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Natural Year Challenge: Household Edition

Household CleanersWould you like to switch to using chemical-free cleaning products in your home, but don't know where to begin?

Join us for our Natural Year Challenge: 10 Steps to a Naturally Clean Home!

For the next 10 months we'll lead you step by step through the process of incorporating natural cleaning products into every room in your house. Before you know it you'll be enjoying that smell of "natural" every day, with no worries of hazardous substances compromising the safe environment of your home.

Here is an overview of our 10 steps. Remember, you're allowed one full month for each step. If you need a month to catch up, no problem! Feel free to follow along at your own pace.

  1. Buy Five. These five supplies will arm you with everything you need to create your own all-purpose cleaners. Don't even worry about making or using them yet; your job is simply to find them!
  2. Make Laundry Soap. We'll put our borax, washing soda, and castile bar soap to good use. How-to video included!
  3. Make Household Soaps. Learn to make your own liquid dish soap, dishwasher powder, and hand soap using your five supplies.
  4. Clean Your Bathroom. Use your five supplies to make your bathroom sparkle without harsh cleansers or chemicals!
  5. Clean Your Kitchen. Your five supplies will be used to clean this vital part of the home safely and naturally.
  6. Clean Your Refrigerator. Naturally, of course! Plus some helpful tips on food storage and mold prevention.
  7. Remove Stains Naturally. Enjoy a practical video and helpful article on removing stains from dishes, clothing, carpet, and more.
  8. De-Clutter. Closets, kitchen, bookshelves, bedrooms. Learn how mold is connected to clutter!
  9. Clean Your Air. Tips on natural air purification using diffusers, essential oils, and homemade simmering potpourri.
  10. Make Liquid Soap. Our final challenge offers a soapmaking demonstration. We'll look at creating your own liquid hand soap with coconut oil, castor oil, jojoba oil, and potassium hydroxide.

Use the Natural Year Challenge menu at left (or click on the titles above) to follow the steps to a naturally clean home!

Quotes

"My symptoms persisted and eventually turned into lethargy and depression. At the age of 26, I required a nap every evening after work."

– Jennifer

"...at age 35 or 36 I started to become allergic to everything, and I got asthma at age 36... I went to doctor after doctor after doctor and was desperate for help, but nobody could help me."

– Mia

"The ERMI mold test as well as your helpful articles and Toxic Talk Tuesday programs have helped us avoid a terrible mistake in purchasing a new home."

– Angela

"I'm new at this, but today I cleaned my bathroom with baking soda and vinegar. It's much better not having those strong chemical smells afterwards."

– Anonymous

"I was skeptical at first that these (natural cleaning) products would work, but they work better than the stuff I buy at the store! We will soon be moving to the personal care products as well!"

– Jennifer

"Both of my sons went downhill quickly and coughed for months... They both lost their ability to read, had profound vision disturbances, and had phenomenal gastric issues."

– Lee

"We had some water leaks in our home... we never thought we needed to clean out and remove the floor, the ceiling, or the drywall... my two small children and I have remained constantly sick for years in this home."

– Mia

"I started finding myself sitting on the floor in rooms of my house and not remembering how I got there, what I was doing before, or how long I had been there."

– Brenda

"I have been sick for almost 6 months now and doctors were not able to figure out why. I finally put it all together after going away for vacation for a week and suddenly my symptoms were going away."

– Anonymous

"We were having a lot of health problems and had been to the doctor countless times... we had large circles of slimy greenish-black mold on the bathroom ceiling, where it had caved in a few months before."

– C.

"In my moldy home if I left the wet clothes in the washer they would get musty very quickly and I'd have to re-wash... Sometimes I'd run a load, go to work, and they'd be musty when I returned that evening."

– Anonymous

"We all suffered from headaches, hormonal body temperature fluctuations, brain fog, fatigue, difficulty breathing, thrush, rashes, and yeast infections... we vacated our home two weeks ago."

– Anonymous

"I knew it was mold, but doctors kept telling me I had anxiety. I was sitting in my office and could not remember who I was talking to, or what we were talking about."

– Brenda

"Our family has been out of our home for 9 months due to mold... I am so scared and weak from all of this. We have lost friends; family members don't understand."

– Anonymous

"I've been living in a mold-infested home for 13 months... I was going CRAZY! Finally figured it out... Just a few days of recovering in a mold-free home and I feel AMAZING!!!"

– Lauren

"I had been struggling with headaches, head fog, breathing difficulties (unable to get a full breath), constant scalp tingling, migraines, nausea, feeling spacey/detached, and severe itchy skin."

– Anonymous

"My daughter has had many blood samples taken to test for everything imaginable and her doctor just seems puzzled. Everything comes back normal."

– Anonymous

"The entire time we lived in our (mold-infested) house the kitchen sponge would get musty smelling within 3-4 days. It was so strange. I had to buy a pack of sponges nearly every week."

– Anonymous

"My daughter started having digestive problems... heart palpitations... coughing episodes... muscle/joint pain... asthma/allergies... Her doctor finally advised me to check for mold in our home."

– Anonymous

This site is dedicated to a true friend and mother — Barbara Dell Kessel (1929-2009)