4 ideas to detox your home for free!
read time: 4 minutes
disclaimer: This is not medical advice. This is intended to educate, inspire and support you in your self healing journey. Speak to your functional medicine doctor, holistic psychologist, or medical professional. Some content might be sensitive; I invite you to practice self-harmonizing.
Stress is at the root of illness and dis-ease. And stress comes at us from all angles; work, school, relationships, death or illness of a loved one, financial struggles, traffic, surgery, food, water, prescriptions, and other environmental toxins to name a few stressors.
A meaningful way of supporting our stress response and overall health is to reduce toxins in the environment.
While we can’t control if a loved one gets cancer, we can control (to a large extent) the toxins we bring into our home.
Let’s dive in shall we?
All of these ways are:
free (yay!)
good for the environment (no packaging or shipping), and
minimal risk to bodymind (as compared to supplements or medication which should be done with guidance from a medical professional).
note: beginning a healing journey can often feel overwhelming! One minute you think “I’m doing great!” The next “OMG there’s TOO much more to do, I can’t, I’m failing!” I get it, I’ve been there. Remember; one step at a time and congratulate yourself every day for how far you’ve come, for your awareness and desire to improve your environment, health and life!
remove shoes at the door
Bottoms of our shoes come into contact with gasoline, fertilizers, pesticides, poop, spit and so much more outside. By simply removing shoes outside before coming in, we are limiting the nasty stuff we track into the home. So easy!
open windows daily
Unfortunately our homes are full of toxic stuff; beds and other furniture contain formaldehyde, glues, dyes, solvents… and it’s just circulating throughout the home…
Aim open up at least 2 windows for 20-60+ minutes each day. If it’s cold outside, cracked open for 20 minutes will do the trick… and maybe turn down the thermostat so you’re not wasting energy trying to heat up your home.
Since humans are spending 90% of their time inside it’s a good idea to air out the home every day… in addition to getting fresh air and sunlight outside!
It’s one of the reasons I love my home in Medellin, Colombia is I have the windows and doors open all day every day.
Bonus: check your air filters and window screens. Dirty? Wash them or change them!
air it out
Bought something new? A mattress, suitcase, pots, yoga mat, etc. If it’s not something you can easily put in the washing machine, air it out first!
Instead of bringing it into the home straight away, air it out on the porch, patio or garage first. This lets some of the lingering chemicals and other gunk from the manufacturing and transportation process not leech into your home.
You can use a fan to support pushing the release outside, especially if the item is in your garage or you have a small porch/patio.
read labels
What we bring into the house either helps or harms our nervous system.
So I ask you, what’s in your all-purpose cleaner? Shampoo? Face wash? Makeup? Laundry detergent? Cereal? Candles?
We aren’t just consuming food, water and air. We also consume everything that comes into contact with our skin (cleaning and personal care products, clothing, bedding, etc.)
Get in the habit of reading labels. Start there. Be okay with starting with the practice of reading labels without feeling like you have to change everything right now.
Again, I know the know the feeling of overwhelm when beginning to clean up home, lifestyle and health!
Remember, real change comes from consistent small right actions.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and detoxing the home, reducing stress, and improving overall health and vitality isn’t going to happen in one day or one action. It takes awareness, consistency, and patience…
Which practice are you going to implement? Comment below.
infinite love,
Stephanie
