Budgeting for Clean Home and Body Care

Bugeting home and body care

Budgeting for non-toxic home and body care products can be a challenge, at least at first. For optimal health results, you’ll want to ensure that your home and body care products are in line with your health goals. It’s true that a complete overhaul of your home and body care routine takes time and effort. However, by taking baby steps, you will keep moving toward your goal without getting overwhelmed or going broke!

Budgeting Tip #1: Start with Mindset

The first step in the process involves budgeting from a global perspective – not just material aspects.

What might toxic products cost you in the long run? What is the value of your health? In fact, choosing products based on cheapness is very costly. This applies to food, dental materials, and home and body care products. You may be surprised at the high hidden health costs in “cheap” products that contain harmful chemicals. The individual, environmental, and public health costs are staggering. By way of example, they can trigger skin problems, asthma, cancer, infertility, hypothyroidism, liver toxicity and neurological problems in children, adults and pets. 

Do you feel overwhelmed by the idea of upgrading your home and body regimen? Then you might need to dive deep into the beliefs that drive the perception that cleaner living is too expensive for you. Fortunately, there are many ways to budget, and you may be able to save money while cleaning out toxic products! In my nutritional therapy practice, I help my clients brainstorm strategies for budgeting home and body care based on their health goals, lifestyle and preferences.

Keep in mind the paramount value of your self-worth and your family’s health. In this sense, it can be said that detoxification of home and body care products starts on an emotional level. The first step is giving value to your long-term health.

On a more material level, budgeting for a clean home and body care can be surprisingly economical. In fact, by following the minimalist budgeting tips below, you’ll save yourself and your family uncountable money in the long run.

Budgeting Tip #2: Be a Minimalist!

In the area of home and body care, most people are using many unnecessary items. In fact, just eliminating those can free up the budget for better-quality, non-toxic or less-toxic replacements for essentials.

At my house, our core body care product regimen is quite simple. It includes unscented soap, non-toxic, hypoallergenic shampoo, argan oil and non-toxic toothpaste. We have aloe gel and aloe salve on hand and some essential oils. You won’t find shaving cream/gel, nail polish, perfume, make-up, conditioner, hair dye, or many other products considered essential by many.

Our home regimen is likewise pretty basic. It includes non-toxic, unscented dish soap and laundry detergent (in the past, I used and loved soap nuts for many years), an all-purpose cleaner, apple cider vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide. The same essential oils we use for body care can double up for home care, for example, by adding a drop of whatever oil to diluted apple cider vinegar when cleaning. You won’t find dryer sheets, fabric softener, scented candles, or air fresheners.

The next part of this post will guide you through the two most important things to eliminate from your body care regimen: artificial fragrances and mercury.

Budgeting Tip #3: Eliminate Artificial Fragrances

Artificial fragrances added to perfume, cologne, soap, detergent, fabric softener, air fresheners, scented candles, lotion, household cleaning products and a slew of other home and body care products contain dangerous chemicals that stress the liver and harm the endocrine system and immune system. This causes many health problems in children, adults and household pets. Learn more about the endocrine-disrupting effects of fragrances here. And do yourself a favor and watch the documentary Stink while you’re at it!

If you’re in the habit of using artificial scents, this may be a big paradigm shift for you. But don’t worry – contrary to popular belief, artificial scents do not make people smell better and do not make people or places any cleaner.

You can save a lot of money both on your household products and on your health by cutting back on the number of products you use. You can start by cutting out artificially scented products first and replacing them with a minimal and essential product regimen.

Here are some resources for finding alternatives that are either unscented or lightly scented with essential oils. You can find better cleaning products and better personal care products through the Environmental Working Group’s consumer product guides.

Budgeting Tip #4 Check Your Mascara!

Thimerosal is a preservative and anti-microbial that is 50% ethylmercury. Yes, you heard that right! Mercury is a potent neurological and epigenetic toxicant. Unfortunately, it has a cumulative effect when absorbed, and mercury in a woman’s body from past and ongoing exposure can pass to the developing fetus during pregnancy. Did you know that as long as it’s under 65 parts per million and if it is classified as an “inactive ingredient,” the FDA allows thimerosal in mascara?

Why on earth is mercury allowed in mascara? When the Minamata Global Treaty of 2013 banned it from a number of other products, it concluded that for mascara, there were not sufficient alternative options to protect consumers from infection and extend product shelf life. Unbelievable as it may sound, some mascaras have thimerosal as an ingredient at levels at or under the allowed 65 parts per million without any disclosure on the label.

The Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database includes the brands listing thimerosal as an ingredient. If you use mascara, it’s a good idea to check directly with the manufacturer to ask for a list of inactive ingredients not listed on the product label. Learn more about mercury in mascara here.

Let’s work together

If you have unresolved health concerns and would like to learn how we could work together, I’d love to connect with you. And if you’re a holistic healthcare practitioner wanting to deepen your clinical skills, make sure you check out my case study group!

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