Spring! The time of year flowers start to bloom, warmer temps start to rise, and just one step closer to pool weather. It’s also the time of year to deep clean your home and gives it that extra brightness it needs after the cold winter months. Want to know how to spring clean your home naturally? Let’s get ready to dust those dust bunnies away.
Before we get down to the how-to spring clean your home naturally, let’s start with a few facts.
Did you know the air inside your home is 2 to 5 times more polluted than the outside air? Crazy to imagine right?! Source Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure that come from solids or liquids. Unfortunately, VOCs can have long-term and short-term effect and the concentrations are much higher indoors
Where can VOCs be found?
- Paint
- Carpets
- Furniture
- Aerosol sprays
- Household cleaning products
- Disinfectants
- Air fresheners
- Candles
- Dry-cleaned clothes
- And so much more…
Winter time, our homes are pretty much closed up leaving chemicals trapped. So, with it being Spring and basically the time of year to detoxify and declutter your home, this would be the perfect time to share how to spring clean your home naturally.
Let’s get started!
1. Open up those windows!
As I mentioned earlier, the inside of your home carries more pollutants than the outside. So, now that the temps are rising and that spring breeze is in the air, time to open up those windows and get that fresh air circulating. Be sure to open windows from opposite sides of the house to really help circulate the bad air out.
2. Switch to Non-Toxic Household Cleaning Products
Making the switch to non-toxic cleaning products is a huge MUST and something that highly contributes to all those indoor pollutants. If you haven’t yet started making that switch, you can do so using some of my favorite brands. There are pretty much only 2 brands I recommend for cleaning your entire home: Young Living Thieves Spray and Branch Basics.
- Branch Basics is amazing because you get a whole starter kit for all things cleaning including bathroom, all-purpose, glass, fruit/veggie wash, and so much more. It comes with a concentrate to fill each bottle up with filtered water and a portion of the solution. Super simple and a one-stop-shop in my opinion. You can literally clean your entire house with the starter kit, including laundry. Plus, their customer service is one of the best I’ve seen. If interested, click here for a $10 discount code.
- Young Living Thieves Cleaner: I have been using Young Living for 6 years now and love it. Their Thieves cleaner concentrate is my ride or die and smells amazing. We use this cleaner for not only our counter tops, but my house cleaner loves this for cleaning the showers. It comes as a concentrate (same as Branch Basics) and you fill up a glass amber bottle with filtered water and a capful of the solution. A little goes a long way so it will last you a while.
Related Blog Post: Natural Products for Cleaning Your Home
3. Get a Salt Lamp
What is a salt lamp you ask? Salt lamps naturally purify the air. They also have the ability to decrease air pollution and help those suffering from asthma and allergies. It is also strong enough to reduce mold, fungus, and bacteria in the air.
Did you know that the air contains both positive and negative ions? I sound like a nerd, but hear me out. 1. Positive ions are created by electronic devices like cell phones, computers, TV, microwaves, and more. 2. Negative ions are created by thunderstorms, sun, ocean waves. Positive ions neutralize with negative ions and using a salt lamp helps to be the natural energy source. I own 3 of them and THIS is the brand I love.
4. Invest in a HEPA Filter Vacuum
Invest in a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA Filter and vacuum regularly. HEPA is a type of filter that can trap a large number of very small particles that other vacuum cleaners simply recirculate back into the air of your home. HEPA vacuums are helping minimize dust and other common allergens in homes where people suffer from allergies and respiratory conditions.
Plus, vacuuming regularly is an effective, safe, and EASY way to keep your home clean. Plus, have you ever noticed that the dust in homes is just out of control. I swear, it feels like I vacuum and two days later, there are dust bunnies in the corners. I love this Dyson Vacuum with the Allergy kit.
5. No Shoes in the House
I’m so grossed out by wearing outdoor shoes in the house. In fact, I have a few in-house dedicated sandals or slippers I wear only inside. The thought of outdoor shoes in the house makes me cringe and want to clean all my floors almost immediately. I know that sounds dramatic, and I’m not that crazy I promise. However, even though you may not see them, there are plenty of chemicals that come in the house from the bottom of your shoes which include lead, pesticides, fertilizers, and pollen just to name a few. Best to leave those shoes at the door.
6. Ditch the Artificial Fragrance
Artificial fragrance is one of those hidden ingredients you’ll find in almost all convectional products from cleaning products to candles and perfume. It’s also one of the biggest sources of indoor air pollution because it’s in so many conventional products. Switch to natural candles, essential oils, and diffusers to fragrant the home, or natural household cleaning products and perfumes.
7. Invest in an Air Purifier
As we spend the majority of our time indoors, it’s so critical to take indoor pollution seriously. You live and breathe in your home and taking in those VOC’s can help reduce your indoor air pollution that can have serious health reparations. This is something my hubby and I are trying to invest in. You can purchase a whole-home filtration system, which is pretty pricey, but so worth it in my opinion (this is what we’re personally looking into), or buy an air filter for most of the rooms in the house. Whatever your budget is, that’s what you’ll want to do. My friend Kate over at Root and Revel did a whole blog post all about air filters that you should read HERE.
8. Steam Mop
Ditch the regular mop and bucket that’s filled with toxic chemicals and dirt particles and get yourself a steam mop. The heat that is created when using the steam mop can quickly loosen and eliminates the ground scuff and dirt that is accumulated. A single pass of the steam mop is usually enough to clean the floor. Although you don’t need to, I pair my mop with some hardwood floor cleaner just to be extra squeaky clean.
9. Get Some Houseplants
According to a NASA study, Houseplants are a natural indoor air cleaner for absorbing chemicals in the air such as ammonia, formaldehyde, benzene, and a few more. Amazing, right? There are certain potted plants that are more effective than others at filtering out pollutants and toxic chemicals in the air. Try adding real plants such as Spider Plants, Peace Lily, Boston Fern, English Ivy, Broadleaf Lady Palm, Red-Edge Dracaena, Cornstalk Dracaena, and so much more. Once we’re out of this quarantine, I will be doing this asap.
10. Invest in Organic Bed Sheets and Bath Towels
Why organic towels and bedding? If your sheets and towels are not organic, there are chemicals used during the growing of the cotton. Once the cotton is processed, the product is often exposed to more chemicals to help with wrinkles or static. Then as you use say, your bath, hand, and face towels, your skin is now absorbing those chemicals. Think about it, you’re using your towels daily and sleeping on bed sheets more than anything else in a 24-hour day span, you don’t want formaldehyde in your towels and bed sheets do you? I use and trust Sol Organics. Their towels are the fluffiest most luxurious towels I’ve ever owned. My little ones use them, and we all love them. We recently ordered the bed sheets during black Friday and they are so amazing.
Shop Sol Organics Bath and Bedding Here
Now that it’s Spring and we’re all on major lockdown, I am sure we’re all cleaning like crazy already. But these are the steps you’d want to tackle on how to spring clean your home naturally. If we’re going to be cleaning, it might as well be doing more good than harm for our health.
Stay safe everyone!
Natalie
Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase through these links. Please note that I’ve linked to these products purely because I recommend them and they are from companies I trust. There is no additional cost to you.