Household cleaning products were actually the first transition into a cleaner lifestyle that I made. It’s also one of the easiest transitions into clean living to make.

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.

When Jessica Alba had just launched her Honest brand and came out with her book The Honest Life, I purchased it immediately and read it. I became so fascinated with learning all about clean beauty, clean eating, clean house products all from just reading her book. My world changed and my eyes opened up and that’s when I became more and more obsessed and hungry to educate myself on products that are on the market, and understanding the importance on why WE all should make the change into a cleaner and safer world.

Side note: if you haven’t read that book, it’s very informative. She even goes into why choosing certain paints, carpets, and more is important.

Fast forward now, 5 years later and my knowledge about clean living grew immensely. I’m in no way a professional and am still learning as things are always changing, but I try to stay on top of knowing what’s in fact clean and educate myself so I am not being greenwashed. For more info on what greenwashing is, read THIS post.

Why make the switch?
I know what you’re thinking? It’s the same thing my hubby said when we first made the transition almost 7 years ago. Why should I make the switch, what I’m using now “get’s the stuff done.” While you might be right, you’re also putting your health into affect. There are a ton of other clean non-toxic products out there that can get the job done without affecting your health. Using products containing harmful ingredients such as fragrance, paraben, phthalates, and much more can be a hormonal disruptor leading to miscarriages, fertility issues, asthma, skin irritation, and more.

Think abut it, you clean your kitchen with a toxic product and then your prepping your food on the freshly sprayed counter….Gross right? Not only are you inhaling the toxic chemicals but you’re now prepping food and consuming food on the “clean counters.” If you have little ones and your spraying down their toys with Lysol for example, they are then putting those toxic chemicals in their mouth.

Always do your research first and foremost. Now let’s take a look at what we use in the Cardozo household shall we?

Kitchen
Counter tops: There are only two things I swear by when it comes to cleaning my counter tops and they are Branch Basics and Young Livings Thieves Cleaner.

  • Branch Basics is amazing because you get a whole starter kit for all things cleaning (bathroom, all purpose, glass, etc…). 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. Doesn’t get any better than that. Plus their customer service is one of the best I’ve seen. If interested, click here for $10 discount code. 
  • Young Living Thieves Cleaner: I have been using Young Living for 5 years now and love it. Their Thieves cleaner 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. This will last you a while.

Sink Cleaner

  • Branch Basics yet again. In their starter kit you get the Oxygen Boost powder. Use this to add in your laundry, take out stains in carpets, clean your sinks, and more. I will rinse my sink with water, add a scoop of the oxygen boost and spray it with a little Branch Basics All-Purpose spray and let it sit for about 20 min or so. Then scrub, rinse, and see it sparkle.

Oven Cleaner: 

  • Baking Soda and water, it’s that simple. All you do is spray your oven with water, pour the baking soda on top, and spray the baking soda down so it’s damp. Allow for it to sit for about 30-45 min and wipe clean.

Glass Cleaner

  • Branch Basics. You’ll see a common theme here. They have a Streak-Free cleaner bottle that we use and love it.
  • ECOS spray bottle works as well. It’s made with vinegar which is an amazing natural cleaning ingredient
  • Sparkling Glass Spray: This one is my house cleaners favorite glass spray bottle. She uses this one all the time for windows and mirrors but also our glass lighting fixtures above the kitchen island.

Dishwasher

  • Ecover tablets are what we use and we love them. Never had a problem with them. Super reasonably priced as well.

Dish Soap

  • Better Life: This one is great although rated a 4 on Think Dirty. But a cleaner option and works great.
  • Dr Bronners All Purpose Castille Soap: I will sometimes make my own dish soap for Dr. Bronners castille soap. This soap is so versatile. I use it to make my own hand soap, dish soap, clean my makeup brushes, etc… The only thing about it is it does come out more liquidy on your sponge but it works great.
  • Follain Everything Soap: Come in a reusable glass jar in a few different scents and its amazing. The bottle says it all. You can use it for hands, dishes, body wash, pets, etc…To receive 15% off, enter ref_precioustimeblog at discount.

Pots and Pans Cleaner

  • We’ve all been there. You burn something or the food just stick to your pan. How do you clean it off without using toxic chemicals?  Here’s what I do…Buy washing soda off amazon, THIS is the brand I use. (Use this method of cleaning with stainless steel only no aluminum). Just add washing soda on wet pans and allow it to do its thang. Leave on for 15 min or longer depending on how bad it is and scrub off with the silicone scrub(see below)

Other Eco-Friendly Kitchen Knickknacks

  • Sponges: Ok, people think this is weird when they see this but it makes total sense. I buy some eco friendly sponges at Whole Foods and cut them in half or in fourths. I use them for one -two days and toss them. We mainly use the dishwasher but sometimes I have things I need to hand wash. Having them cut up is great so you’re not keeping a huge sponges for a few days being used and holding a bunch of contaminates and nasty stuff on it. Sanitize your sponges by throwing them in the dishwasher if you plan to use it for a few days before tossing.    
  • Silicone Sponges:If you prefer the more eco-friendly route, these are so amazing. They’re reusable, anti-bacterial, and dishwasher safe to clean them after each use. I use one for the kitchen dishes and the other to clean the bathrooms.
  • Bamboo Dish Brush: I bought my glass brush holder from Honest years ago and just re-purchase this bamboo brush every few months. When I start a load of dishes in the dishwasher, I though this brush on the top rack to sanitize it.
  • Microfiber towels are great to use and then toss in the washing machine. You can buy a huge stack of them online and use them to wipe down your counter tops, kitchen table, mirrors, glass, etc…Much more cost effective than using paper towels and more sustainable as well. I keep them under my sink for every day clean up.
  • Silicone glove: I bought this from amazon a while back and love it. I try to be more cautious with wearing gloves as I am cleaning because my hands are always in water and try to protect them from getting dry. What’s nice about this glove is its also something you can throw in the dishwasher to clean, it’s anti-bacterial, and it has a scrubber on the hand so you can actually use it to wash dishes as well.

Bathroom

  • Toilet Cleaner: Branch Basics and YL Thieves Cleaner. I will first spray the toilet with the BB bathroom cleanser and scrub and wipe down. Then go in with the Thieves cleaner once more because I love the smell of it and toilets freak me out so it NEEDS to be extra clean.
  • Sink/Counter Tops: Branch Basics (BB) or Thieves Cleaner. For the sinks itself, we use the Oxygen Boost by BB and spray it with BB All-Purpose Spray. Same as I do with kitchen sink.
  • Shower: Thieves Cleaner. My house cleaner swears by this stuff.
  • Shower grout and mold: We use our Branch Basics Bathroom solution bottle and spray down our grout or mold spot. Let is sit for a few min then spray Hydrogen Peroxide (I buy a bottle from Target and pour half of it into a spray bottle). Let that sit for a few more min then scrub it off with an old toothbrush. Finish by spraying more Hydrogen Peroxide to keep mold away.
  • Silicone Scrubber: I found these silicone sponges on Amazon and they are truly amazing. No mold, anti-bacterial, heat resistance and multi-purposeful. Use them to scrub bathroom, dishes, counters, showers, and even makeup. Have one per room just FYI lol…

Laundry
I use a few different products and love them all. If I had to rate all 3 of them it would be 1) Buckaroo Soapberry Suds 2) Molly Suds and 3) Branch Basics

  • Buckaroo Soapberry Suds is my favorite. It really feels and looks clean. Soapberries which is the fruit of a plant that is naturally hypoallergenic, anti-microbial, and biodegradable that leaves your clothes soft and clean. Use code: Save15
  • Molly Suds: Another favorite and one we use on rotation.
  • Branch Basics: With your starter kit, you get the laundry detergent and Oxygen Boost and I make sure to use both with each load of laundry.
  • Dryer Balls: Use these in place of fabric softer sheets. All you do is add a few drops of your favorite scented essential oil or not if you prefer not to and these will keep static away and help dry clothes a bit faster.

Hand Soap

  • Follain Everything Soap: Smells and works amazing. You can get it for 15% by clicking here and entering ref_precioustimeblog at discount.
  • Honest Hand Soap: Love this hand soap and comes in a few different scents
  • Make my own. I’ll be honest, I make my own and buy the Follain brand most all the time. Here how I do it…Also, be sure to check out my hand soap Highlights on Instagram for a video tutorial.

DIY Hand Soap
Ingredients

  • Foam Pump
  • 2 TBSP Dr. Bronners Castille Soap
  • 1 TBSP of Jojoba Oil
  • 5 drops of Essential Oils (Optional)
  • Filtered Water

Directions

  1. In your foam pump, add the soap, essential oils, and jojoba oil.
  2. Fill the rest of the bottle up with filtered water.
  3. Close and shake.

Floors

  • Shark Steam Mop: I just actually bought this a couple months ago and love it. Sanitizes and cleans with using filtered steam water. I use this on my hardwood floor as well as my tile and it works so amazing.
  • Better Life Floor Cleaner: If you don’t have the mop, which I didn’t up until a few months ago, I used this floor cleaner all throughout my house (minus carpets if you have any). Works like a charm and way cleaner than all the other marketed products.

Filtered Water

  • Berkey Water Filter: No clean home can be complete without clean water. We use our Berkey Water Filter and absolutely love it and can taste a HUGE difference in how clean and crisp it is. Click Here to receive 5% off. For more info about the Berkey Water Filter and why it’s truly amazing, read my blog post here.

Discount Codes:

  1. Follain: Use code: ref_precioustimeblog to receive 15% off
  2. Branch Basics: Click this link to receive $10 off.
  3. Young Living: Unfortunately, no discount code but I sell it and you’d be supporting me by purchasing through me 🙂
  4. Berkey Water Filter: click on the link to receive 5% off your Berkey Filter

Xo,
​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.