We’re familiar with the kinds of toxins that can contaminate our food or the air we breathe. That’s a literal mental picture we can easily conjure up and just as easily try to avoid. Unfortunately, in our modern age, many toxic chemicals enter our lives in other ways, through common household products that are a part of normal daily living in the 21st century.

A brief encounter with toxins isn’t life-threatening, but consistent, low-grade exposure to these chemicals can cause problems. Toxic buildup is one of the reasons many nutritionists recommend “detoxing.” In order to make sure you don’t get to that point, here are 4 ways to rid toxins from your home before they build up in your system and cause health problems.

 

1.   DIY Cleaning Supplies

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toxic buildup in our bodies can contribute to inflammation, cause allergic reactions, and over time even lead to cancer. One of the leading sources of artificial chemicals in our homes is cleaning supplies that are chock full of chemicals. They get on your hands and into your skin, poison your kitchen counter and sink, and cake your bathtub.

Since making your home clean and safe is the goal, why would you make it more toxic in the process?

Instead, use natural cleaning supplies made of common household ingredients that are perfectly safe and just as effective at cleaning surfaces as the corporate chemical cocktails you currently have under your sink.

Simple ingredients for an effective all-natural cleaner should include vinegar, baking soda, and a little water. That’s a fine basic cleaner with no aftereffects at all. One of my favorite base ingredients is lemon juice: it smells good, contains no chemicals, and the acids do the job right when you’re scrubbing the counters or floors.

Replacing chemical products with natural alternatives becomes even more of an imperative if you have very young or very old people in your house. However, even if it’s just you, DIY products save your health at the same time they save you money.

 

2.   Keep the Toxins Outside

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a lot of toxins out in the world that we can’t control. These include synthetic herbicides and pesticides for starters, the kind that I advocate avoiding consuming in your produce by buying from organic farms. However, there are other ways toxins get into the house.

Did you know that lead dust out in the world, on street surfaces and in the ground, has only one reliable way to get into your house? It sticks to your shoes and follows you home. This is why taking your shoes off at the door has the surprising added benefit of leaving the toxins outside.

 

3.   Open Your Windows

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just because you can track toxins into the house doesn’t mean that the outside is all bad. One of the ways that toxins enter your body through your cleaning products is through the residue and vapor, fumes that can build up in your house if you use toxic products too often.

Keeping a window open can help your house vent and get the chemicals moving out of your personal space and into the open air where they can dissipate.

 

4.   Go Carpetless

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carpets that are tacked onto your entire floor and go all the way to the wall are comfy modern conveniences, but they contain a ton of chemicals. They’re treated with a ton of gross synthetic products ranging from acrylic, repellents, dyes, sprays, polypropylene, and others.

None of this stuff is good for you and the fact that you and young kids will lay on carpets and touch them and not think about their effect on your bodies is a good reason to opt for wood or tiles floors when you can. You can always buy a nice organic rug.

 

The Takeaway

Toxins can enter our lives in unexpected ways, ways other than the food we eat. The chemicals we use to clean our houses are major culprits for rising cancer numbers and less healthy living in general. Switching to all-natural cleaners you can make yourself in 5 minutes is an incredibly easy fix for a lot of potential problems.

Other possibilities include leaving your shoes outside, opening windows, and removing carpets. You can’t eliminate toxins from a modern existence 100%, but if you take these steps to reduce them, you can rest easier knowing that you and your family aren’t doing unnecessary damage to your bodies on a daily basis.