Celadon Road — Clean Green
Top 5 Spring Cleaning Tips from Our CEO 0
Spring is the season of renewal and awakening. As the days get longer and warmer, our personal energy and moods improve, leading many of us to open the windows and give our homes a serious scrub down. If you are ready to get started, here are some of my best tips for Spring Cleaning:
- Clean Top to Bottom. In each room, start with your ceilings by sweeping them with a soft duster. Wipe down light fixtures and lightbulbs with a soft cloth. While you are up there, change the batteries in your smoke detectors and the direction of your ceiling fans, if necessary. Most fans have a switch on the base to adjust the rotation. You want to make sure your celling fans are running counterclockwise during these warmer months. Next move to cleaning the walls and all hanging items, then on to all items resting on the floor, then on to the floors.
- Purge Expired items. Tackle your medicine cabinet, your pantry and your refrigerator by disposing of all consumable items that have expired. If you have fruits or veggies that are about to go bad, place them in a Ziploc or container in your freezer. You can use the fruits in smoothies and the veggies in juices or soups. Bonus points for washing the inside of your refrigerator and vacuuming its condenser coils to prevent overheating.
- Declutter. Let it go! Let it go! (Sung on the top of my lungs doing my best Elsa impersonation.) Whether you are taking it room by room or following the now-famous method in the Magical Art of Tidying Up, "Konmari" the heck out of your clothes, papers, books and utensil drawers. Make a commitment every day to declutter a new category of belongings or room in your house until it's done. Donate or recycle what you can. Many charitable organizations do home pick up of donated goods.
- Add Some Houseplants to Liven and Clean Up the Place. Not only are they great for your home’s Feng Shui, houseplants are also great air purifiers. Plants absorb toxins from the air and release fresh oxygen. Boston Fern, Palm Trees and English Ivy are some of your best bets.
- Stock up on Celadon Road’s Green Cleaners. Celadon Road’s all natural and organic cleaners are a great choice for Spring Cleaning your home. Our cleaners are scented only with essential oils – no hospital masks necessary! To get started, I recommend an All-Purpose Cleaner, Glass Cleaner and a natural scrubbing cloth. We've got the best products for every room in your house.
#CleanGreen: 'Growing' Fresh Air 0
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the air in our home is 2 – 5 times dirtier than the air outside. What’s an eco-conscious gal/guy to do? Well, the solution is at your fingertips, so get your green thumb on and buy some houseplants!
Houseplants are beautiful, yet powerful leafy superheroes that combat toxins in your home the all natural way; they purify and revitalize the air by removing chemical vapors and outputting clean air full of life-sustaining oxygen. Specifically, plants absorb airborne toxins through their leaves, and then deliver them down to the microbes living in the rhizosphere (the area of soil near plant roots which is filled with biological activity). Once the toxins are in the rhizosphere, the microbes that reside there are able to break down the toxin. The plants are not harmed or poisoned in the process.
In the book How to Grow Fresh Air, B.C. Wolverton lists the top 10 plants that have been shown to be most effective in reducing household toxins. They are:
- Areca Palm
- Lady Palm
- Bamboo Palm
- Rubber Plant
- Dracaena “Janet Craig”
- English Ivy
- Dwarf Date Palm
- Ficus Alii
- Boston Fern
- Peace Lily
Make it your goal today to beautify and purify your home with some plants. Then breathe a little easier. Looking for some more green, organic inspiration?
Be sure to follow Celadon Road on Pinterest for our latest ideas and musings!
#CleanGreen: Understanding the Toxins in Your Home 0
Recently we talked about air quality and how to 'grow' fresh air. So by now, you’re probably wondering what brings these toxins into your home? Here are several toxins found in homes and the culprits that bring them in:- Household cleaners: contribute to indoor air pollution and, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, harbor more than 150 carcinogenic chemicals that can lead to birth defects, cancer and psychological disorders. Consider replacing them with natural, organic, non-toxic products. The EPA reports that household cleaners increase the risk of cancer by 3 times.
- Formaldehyde: carpets, caulking, ceiling tiles, draperies, fabrics, facial tissues, grocery bags, floor coverings, gas stoves, grocery bags, paints, paper towels, permanent press clothing, upholstery.
- Xylene/toluene: adhesives, computer VDU screens, printers, photocopies, floor coverings, particleboard, stains and varnishes, wall coverings.
- Benzene: adhesives, ceiling tiles, printers, floor coverings, paints, particleboard, tobacco smoke, stains and varnishes, wall coverings.
- Chloroform: chlorinated tap water.
- Ammonia: cleaning products, printers, photocopiers.
- Alcohols: carpeting, cosmetics, floor coverings, paints, particleboard, stains and varnishes
- Acetone: cosmetics, nail polish remover, office correction fluid, pre-printed paper forms.
- Pesticides: are harmful to pets, humans and the environment. Use organic pest control measures for home and garden instead.
- Dust and dirt from outside: using a door mat cuts down the toxic lead dust levels in a home virtually in half and taking off your shoes before entering your home cuts the toxic dust down by 60%.
