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Cleaning Up Cleanly

© April Kelley

Think about it - every time you spray a disinfectant, scrub a toilet or polish silver, you are using a harmful chemical. Not just harmful for kids, but harmful for yourself.

So should we all just go back to living in dirt huts and say to heck with scrubbing the toilet? Well, I don't know about you, but I'm certainly not up for that.

So what should we do? Well, if you've got the cash, you can opt for the wide variety of natural cleaners that are currently available at health food stores - and even at the local Safeway in many cities. Seventh Generation is one example of a company that makes everything from dishwashing machine soap to toilet bowl cleanser to fabric softener - all biodegradable, all safe. It's fantastic - so long as you can afford it. But what about those of us who can't afford to drop $100 every month just for cleaning products?

Well, there are options. But you need to be cautious. Just because a cleaning product is found in nature, doesn't mean it is safe for you - after all, arsenic, asbestos and uranium are also naturally occurring substances, but I'm willing to bet none of us wants these things smeared in our toilet bowls. So the first thing to do is check that the cheap is actually safe and the second is to make sure it actually works. So, we'll go by sections of the house and explore the most commonly used cleansers and whether or not they are safe, effective and cheap.

Kitchen and Bath

One of the cheapest, most effective and most commonly used cleaning substances in the kitchen and bathroom is chlorine bleach and water. A 1/10 solution of bleach-water will kill just about anything. Bleach is NOT a naturally occurring cleanser. There is nowhere in nature that you can mine, or otherwise find chlorine bleach. Chlorine is an element and in its pure state is a gas - a poisonous gas. In fact, chlorine gas was used as a weapon in both World Wars, causes horrible burns and if inhaled, you will die an excruciatingly painful death in minutes. Of course, no one would use chlorine gas to clean, but even chlorine bleach is dangerous to your lungs and your skin and is deadly if ingested. Worse, if you use chlorine bleach to clean up urine, it combines with the urine to create another deadly substance, ammonia gas. Use bleach in a bathroom where you're potty training a toddler and don't turn on the vent and you could be in a dangerous position.

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