Clean As You Can Get It

I had no idea it would be so difficult to figure out what to write about healthy living on a budget and seem to be having a bit of a problem gathering my thoughts into any kind of order. So I have decided to just begin here...

Healthy or clean living is, for the most part, about chemicals...and trying your darndest to avoid them. Now, I know some of you out there are going to say that it is impossible to avoid chemicals and you would be absolutely correct.  In our world, chemicals are most certainly a part of life. To me, it just makes sense to do all that I can to keep my family's exposure to them as low as possible. In the words of my beautiful friend, Tacoma, "Well, the way I see it, every chemical that we can avoid is lessening my family's chances of sickness, disease, and cancer."  Exactly.  What better reason could there possibly be than this??!!

Toxic chemicals are found in food, water, soil, air, everyday household cleaners, personal care products...and the list goes on.  I cleaned houses for a while to bring in some extra cash for our family and it literally made me sick.  After a few months, I realized that the burden on my body from all of those household chemicals was too great to ignore.  This is the reason I started researching and learning, which prompted me to throw out every chemical I could find in our house.  I am the personality type that jumps in with both feet.  If you are new to all of this "natural" stuff and find it to be overwhelming, take baby steps if you need to, making one simple change at a time.

Lifestyle change #1:  Clean out the cleaners. Thankfully, doing this also helps your budget. It costs me next to nothing to clean my house now.  You do not have to go and buy a bunch of "green" cleaners. No more trips down the cleaning aisle at Target!  In fact, none of us can even stand those aisles anymore. You will discover that, once you've been free of chemical fragrance for a while, you won't be able to stomach them.  It's very interesting.  Jay told me a couple of months ago that he was near an opened box of Tide detergent and he couldn't handle the smell.  It will literally make you feel sick after a while. I want to hold my breath while walking by Bath and Body Works at the mall or the candle aisle at the store. Bizarre, huh!?

"But what about the germs?" you might ask.  Well, I personally think we've all been sold a bill of goods about disinfecting. If you are worried about your house not being clean enough, check out this documentary about one family's journey into the world of living without all of those chemicals. You can view this for free on Netflix, if you have it. Lots of good info.

And here are some great websites to help you start your own journey...
 http://www.womensvoices.org/
 http://www.ewg.org/
 http://www.gorgeouslygreen.com/
 http://nomoredirtylooks.com/

Thoughts? Questions? Feel free to ask. I started making big changes a little over 3 years ago and haven't regretted it once.  It's comforting to know that I can clean my house without creating a chemical soup for my family to live and breathe in. For a while it may seem difficult or strange, but it will soon become your new normal and you won't even have to give it any thought.  Check out the websites and the documentary and get started!