I get it, you’re short on time and have a million items pending on your to-do list. But, here’s a legit health hack: sustainability. Not only does adopting a sustainable lifestyle improve your health and the health of the planet, but it’s also a secret way to measurably decrease stress. Nothing beats a three for one, am I right?! So grab your pen and to – do list, incorporate the suggestions below, and get prepped to check three items off your list at once. Now that’s time management at its best!
I think we can all agree that adopting a sustainable lifestyle is a better option for the health of our planet and its natural resources. But sometimes that task feels overwhelming and we find ourselves wondering just how much it’ll benefit ourselves and the way our family operates. Follow these three steps to get you started. The buy in is inherently built into the task. Read on.
- DETOX: your environment, your body, and planetary waste
- SIMPLIFY: give oil extraction and your endocrine system a break
- OPTIMIZE: choose only the best and curate your space
Detox from Plastics, Chemicals & Endocrine Disruptors
Clear it ALL out. It’s funny how much we focus on organizing our bottled laundry supplies into neatly compartmentalized, often plastic, organizers within our laundry rooms. We have two different types of laundry detergents, a laundry booster, a bleach, a strain treater, a fabric softener, a scent booster, and a ‘clean and free version’ for the family member who has “sensitive skin.”
Perhaps it’s the family member with sensitive skin who holds the message in need of greatest consideration: should the artificial colors, surfactants (SLS and SLES), artificial scents (fragrance and parfum), and skin irritants (chlorine) be included in our laundry products at all?
Now that we’re learning more and more about these endocrine disruptors and the capacity they have to alter our health and fertility, it seems like a no brainer to start clearing our rooms (and the toxic loads on our bodies) out for our own health, and for the overall health of our families.
And what about our cleaning agents? Ammonia, phosphates, triclosan and so many other known carcinogens and endocrine disruptors are added to our bathroom, kitchen, toilet, tile, floor, and window cleaners – all of which are beautifully labeled in plastic bottles in need of further organization in plastic bins and organizers.
Let’s stop the madness. Get rid of bottles. Get rid of the chemicals. Stop filling the landfills.
By removing the redundant products and clearing out the chemically laden and artificially scented laundering and cleaning products we have to store in our homes, we literally detox. We detox from the clutter, we detox our bodies by limiting our exposure to ingredients that potentially burden our detoxification pathways and undermine our health, we also get to detox from the plastics that show up in packaging and circulate within our bloodstreams perpetually.
Oh, and the planet gets a big break from the constant demand to continue extracting oil to support it all. Detoxing, I’d say it’s a win to complete this step alone.
Simplify Your Products
Once you’ve pulled the madness from your shelves, take a big exhale. The clutter is gone and the stress of managing the clutter is not invited back. It’s time to simplify.
Identifying which cleaning products are essential and narrowing your focus to sustainably produced options that are safe for the whole family creates simplicity. Fewer products, less inventory management and purchasing, and more time and health back to you.
Let’s look at cleaning tablets and powders. There are a host of brands like Blueland, Thrive and Dirty Labs who focus on eliminating toxic exposure from products, while maximizing cleaning power contained within a measurable powder or a premade tablet. They’re most commonly packaged in compostable paper cylinders or resealable paper bags.
These tablets and powders use the water already present in your washing machine or the toilet you’re cleaning to activate — so they’re intelligent and space-saving. This means instead of storing a family – sized, plastic bottle of laundry detergent that includes water in the formulation, your shelves are now free to store things that create visual calm in your environment
Optimize Your Home
Now that you’ve detoxed your space and have looked into alternative options like powders and tablets, you get to select only the highest quality products to invite back into your home. And because you’ve simplified, you get to curate the way your room looks and feels without this stressful need for organization.
This is where those of us who happen to have a bougie side get excited! This is when you get to display your laundry powder in a glass jar with a wooden spoon, right next to a slightly larger glass jar of reusable wool laundry balls.
These are of course, accented by a favorite plant, a stack of neatly folded towels, or a bowl of your favorite essential oils. The room is clean, neat, smells of laundry products scented by mother nature. The stress of managing multiple products and their potential health effects, along with the physical task of keeping it all organized is gone. Each room has the ability to express that which matters most to you and your family — a place that is curated to look, feel, and smell exactly as you wish.
Adopting a sustainable lifestyle, if even step by step: I can’t think of a better way to improve your health, lower your stress, and care for this planet we share. Happy curating!