, why does my house smell so bad? And then again, like if you're walking on your neighbor's yard and they just sprayed, then you're dragging all that inside too. And so I'm just very like, acutely aware of that. Now we actually, for cleaning our floors, we are still using Grove because same thing, like you, we had like an abundance of it and it's just taken a while to like go through all of it. And so we still have a few things of it. I don't know what we're gonna switch to afterwards. Um, and I'm just kind of looking for something that is decently affordable, and is yeah, non-toxic and all that kind of stuff. So I'm, I'm kind of on the lookout. But that's where, where I'm at with that.

Chrissy:

I was honestly just planning to switch to vinegar. Vinegar and water for my floors. Yeah.'cause I don't do it frequently enough to warrant needing something fancy. You know, it's just little here and there. And also my floors. It's not something that I want to be completely germ free because

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Chrissy:

like we mentioned earlier, it's good to have a little bit of germs around. And so I honestly just think vinegar and water they work great.

Katie:

So, okay, so both of us don't really clean our floors that often. At least not mopping and, and I don't know, maybe that's a good thing, maybe that's a bad thing. Who knows?

Chrissy:

We can, we can choose to agree on that one.

Katie:

Yes, definitely. So the areas that I definitely clean the most are, I mean, at least that I use the most, like cleaning products in general. So those would be like in the kitchen, you know, when we're doing dishes, obviously we're doing dishes all the time, running the dishwasher all the time, especially when we have people over, like we had it going at least once a day when Wes' parents were here. Um, but then, so the kitchen, the bathroom, we clean very regularly. I love having a clean bathroom. It bothers me a lot when I see hair anywhere. I'm like, I gotta clean it. And then the laundry, we're doing lots and lots of laundry when we have kiddos. So those are the, the areas that we're using the most, like cleaning products. So let's kind of go through those to talk about what we're using and why. I think, so for the bathroom, we act, we obviously use a lot of multipurpose cleaners, so I'm using a lot of vinegar like in our showers and around the sinks and stuff. But the thing that I am now on the hunt for a better product is like a toilet bowl cleaner.'cause I've, I've gone through a few different ones and haven't found one that I really love that's like non-toxic because, and especially like some of the, like, stronger stuff is so like nauseating, you could just, like, you smell the fumes and you, you can tell that they are toxic. Um, and I know that they're trying to kill all of the nastiness that is in a toilet. Um, but I don't know. Are, have you found a good solution for, um, a toilet bowl cleaner? Like one that you'd recommend.

Chrissy:

Not yet. I unfortunately also with this one, have not been able to test new ones. This is the one aspect of my household that still has bleach in it, which honestly, of all things, I'm okay with it being the inside of the toilet bowl because I don't, I don't touch the inside of my toilet bowl. I don't know about you, but I don't touch it. Um, and I close the lid before I flush so that it's not coming out into the air and things like that. That's another thing. Close the toilet lid before you flush so your nasties don't go in your nose.'cause that's disgusting.

Katie:

Or all over the floor

Chrissy:

Um,

Katie:

even. Right. You know, like the floor and the walls and stuff

Chrissy:

yeah.

Katie:

I never thought about that, Chrissy. It's actually, I'm like, I'm learning something!

Chrissy:

Do you not close your toilet when you flush?

Katie:

I don't think every time, I mean, I, guess I can't really say so Probably not.

Chrissy:

I also, so this originally started because in high school I had a very realistic fear at the time of things falling in the toilet because we had a bathroom right off of our game room and the amount of ping pong balls that made it into the toilet on accident was absurd.

Katie:

I remember that

Chrissy:

So I made it a habit. I made it a habit of closing my toilet lid in high school. And then I learned about the fact that it all just like comes up into the air when you flush. And I was like, well, good thing I have. And now it's an irrational fear of things falling in the toilet. So I always have the toilet closed.

Katie:

that is so funny. My big thing when cleaning a toilet is when I do wash it, I, I don't, feel like it always gets on my hands because the way that the toilet bowl cleaners, you know how you have to like open the cap and you have to like touch the part where the cleaner usually comes out? And it's not that there's always stuff on it

Chrissy:

Just wear gloves,

Katie:

I guess I could, but it's just, sometimes i'm like cleaning it really fast and I just like go and I just do it and I'm like, Ooh, all the, the like the nasty chemicals and stuff. And so that's like, I need to switch what we have.

Chrissy:

Being a nurse, I have learned that gloves make any situation 10 times less disgusting. So in the hospital you clean up everything. It's just part of the job and just one thing I learned is. Everything just became significantly less disgusting when there was a barrier between my hand and the thing that I was touching. And so I brought that home. I bought like disposable gloves specifically for cleaning my bathroom because at this point I knew that I had toxic items that I was cleaning my bathroom with, and I didn't wanna touch them with my own hand for an extended period of time before rinsing it off, you know? And so yeah, I just got like nitrile gloves from Target and I used those and then I just threw'em in the trash. And voila, I never touched a single thing. I don't have to touch the toilet bowl cleaner. I don't have to touch the brush. I don't touch the trash can next to the toilet. Like, nope, I don't touch it because it's nasty. And that's just the nature of a bathroom.

Katie:

I do know that, um, Branch Basics has a cleaning product concentrate that you dilute for different things and they, you could use it for like your toilet and you could use it for everything.'Cause they have like a ratio of like, this is how much water to the cleaning product that you would need for windows or for your kitchen or for the toilet or something like that. And so have been considering Branch Basics though it's really expensive when you like, compare it to some of the other things, especially when you compare it to something like vinegar. And so that's one that I've been. Considering lately for the bathroom, like the toilet specifically, we've been using, I think it's, the one that we had recently is seventh generation. And it's not like a completely, there, there's something in it in the toilet bowl cleaner specifically that I realized it was not super non-toxic. And so, um, I'm gonna be switching that, but that's the one that we have right now that I've been wanting to switch away from. So I don't know, I don't know what I'm doing yet.

Chrissy:

I know according to EWG's Guide to Healthy Living, um, they do say that ECOS is a great brand for toilet bowl cleaner, and so is Nature's Promise. Um, I haven't tried either of those, but Nature's Promise actually comes in multiple different scents.

Katie:

That's what's really hard about like a lot of the cleaning products too, is that they have fragrance. That might be what why I was trying to get away from Seventh Generation, um, maybe they had fragrance in it. And, and just a recap for those who maybe hadn't listened to some of our other episodes where we talked about it, whenever anything says natural fragrance or just fragrances or perfumes, or anything along those lines, that's kind of like a key word that there might be other toxic chemicals. Because when it comes to something like fragrance, they actually, there can be hundreds of other products and chemicals that make up that fragrance, but they do not have to disclose it because it's, it is in small amounts. Like, so it's not like a, like there's a huge amount of something really toxic, but it's just the fact that it's there and you don't exactly know what's in it. And so it's, it's kind of like the principle of it that you just don't know. Um, same thing comes when you look at foods and you see natural flavors. So anything that says flavors or fragrance, when it comes to other, like household products, those are the things you kind of wanna stray away from because it could potentially be very toxic. Um, and you just don't know. So that's, that's the whole thing. So take it or leave it. I know some people who just kind of say it is such small amounts that they're not super worried about it, but I mean, who knows? I, you just don't know what it's made of. They don't have to disclose it in any way except for the fact that they say fragrance. So, um, that's kind of why Chrissy and I are saying like, we, we wanna switch away from that because it's just that idea of like, you just, you don't know. It's, it's no bueno as Chrissy would say.

Chrissy:

No bueno. All right. Well, I think we've talked about toilets enough. Should we transition to dishes? Now,'cause you also said you guys run the dishwasher a lot and I wanna know, what are you guys using for your dishwasher and dish soap in particular?

Katie:

Yeah, so we, this is actually the, the deeper dive that I went on recently was actually our dish detergent and laundry detergent, so the two detergents in our household. Um, I went on more of a, a deep dive because I realized the stuff that we had, here's, here's what I was learning. So the product that we were using. Most recently was a brand called, I think it's called Puracy, P-U-R-A-C-Y, I found it on Amazon. I found out that it's Bobby approved. I found out that, EWG has a, a good rating of it. I don't remember what it was. So I actually started using a new app. So that's also what I wanted to talk about today, that I started using a new app called Switch Naturals. Now I found out about it through a Facebook group that I'm a, a part of, and a lot of ladies were like, I super trust this app. However, you do have to pay for it. So it is like a one-time fee. I don't remember what it was. It might have been like$30. And I wanted to try it out because I was like, what, what's all the hoopla about with this app? They actually go even deeper into some of the products, including. This is the new thing I was learning was the lining of, for example, like when you do laundry pods or dish detergent pods, there are like the casing that these things come in are often made up of a microplastic. Now the microplastic doesn't usually show up in, the EWG app or the Bobby approved app, and it doesn't even really show up as like a microplastic, in general. But when you do a little bit more deep diving, they, the way that they phrase it is that it's like a biodegradable plastic-y kind of thing. And, and you know that it's kind of a plastic because it, the, the word you see it in the ingredients is like poly something. And poly usually is a code word for plastics. And so. It is a type of plastic that is like biodegradable. So a lot of people are like, oh, it's not that bad. But then other like, so the Switch Naturals is kind of on the hunt for some of these microplastics that were becoming more aware of. And so a lot of the pods that have been used in the past, including this brand that I've actually been enjoying using Puracy, I think is again what the name is. I didn't write it down for the episode, but, um, they had that microplastic in it. And so I was like, well, I wonder if there is a better option. But also, again, like,'cause I'm always on the hunt for like, I don't wanna have to spend an arm and a leg for it because Branch Basics does have a super clean, super non-toxic dish detergent as well as laundry detergent, but they are both very expensive. And so I'm like, is there a way that I can do this that's not going to break my bank? And so the brand that I did recently switch to for our dish detergent, and I'm considering for our laundry detergent, but we'll talk about that in a second. Um, is Molly Suds. So that's Molly, like the girl's name, M-O-L-L-Y, suds, and like, you know, like bubble suds kind of things. So that's what we've switched to. I actually just today got the order in from Amazon for our very first package So I, I cannot give you the report on how well we've liked them or anything, but we did just buy them after all my research. That's the one that I ended up finding that's not super expensive. My friend actually back in Colorado, she was one who recommended it to me. Um, but yeah, so that's what, we're using for our every day.

Chrissy:

I think I can beat you on the price

Katie:

Ooh, what do you use?

Chrissy:

because I, I make my own both dish detergent and laundry detergent. This was one of the first swaps that I made, mostly because of the price of them, because I hated going to the grocery store and buying dish detergent, laundry detergent, paper towels, and toilet paper, and feeling like I was going to be broke until I got paid next. And so I was just scrolling on Instagram one day and this lady popped up on my feed and she had made her own laundry detergent. And so lady who makes your laundry detergent on Instagram, if you're listening to this and you say, Hey, this is my recipe, then I got it from you. There's your credits. I didn't make this myself, but my laundry detergent legitimately has. Four ingredients. It has a laundry bar, which in the past I have used Aleva Naturals, which I really love. It smells nice. It's just like a very gentle, like kind of floraly smell to it. And it doesn't have any colors in it at all, so the laundry detergent doesn't have any colors to it. So I've liked that. But the next batch I'm making, I'm going to use a Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile soap bar to make my detergent. And so we'll see how that goes. I still have a few months left of what I have, but anyways, so the first ingredient is a laundry bar, non-toxic laundry bar of some sort. Second ingredient borax. Third ingredient is washing soda, and the fourth ingredient is just a ton of water. I'm not even kidding you. This recipe, I'll put the recipe itself in, the description and it will be posted on our Facebook group. But this recipe, I'm not even kidding you, it makes an entire five gallon bucket of laundry detergent and I only have to use a third cup of detergent in each load. And my clothes have been cleaner than they were with regular detergent before

Katie:

So, I guess I didn't realize this. So your recipe is actually for a liquid soap and not a powdered soap, huh?

Chrissy:

Yes, yes, it is liquid.

Katie:

got it.

Chrissy:

Well, it, it's kind of more jelly. It's like a jelly,

Katie:

Hmm.

Chrissy:

like a very thick liquid.

Katie:

a good way to describe

Chrissy:

Kind of chunky. Yeah. Actually, my favorite part of making this is like at the end of it you have to stick your hand in it and mix it all together. And it honestly feels so great.'cause it's just like this smooth cold jelly that you're just like mixing all the way elbow deep. It's kind of fun.

Katie:

you are so strange. I don't know that. I think I would probably just use like a spoon, a very large spoon.

Chrissy:

I think I have done that, but it was easier to just use my hand.

Katie:

You're so funny. I, so in our laundry journey as well, I, I actually got to the point where I was about to buy the Branch Basics laundry stuff, and I had added it to the cart. And then, you know, they, they have just a laundry detergent, but then they also have a Oxidizer or something like a, oxygen booster and I was about to buy that as well, and I'm like, man, okay. So if, if you, they recommend using that for super dirty clothes that are really smelly or have lots of stains on them and all this stuff. So I'm like, okay, maybe I'll add that for certain loads. But then I looked at the ingredients, like the actual just listed ingredients for it, and it was just like baking soda and like sodium. It was basically sodium bicarbonate and sodium chlorate maybe, I don't actually remember, but it was two different forms of sodium

Chrissy:

Essentially baking soda and salt.

Katie:

Yes, thank you

Chrissy:

You are welcome.

Katie:

for the scientific explanation I knew it was like even more basic than that. So I looked it up and I was going to, I just like looked up those two washing ingredients on Amazon and I looked up the like per pound or something, per ounce price of it compared to the mixture of it on branch basics, and I realized that I could make like three times the amount for basically the same price if I bought the two things. And I was like, wow, they're literally just taking these two very basic ingredients and selling it for outrageous prices because they were able to call it like the oxygen booster. So I was about to buy the two of these to make my own oxygen booster when. I was like, I might as well make my own detergent at this point, just like Chrissy does. So I did recently buy I, but I like see, I don't like the liquid stuff, so I looked up a powdered recipe for it because I just like to have the dry. I don't like any of the mess with the liquid stuff. So,

Chrissy:

That is one thing with the liquid. Yeah. I always have to rinse off my little measuring spoon after I use it, but I have a sink close to the laundry, so it doesn't bother me. But that's another thing about my dish detergent is my five gallon bucket costs me$5 a year. Like I don't think, I don't think I could find anything comparable to that. And also, I'm just now realizing I didn't talk about my dish detergent because I make that one homemade also, which again costs me maybe five to$10 for my, um, they're not pods, they're. Tablets. So I make dishwasher tablets. It's washing soda, baking soda, kosher salt and lemon juice. And I realized the lemon juice, it has to be fresh squeezed lemons. It cannot be like the lemon juice you get in the bottle because that actually has some preservatives in it and it's not like just fresh lemon juice. And I'm not as happy with my dish detergent as I am with my laundry detergent. So it's still in the works. I have also seen dish detergent recipes with citric acid in them, which you can get citric acid. Not super expensive off of Amazon. Also, it still ends up being cheaper than buying dish detergent. Um, but this one is definitely still a work in progress. But I essentially just mix it up in a mixing bowl and then I put it into. A little silicone ice cube mold, and they're very small, maybe like one tablespoon little ice cube sized, um, mold and just spread it all out. And I let it sit on the counter for a day or two until it's dried out completely. Or I'll sit it like in a window close to the sun so it dries out faster. And then I have a little glass jar left over from like a peanut butter jar that I had before, like natural peanut butter comes in glass jar sometimes. So I had one of those and I just pop it in my glass jar and boom, there's my dish detergent. Another downside of them, I, I keep talking downsides of this. It's great, it's cheap. It works. It's not my favorite. Also, sometimes they kind of stick to each other in the jar, so I have to like stab'em with a knife occasionally to get them unstuck from each other. But it still works. And so if you're looking for something that is cheap and you don't really know what to commit to yet, but you want something that's non-toxic, in the interim, this works and it's great. And I recommend, and I will also put this recipe in the description and on our Facebook group if you're interested.

Katie:

Yeah, I didn't realize that you actually made the whole tablets and everything too. That's the best way. Like if you want the like, non-toxic version of the pods is to do the tablets that don't have that coating on it. The other, the other thing I actually really like having the laundry sheets. Like we've been doing laundry sheets in the past, that was like a, it was almost a clean brand. And again, we switched way back when, um, I was trying to do the more eco-friendly version of laundry stuff. And so we switched to a brand that comes in like a cardboard box, so then you can recycle the box and then it's just a sheet so it doesn't have the plastics and it doesn't have, you know, it doesn't have all the other like colorings and stuff in it. And so. We've been, we were doing that for a long time and I really like them, but a lot of the sheets also, in order to get it in that sheet formation, it has a similar coating in it that is, it is pretty comparable to what the, uh, plastic microplastic stuff is for the pods. So, uh, I just, I realized that, and the one we had also had fragrance in it, so I was like, we gotta, we gotta switch away from that either way.

Chrissy:

I think another thing that's important to note is it is very important to stay away from dryer sheets. Um, dryer sheets for a long time have been known carcinogens. IE they cause cancer. And so I've switched away from this for a while now. Like even growing up we didn't even have dryer sheets. But we use just a wool dryer ball, which helps like really reduce the static that you get just from your clothes being in the dryer. And occasionally, I know Katie, you probably do this too, you put um, some essential oils on the dryer ball and then it helps to still make your clothes smell yummy. You know?'cause I know a lot of people just love the smell of clean clothes. Well, you can still get the smell of clean clothes. Even without using harmful products.

Katie:

Yeah, my favorite is lavender. I put that on our dryer balls and it works so well. Like I kid you not like, you just put a couple drops on each ball and it, it is good to go. But it is, I mean, you can literally tell the difference these days, like people walking down the street who use the like tide. You know, fully scented detergents, and you just, you can smell them like so strongly. And I, I, it's interesting that now that we have been really walking away from all of the scents and fragrances and perfumes and stuff that are in all these products, my body is more sensitive now to them when other people have them. And I literally, like, was next to someone who had this really strong scented detergent on their clothes, and I had to walk away from them physically because it was just too much for my nose. And I was like, oh no. Like, I don't wanna be rude, but I just, like, I can't, I can't stand it anymore. And it's, it's very interesting, like getting all like, cleansed from it. You know, your body's like, like detoxed from all these scents and stuff. And now like, being exposed, you're like, oh, you can tell that it is not normal. Like, that's not, that's not good.

Chrissy:

Yeah, I feel like Fabric Softener is one of those that I can very much smell on other people if they use for fabric softener. It's like. Bam. It's very pungent. And um, I've always been sensitive to the smell of fabric softener, actually.'cause we didn't use it. My mom didn't use it growing up. She was like, eh, clothes feel fine as they are. We don't really need that. And so, anytime I knew someone who used fabric softener, I like couldn't really handle being around them very much.'cause it just, it lingers on the clothes.

Katie:

and nowadays they have those like scent boosting pods, you know, like, so we actually like did use them several years ago early in our marriage. We use those, they're like the little plasticy beads and like even that, I'm like, it probably has plastics in it. And so they're like waxy and stuff and you put them in your laundry and it like boosts the scent and, and I used to really love them, but again, like the transition away from it actually was hard for me because I was so used to the really strong scents. And so I was kind of sad to walk away from that. So like having the essential oils on the dryer balls, that was like a really good compromise where it was like, oh, I really like having the scent'cause it feels clean, you know? You get that idea of like, oh, it just feels clean.'cause it smells pretty. But then now the more that I have cleansed myself, my body from it, it's like now smelling it on other people. It's like not even my own clothes and I can just tell that my body, like a radar gets turned on and I'm like, oh wow. I just, I didn't realize like how toxic it really was. And so, um. it's just really interesting. Now, the laundry detergent that we haven't really switched, but it's not super toxic is so, so we do, uh, cloth diapers for Malakai and finding a really good detergent that is strong enough to get rid of all the, like ammonia smell from the diapers, um, is hard because you also don't want to destroy the diapers themselves because you wanna keep them absorbent and like actually doing their job. So like having a balance there, it's really, really tough. And so. What I use and have been using, um, for the last, like six months to a year probably now, is the arm and hammer laundry detergent. And we do like the free and clear. So it's the, it doesn't have any scent, um, or anything like that. So that's what we've been using and it works well. I don't think it's completely non-toxic and stuff, but it's, it's as good as it's gonna get right now because that journey would be much harder at this point to completely switch,

Chrissy:

All right. Well I think we've kind of covered everything and we are actually over time. So Katie, do you have any last things that you wanna say before we sign off?

Yeah, sure. I, when people typically come to me and ask. Where can I start on this journey on becoming healthier, living a, a, you know, less toxic lifestyle and people who just wanna learn how to glorify God with their bodies and just stay healthy long term. The area that I typically start with and I recommend to people is generally food. Because food is so easy to switch over, um, as you're buying new groceries all the time. And I think it has the most impact sometimes. But the second area that I usually recommend that people generally switch over, especially if they're already kind of eating generally mostly healthy, um. Is usually this area of cleaning supplies, and so the cleaning supplies and stuff like they, they can be really, really disruptive to so many systems in your body that it is really. Super important to get them switched over to something that is less toxic and isn't going to be, um, damaging to your body long term. And so I would just recommend like taking some small steps starting today. Like think of the areas that you can, um, the, the cleaning supplies that you can switch over. But yes, it's going to be hard because. You know, we don't switch out our cleaning supplies as often. At least, at least we don't, you know, we don't go through them as quickly as we do our food. And so it's going to take some time, but is really going to make an impact on your health, um, especially long term. You might not notice it right away unless you're having some kind of reaction to breathing in the chemicals or from the stuff that you've noticed lately, but it will make a, a really big impact for your family and for your health. And so, yeah, I just wanna encourage you that, um, you can do it. It is, you know, I understand like Christy and I have been there, we've done this, walked this journey as well, and it's obviously been challenging, but, um, my recommendation would be to start with the small things and even look for those like ways to like, make your own stuff. Um, even if it's just using vinegar and, it doesn't have to be super expensive to, switch. Everything over eventually, but you can do it. You've got this and yeah, we are walking alongside you in this journey.

Chrissy:

You can do it. You can do it. Just put your mind to it. You can do it.

All right. Well, thanks again for listening to this week's episode. We'd, we always love to hear what your takeaways are from each episode. So, um, if you're on Spotify, you can leave a comment directly onto the episode. We love reading those, so feel free to do that. Um, on. Apple, uh, podcast, you can actually leave a rating. So tell us what you're enjoying about the show, but also we love reading your emails. So if you get our weekly newsletters, um, go ahead and respond to that or join us in our Facebook group to let us know what you're loving about the podcast, what topics you'd like to hear about. We've definitely, we've gotten recommendations from. Many of you on different subjects, and if you have left us a recommendation as far as like what you love to hear on an upcoming episode, believe me, we take those in account. And so we've written all of those ideas down and it's kind of crazy. Our list just kind of keeps growing and it's exciting and we hope that you're enjoying each of these episodes, but thank you so much. Um, we are just so thankful for all of you guys. See you next time.