Clean, Green & Serene: The Perks of Eco-Friendly Cleaning
It’s that time — time to do a deep clean. You're cleaning the house with the same chemical-filled products you’ve always used.
You’re cleaning your kitchen table where your family eats and the bedrooms where your children sleep.
The questions start disrupting your everyday thoughts. How are these chemicals affecting your family? Does the residue of this spray make its way into our dinner? How much do these chemicals linger in the air in our bedrooms?
You Google some of the ingredients on your cleaning products and realize it’s the final straw — you’re ready to make the switch and reap the benefits of green cleaning products.
If you’re ready to get a better understanding of what green cleaning involves, what classifies green cleaning products as “green” and the benefits of green cleaning, our experts have done the hard stuff for you. Keep reading to learn more about choosing the right products for your home.
Table of Contents
What Is Green Cleaning?
Want to change the products in your house to ones with cleaner ingredients? Have you considered lowering your negative impact on the environment or creating a healthier home for your family?
Understanding what green cleaning is can help you reach those goals.
Swapping conventional cleaners for a safer alternative reduces the exposure to harmful chemicals to both people and our Earth. How do they do this? We explore some of the benefits of green cleaning below.
6 Benefits of Green Cleaning
The benefits of green cleaning products may result in a healthier lifestyle while minimizing your ecological footprint. Using environmentally friendly cleaning agents can improve home air quality and reduce your exposure to chemicals.
At Tidy Up Portland!, we want our clients to enjoy a professionally cleaned home and the peace of mind knowing we’ve cleaned with chemical-free products. Get in touch with us today to learn more about the services we offer and the cleaning products we use.
#1: Better for Your Health
You and your family’s health is important — in fact, maintaining good health is a priority. Good news is that by switching to green ingredients, you're limiting the chemicals your bodies absorb daily. One study observed “statistically significant decreases in air concentrations of 17 chemicals of concern.” when green ingredients were used.
Opting for green cleaning products can reduce the risk of the following:
Eye irritants
Skin rashes
Respiratory irritation
#2: Safer To Use Around Pets and Children
As parents to kids, parents to pets, or parents with a houseful of both, you likely want to keep your house as safe as possible. Kids and pets are more prone to coming in contact with residue left behind from cleaning products.
Choosing products with green ingredients can help prevent unnecessary exposure to dangerous chemicals, reducing the risk of your children or pets ingesting or inhaling them.
#3: Reduced VOCs
Green cleaning companies avoid using toxic chemicals in their products. These products can emit Volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are gases that readily evaporate into the air and can contribute to short and long-term side effects in people.
The American Lung Association notes:
“Breathing VOCs can irritate the eyes, nose and throat, can cause difficulty breathing and nausea, and can damage the central nervous system and other organs. Some VOCs can cause cancer.”
Your family, your pets, and anyone who enters your home deserves more than breathing in harmful chemicals and toxins. Using green cleaning products is just a small step you can take to make a big difference.
According to a study published in Chemosphere, “On average, even considering the large variability across the group of 30 products tested here, green cleaning products emitted fewer VOCs and fewer hazardous VOCs than conventional products, and overall fragrance-free products had significantly lower emissions.”
Replacing conventional cleaners with green products may reduce the risk of health problems.
#4: Improved Indoor Air Quality
Improving air quality is another one of the benefits of using green cleaning products. By removing the emission of VOCs from your cleaning products — you can enhance the air quality of your home. You can breathe easier knowing you’ve taken a step to reduce VOCs while keeping your home clean — literally.
#5: May Be More Cost Effective
Walking through the aisles in search of greener products may feel discouraging. The prices compared to the products you've been using are quite a bit pricier than what you're used to. Don't let the initial cost scare you. When you find a brand that works for you, buying in bulk is a great way to reduce the cost.
Buying one or two products that are all-purpose or multi-purpose may also lower the cost, especially if you are ready to toss out your toxic cleaners and start over.
Purchasing green-labeled cleaners isn’t your only option. You may have a few basic ingredients at home that can work as all-natural cleaners.
Some common natural household ingredients are:
Baking soda
Hydrogen-Peroxide
Vinegar
Castile soap
Essential Oils
Our professional cleaners value spreading green cleaning awareness and insight. Learn how to tackle house cleaning without chemicals from our team of experts!
#6: Better for the Environment
From manufacturing a product to its usage and disposal, toxic products hurt our environment. The ingredients in these cleaners contribute to the Earth’s air and water pollution, and packaging often adds to the ever-growing landfills.
Switching to green products can have a positive impact in many ways, including:
Biodegradable - products that naturally break down can reduce the amount of chemical build-up.
Reduces water pollution - removing dangerous chemicals helps reduce the negative impact you have on water quality and aquatic ecosystems.
Reduces air pollution - lowering the emission of VOCs can reduce the amount of chemicals in the air.
How To Identify Green Cleaning Products
Because of the rising interest in green cleaning, many companies “greenwash” their products to make them appear safer than they are — wrongfully capitalizing on this movement.
Because of possible false claims, your initial search for green products may feel discouraging. You may be asking yourself questions like,
“How do I know which are the best products? Which ones truly have green ingredients?”
Our team of experts has created a list of high-standard ecolabeling programs:
Products containing these logos are strictly evaluated. Each product must undergo strict testing to be certified and labeled as a green cleaning product.
Another great resource is the Environmental Work Group. The EWG is a non-profit organization that is “dedicated to advancing environmental health for all.” The EWG’s can help you identify green cleaning products by looking at the ingredients listed on the packaging. EWG’s guide to decoding labels is a helpful tool to refer to when reading potential products' ingredients.
Searching for, purchasing, and cleaning your home, all while maintaining the rest of your busy life, can be a hassle. Know that in the season of life you’re in, you don’t have to do it all. Here at Tidy Up Portland!, we carefully choose the safest, best, green-cleaning products for our clients.. Our products meet the highest standards of quality and effectiveness.
Instead of a choice between hundreds of cleaning products — choose from our three tailored cleaning packages:
Maintenance Cleaning Package
Deep Cleaning Package
Mommy’s Helper Package
Once you choose one of our cleaning packages, we’ll connect to discuss when and how often you’d like our services. Contact us today to chat with one of our professionals to come up with a plan that works best for you.
Reap the Benefits of Green Cleaning With Tidy Up Portland!
Wanting knowledgeable professionals who care about using clean ingredients, green products and are skilled in cleaning and organizing? Tidy Up Portland! is here to help! We offer green house cleaning in Portland.
We are a company that wants to normalize green cleaning. Chemical-free cleaning benefits the environment and people alike — the choice between toxic and non-toxic is an easy one to make.
Our company takes pride in being chemical-free because that means we are truly taking care of our clients. We are expert cleaners who do what we can to minimize air pollutants and avoid use of harmful ingredients throughout your home.
