Over the last couple of days I have been working my way through a pile of Green books I got out of the library that have been confirming and again urging me to take more action in making our home more non toxic. The hardest part for me is that money has been spent on all these products - some unused and yet what do you do with them? I can't bring myself to throw them away but then knowing what I know about them do I really want to give them to someone else who may not be informed on the dangers within them? Yet I paid money for them and they are new? Not sure what I will do - particularly right now with my husband and I not working, I have to be creative in what they are replaced with since we haven't the money to purchase different things.
However knowing what I know I cannot continue to use the products on my skin that I have been using, so out go the shampoos and yummy smelling shower gels. I just heard my husband calling out from the shower 'where is the shampoo?' Oops! I feel almost mean taking away his favorite shampoo but after reading what I've read about the toxins in shampoos I think he'll understand. Fortunately I had a more natural one already which we will now both use for the time being till I find more recipes. I do have Dr Bronners Pure Castile Soap as a back up also.
I have removed all my Bath and Body works antibacterial soaps now (that triclosan in them is really bad!) and refilled the bottles with Dr Bronners. I have started washing dishes (I wash by hand usually as we don't have enough to fill a dishwasher) with Dr Bronners also and am on the fence about whether it is cutting the grease well enough. Will research more on that as I might need to add some vinegar or lemon to the mix for that to be more effective. I have been continuing to use the baking soda and vinegar to clean the toilet and that is going well and I am using vinegar on the counter tops followed by Hydrogen Peroxide and it seems good. Hate the vinegar smell but it does dissipate.
I could barely get my nose out of one of the books in particular which I plan to buy and highly recommend to you. It's called 'Ecoholic' by Adria Vasil. I reviewed it in my Book Reviews blog, but it is really really good! She basically went through every room dealing with every area.
A huge Boston fern now has it's home in our living area also so hopefully that will help to remove formeldehyde and other toxins from the air.
I'm still very concerned about our furniture however. We spend so much time in our living area and just knowing our couch and upholstered chairs with the dining table are PVC softened with pthalates offgassing chemicals, as well as knowing they also offgas the fire retardants they are soaked in as well as stain protection chemicals. I'm trying not to be paranoid about it but I am very aware of it now. I really don't know what we'll do about that right now. For now, I just make sure I cover the surfaces with a blanket and sit on that - hoping that helps a bit.
And then there is the bed. I read that the polyurethane foam in mattresses is so explosively flammable that the insurance industry calls it 'solid gasoline'. *sigh* Then there is the synthetic comforter and pillows...
We are trying to conceive right now and I just shudder at all the dangers in our home. Hopefully these steps will eliminate the toxins substantially in my body so our child will have a chance...
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