Tag: windows

  • Winter Wisdom

    Winter Wisdom

     

     

     

    This blog first ran on the Premier Pediatrics website.

    Just when we’d finally gotten used to the fall weather, it seems that Old Man Winter is nipping at our toes. This will mean some chilly days playing outdoors, but, if your family is anything like mine, it also means plenty of hot chocolate and hanging out inside.

    While I’m hoping that my clan’s movie nights, card games and indoor basketball tournaments (yes, we have those) are all entertaining, I know that there’s another aspect of our experience indoors that is of utmost importance: the quality of the air in our home. The stuff we breathe in, day in and day out, affects our health and, considering how much time we’ll be spending indoors, the stuff better be clean. Southerners are not off the hook; even if your kids are often in bathing suits while others are in snowsuits, you still go home, sleep at home and spend lots of time in your home.

    According to the EPA, indoor air is many times more toxic than outdoor air — a result of products in our homes and toxics we bring in. So make it your business to defy those odds and make your home as sweet as it can be — naturally. These tips will help you do just that…

     

    TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF IN THE HOUSE

    I’ve always instinctively hated the idea of tracking whatever was on the bottom of my shoes into my kids’ bedrooms, but once I learned what might actually be on the bottom of said shoes, I realized I was factually on target. Bacteria is just the start; our soles can be laden with, among other things, pesticides and herbicides, heavy metals, gasoline and coal tar. These contaminants, which are linked to cancer and neurological problems, can be brought into the home where they become dust particles and are then breathed in, as well as absorbed through the skin. Young children are regularly on the floor and are therefore more apt to come into contact with whatever has settled there. Additionally, carpets are especially perfect resting grounds for these toxicants. So leave your shoes – and all the junk that’s on them – near the front door and keep your air and floors free from unhealthy substances.

    AVOID CONVENTIONAL AIR FRESHENERS

    Who doesn’t want a fresh-smelling home? But don’t hand me “Mountain Fresh Scent” in a can or any of those wall plug-ins. I’d go for pure cinnamon, coffee grinds or essential oils over hormone disruptors and respiratory toxicants any day…and you should too. Conventional air fresheners either mask smells by coating your nasal-passages (ugh) or spew out none other than endocrine disrupting phthalates, carcinogenic formaldehyde, unhealthy petroleum distillates and a host of other goodies. So ditch the synthetic chems for lavender sachets or bowls of odor-absorbing baking soda and the air in your home will be fresh…and healthy.

    SWITCH OVER ONE CLEANING PRODUCT

    It’s been many moons since my laundry room cabinet was stocked with bottles containing brightly colored liquids for all of the many cleaning jobs in my home. Long ago I did away with jugs that say “Caution” or “Harmful if Swallowed.” My secret weapon is now a vinegar and water combo. I use it for everything – kitchen, bathrooms, floors, you name it. But I appreciate that, although it’s effective and totally safe, not everyone feels comfortable using vinegar to clean an entire home. With that in mind, it would still be very worthwhile to choose one of your cleaners – say, your toilet bowl cleaner (which can be particularly caustic and dangerous) or your sink cleaner (which is likely full of respiratory toxicants) – and switch it over for a 1 cup vinegar to 1 cup water combo (you can even do a 1/2 cup vinegar to 1 cup water mix if you’re still a bit vinegar-shy). It’s effective, the smell dissipates within minutes and your kids will be breathing in many less toxicants even for this single change.

    AIR OUT YOUR DRY CLEANING

    The chemicals that are used for dry cleaning – specifically perchloroethylene (perc) – can be some nasty stuff. Perc can irritate the eye/nose/throat/skin and, with high levels of exposure, can lead to neurological problems, In addition, perc has been labeled a likely human carcinogen. If possible, dry clean your clothes at a “wet-cleaning” shop or one that utilizes CO2. If your dry-cleaner touts itself as organic, be sure to ask what they use in place of perc. But if a conventional dry cleaner is your only option, pull the plastic off of freshly dry-cleaned clothes and air them out for a few hours before bringing them inside. Otherwise the chemicals that might still be emitting underneath the plastic could contaminate the air in your home.

    OPEN YOUR WINDOWS

    You’d have to be at the mouth of a coal-burning factory for the air outside your home to be more toxic than the air indoors. Which is why opening windows, even for just a short time every day, can really improve the air quality in your home. Just as Mom always said, there really is a benefit to getting some “fresh air.” Even when the thermometer dips into those unhappy numbers, buck up and open up. It’s one of the great defenses against unhealthy air buildup in the home.

  • Windex with your Latte, Anyone?

    Windex with your Latte, Anyone?

    Every time you spray your windows with a conventional cleaner, you’re contaminating the air in your home. Each time you spritz the stuff, you’re letting loose a whole army of toxic chemicals that can negatively impact your children’s health.

    And by the way, your lungs ain’t getting off scott-free either.

    Take this very morning. After my alarm woke me up (and by alarm I mean my 7 year-old), I helped whip four kids into shape, took one of them to the eye doctor, talked shop with the PTA president and did a pretty hefty supermarket run.

    So, by 10:15, I’d lived a whole day and I just wanted to relax with a cup of coffee.

    You can then imagine my annoyance – no, my pissed-off-ness – when, as I sat down, latte in front of me, the guy with the rag starts spraying the glass table with, you guessed it, Windex.

    The smell of the neon stuff is awful, obviously. But that was just the tip of the ‘ole iceberg for my detail-oriented self. I mean hell, I didn’t want to breathe in ammonium hydroxide and ethanolamine this AM! I wanted my coffee without respiratory toxicants, thank you. And back to that telltale smell that offends even the least neurotic out there. That’s a mashup of “nonspecific” synthetic chemicals – aka skin irritants and neurotoxins.  And those will mess with anyone, Type A or otherwise.

    As for the non-coffee drinking set? Your children are the most vulnerable to those very worrisome chemicals because, pound for pound, they breathe in more air than you and are still developing. The risks they face from inhaling these toxicants regularly are real and that’s without even mentioning the possibility of accidental ingestion.

    But don’t worry, it’s never too late to make changes, and this one’s simple. Herewith, a DIY non-toxic window cleaner:

    • 2 cups water

    • 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

    • 1/2 teaspoon natural dish soap

    Combine the ingredients in a bottle and spray away. Wipe down with a newspaper or a microfiber cloth. If you think the vinegar scent might offend tiny noses, open the windows or grab a non-toxic glass cleaner online or in your local market. Green Shield Organic Glass Cleaner and Whole Foods Market Glass Cleaner are two great options.

    So, if I do nothing in this post other than to get you to consider swapping your chemical window and glass cleaner for a non-toxic version, I’ll sleep well tonight. And if you actually make the change, your kids will too.