5 Easy Budget Friendly Steps to get started with Non toxic living

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Let’s face it: we live in a world in which we are completely bombarded by toxins on a daily basis. Whether we know this or not, our bodies do the best that they can to eliminate these everyday toxins so that our bodies can perform the way they were meant to. A report from the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) which is an act that requires the EPA or Environmental Protection Agency to keep record and report all chemicals processed and manufactured for use in the U.S. states that there are more than 86,000 chemicals in use in the U.S. today. I don’t know about you, but that is a very big number to me and can seem overwhelming trying to protect ourselves from that amount of chemicals. Switching to a more non-toxic living way of life can be easy and fun and might even save you some money!

The goal of this blog post is not to scare you or overwhelm you at all, but rather to empower you to know what exactly is going on in your environment. We can only control things in our own power, but luckily that includes our living environments aka our homes and what we choose to put in and on our own bodies. If you haven’t checked out my own journey check it out here!

I want to share all about toxins with you, including what they are, where they can be found and how to help eliminate the majority of them from our life. I will also be sharing 5 easy and budget friendly ways to start making some switches today.

What is a toxin?

I cannot tell you how much more life and vitality I have now after choosing to live a more non toxic lifestyle these past 5 years. You will also absolutely notice a difference when you start making some switches! 

Simply put, a toxin is a substance that our body does not recognize to be natural. These substances can come from the earth such as heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, aluminum etc. or be man made like pesticides and herbicides. Our bodies were made to be able to detox these toxins easily from our bodies using our very own detox organs such as the liver, the kidneys and the skin. However, when our bodies get overwhelmed with the amounts of toxins being taken in on a daily basis, our detoxification pathways begin to slow down and our bodies cannot keep up with the amount of toxins it needs to clear out.

This is when problems start to arise in our bodies such as autoimmune issues, allergies, chronic diseases and cancer. It is now estimated that 1 out of 2 people will develop cancer in their lifetime. The scary part of all of this is that most of us are using toxic cancer-causing substances in our household and on our largest body organ the skin everyday without even knowing it.

The good news? We can make small and EASY changes to lower our bodies toxic burden and help kick these toxins to the curb!

What does “non-toxic living” mean?

Let me be clear here: there is no such thing as a completely perfect non-toxic life. Yes, you heard me right. Anyone that claims they live a completely non-toxic life is lying to you. As I mentioned above, we encounter  SO many everyday toxicants and chemicals just living our everyday lives, it would be absolutely impossible to avoid all chemicals unless you literally lived in a bubble. 

Non-toxic living means you do the best you can do with what you have and are able to do financially. This does NOT mean you need to go and throw everything out you have currently bought to replace it with something a little less toxic, but to have the knowledge that when that item runs out you CAN replace it with something better. I want to make this journey the least bit overwhelming so that you can find your way to a more non toxic life enjoyable and sustainable all at the same time.

There is no need to stress out mentally or put stress on your finances just to live a more non-toxic life, because let’s be real: stress is more toxic than really anything going on in our bodies. My goal is to make this whole non toxic living journey for you empowering and fun!

Why should you give non-toxic living a try?

Interestingly enough, the EPA rates our everyday indoor air quality- meaning our home and work environments are  worse than outdoor air quality. Most of us spend 90% of our time indoors and we often don’t realize what chemicals are lurking in our homes polluting our air supply. Let’s start with some of the most offensive indoor air pollutants in our homes:

• Cleaning supplies– yes, the everyday items you use to clean or sanitize your kitchen and bathrooms can be doing more harm than good. I bet you didn’t know your favorite household cleaner can contain some of the most cancer causing ingredients out there like: Formaldehyde, chlorine, ammonia, phthalates, and volatile organic compounds. Even when the cleaning products are not being used and tucked away under your sink they are off gassing putting chemicals into the air. Ever notice when you walk down the cleaning supply aisle at the store you can immediately smell the solutions? Yep, that is what off-gassing does.

• Laundry detergents– the very substance we use to clean our clothes which sit on our skin all day have some of the very toxic ingredients as cleaning supplies do except they sit on our skin all day! I also have some sad news for you: that fake clean smell that makes our laundry smell clean? That scent is produced by synthetic fragrance which means it could contain up to almost 3,059 different chemicals used in fragrance formulations according to safecosmetics.org. I used to LOVE those fragrance balls that you would throw in the washer with your clothes to give them that extra “clean” scent. Your clothes should not smell like anything. By all means they should not smell dingy or musty but they should not have a scent to them. I will talk about much better alternatives but you can check out my Favorite Here! I love Molly’s Suds because they have a bunch of great scented soaps using essential oils only if you love that clean smell, or they have unscented for those who don’t like any scent.

• Synthetic fragrance: all those name brand wall scent plug-ins, disinfectant sprays, and candles are doing way more harm than good to your health. All of these products use the same chemicals that we have been talking about before: formaldehyde, phthalates, and volatile organic compounds. Volatile organic compounds include chemicals like benzene, the chemical that has been found in sunscreens linked to cancer. These products all contain chemicals that are endocrine disruptors. They mess with our hormones and in turn cause issues like infertility, autoimmune issues, cancer, and behavioral issues.

• Shoes– yes, you heard me right. Have you ever been curious as to what is on the bottoms of your shoes you wear outside? Shoes are one of the most dirty and polluted items we bring into our homes and a lot of people unfortunately wear them in their homes. Shoes have been found to carry pesticides, herbicides, mold, fecal matter viruses and bacteria. I don’t know about you, but I most definitely don’t want that tracked around my house.

• Paint- we all paint our homes at some point. Do you ever notice you need to clear the area for a day or two in order to not get a raging headache or feeling nauseated after painting a room? Paint can be super harmful to our health. Check out this article from the national institute of health on the hazards of painting and the exposure it has on painters as workers. Check out this article on occupational exposure painters encounter. The good news is there are a lot of good cleaner options for paint these days that include low VOC options. One of the best and my absolute favorite to use is the ECOS brand. They have so many different color options and it actually works really well! Check them out here.

• Carpeting and Rugs- If you can avoid carpet or remove carpet when you are able to or can it will tremendously help the indoor air quality of your home. Carpet harbors so many gross things like mold, bacteria, viruses, pesticides etc from wearing shoes indoors and carpet spills. Not to mention most carpeting is full of the same chemicals we have been referring to in this post: formaldehyde, VOCs, and other health concerning chemicals. Rugs can be just as troublesome as most rugs are made with synthetic fibers and backed with glues containing harmful chemicals. The best option for rugs include natural fibers like wool, jute or cotton. You also want to make sure the rug does not include a plastic like backing. Check out one of my favorite natural fiber rugs here.

Toxic ingredients to Avoid:

In Food:

The food industry is one of the biggest money making industries in our world today. With their enticing advertising, chemical additives to foods and the push for eating more processed foods than ever, it is no wonder America is one of the sickest countries in the world. Did you know that Europe has banned several food additives due to the high health risks these additives pose to our health? Some of these are so common in processed foods most people don’t even think twice about it.  If you have not read the book by the Food Babe, I highly recommend reading it. She uncovers so much stuff that goes on in the food industry that we, the consumers are just not aware of. Check it out here

Those beautiful rainbow sprinkles kids love on their ice cream? The fun, fruity colors of those favorite cereals marketed to children? They all contain food dyes which are a known health risk. Not only can they cause cancer but they are linked to behavioral issues in children. These products can be sold in Europe but they come with a warning label to them. That is not the case here in the U.S. There are so many good options now for dye- less food options. Sprinkles were so hard for me to give up but thankfully one of my favorite dye- free sprinkle brands can be found here.

Other potentially harmful additives found in the U.S. but banned in Europe include: Brominated vegetable Oil-found in mountain dew made of flame retardants. BHA and BHT which are found in most processed cereals, crackers and packaged foods to enhance flavor. This is a probable carcinogen. Potassium Bromate and azodicarbonamide. These are often found in breads, cookies, pastry doughs to make it rise higher. You might recall when Subway the sandwich store was using azodicarbonamide and was pressured to stop using it back in 2014. Unfortunately it is still being used in other chains and packaged products sold in the grocery store.

The best rule of thumb? Eat as close to the earth as possible, meaning limit processed foods to the best of your ability. Here are some other tips:

-Increase your vegetable and fruit intake

-Try to shop locally at farmers markets or through a CSA

-Buy foods around the perimeter of the store-most processed foods are in the middle aisles

-If it has more than 10 ingredients and ingredients you cannot pronounce you probably don’t want it in your body

Eat Organic when possible

Unfortunately, even our healthy foods like fruits and vegetables are sprayed with toxic pesticides and herbicides. The best rule of thumb I have found when prioritizing what to eat organic vs. conventional is to follow the EWG dirty dozen. Every year, the EWG or Environmental working group comes out with a list of the top 12 most heavily sprayed fruits and vegetables. Check out the 2023 list below. If you cannot spend money on all organic foods, it is imperative you follow this list and prioritize buying organic for this list to reduce your toxic burden.

Ingredients to avoid in personal care products:

Our skin is our largest organ on our body and absorbs all of the products we put on it. It is so important that we aren’t putting a toxic sludge of products on our bodies daily. A study done by the EWG found that women on average put on 168 different chemicals on their body each day. 

These personal care products are filled with many of the same chemicals that are found in cleaning products: Phthalates, formaldehyde, synthetic fragrance and parabens. When we apply these products directly to our skin, they get absorbed and then secreted into our blood stream in as fast as 26 seconds. 

The beauty industry can make reading ingredients a little tricky for the consumer so my word of advice is to always look for products that have the least amount of ingredients in them or ingredients you actually know what they are. A great source to check on the toxicity of a product is to use the EWG app. You can scan a product and it will come up with a rating between 1-10. 1 being the best you can get to 10 being TOXIC. There are even certain brands you can find that will have the “EWG certified” label. This is even better than scoring a 1. 

I typically only try to use products that fall within the 1-3 level of the EWG rating. Some main ingredients I will always avoid in personal care and beauty products include:

   –Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLS and SLES)- this is a surfactant that usually contains the chemical 1,4 dioxane that is found commonly in shampoos, bubble baths and body washes

-Synthetic fragrance- we have covered this a bunch in this post. Synthetic fragrance can contain a slew of unregulated chemicals

-Phthalates- another endocrine disrupter we have covered a lot in this post. Phthalates are found in a lot of personal care products as a plasticizer to make the fragrance stick

-Parabens- a preservative found in most personal care products that is an endocrine disruptor

-Formaldehyde- used also as a preservative in a lot of personal care products and is a known carcinogen.

To keep it simple; if you cannot pronounce the ingredient you can always look it up on EWG, or just move on to something that has fewer ingredients you can actually pronounce.
I have found that some of the best performing products for personal care are often times the most simple products. I will share some of my top picks in the 5 easy swaps below!

5 Easy Budget Friendly steps to get started with non-toxic living

I truly hope this post has not overwhelmed you in any sort of way, because in reality there is SO much that we can do everyday with baby steps to lessen our toxic burden which will in turn do SO much for your health!

I remember starting out on my non-toxic living journey 5 years ago, and I literally had no idea what I was doing. Everything starts to compound though and just by starting with the basic steps you will be amazed how far you can come in a couple years.

1. Remove Synthetic Fragrance from your home! This is one of the easiest and most important things you can do for your home and your living environment. Trust me when I say that I used to love my scented candles and wax burners that were putting out toxic ingredients into my home. I have gone 5 years without them and now every time I go into a home or environment with synthetic fragrance I get horrible headaches.

If you love to freshen your air or bedding or you need a little febreeze in the bathroom area I highly recommend checking out the Grow Fragrance Brand. They are an all natural brand that uses 100% plant based ingredients to freshen your air and every scent I have smelled is divine. They have so many great options for scents, even seasonal scents! Check them out here!

Another great option is to use beeswax candles if you love the ambiance of candles. Beeswax candles are such a great option because they are drip free so don’t make a mess and they actually help to purify the air by emitting negative ions. Win win! Check them out here!

2. Remove your shoes when you get home! As I discussed previously, shoes are some of the dirtiest items you can bring into your home that pollutes your air quality! Think of all the things you walk on and in unknowingly during the day. Do you want that stuff in your house? I would think no! This is one of the easiest tips to do just take them off when you get home!

3. Change out your laundry detergent and make your own cleaning solutions- As we covered above, laundry detergent and cleaning products can be one of the biggest culprits of toxic products we are using on our bodies and in our homes. There are SO many great laundry products these days that don’t use any of the harmful ingredients conventional laundry products use. Here are a few of my favorite laundry products and they actually WORK!

Let’s start with laundry: I have a whole blog post on the best baby laundry detergents here

Molly’s Suds– This was the first non toxic laundry detergent I used switching over and it absolutely got me hooked. They have so many great scents that use essential oils as the fragrance and they work so well on all of our clothing! They have both powdered and liquid. The peppermint and citrus grove is one of my favorites! They also have unscented as well. One bag lasts our family of five almost 2 months- the price per load comes out to $0.16 per load! Check them out here! They have both liquid detergent and powder.

Puracy– Another great brand that is a liquid detergent that also works so well! This comes out to about $0.31 but it is so concentrated you barely use that much when doing laundry so this one lasts awhile too! Check them out here!

If you are still using dryer sheets, please stop! Dryer sheets are some of the most toxic items in our household. Do you ever notice you can smell someone doing their laundry from outside? Yes, that is the chemical scent of dryer sheets. Molly Suds makes a great non toxic dryer sheet option I love. Check it out here. Another great option that is very environmentally friendly as well is using wool dryer balls. You can put drops of essential oils each time you use them and they get the static out great! Check them out here.

Moving on to cleaning products! Do you know how simple it is to make your own all purpose cleaning solution at home? I use both of these methods on just about every surface of my home. 

Vinegar and Citrus peels- If you use a lot of lemons or oranges and usually just end up throwing the peels out, save them! Put them in a jar and fill it with vinegar and some water. Let it sit for at least a week and you then have yourself an all purpose cleaner! The compound di-limonene found in the peel has amazing de-greasing properties and smells amazing. The powerful cleaning power of vinegar mixed with the peels is a powerhouse cleaner! I would store this cleaner is a glass cleaner bottle though as the citrus can break down plastic.

Castille Soap and water– Castille soap is such an under utilized product for cleaning all the things! All it takes is the recommended amount of soap with water( I just go by the bottle instructions) and you have yourself an all purpose cleaner! I love the Dr. Bronners brand as they have a few different scents! This is super budget friendly as you do not use much soap as it is very concentrated, so a bottle will you a very long time!

4. Filter your drinking water- are you currently drinking water straight from your tap? You would be absolutely mind blown at the amount of toxicants found in tap water. A cool thing you can do is go to and it will allow you to enter your zip code you live in. It will pull up everything that has been found in your zip codes tap water. Check it out here!

When I pulled up my zip code I found reports of arsenic at 302x the legal limit, Bromodichloromethane 62x the legal limit and many other contaminants that are off the charts. Tap water has also been found to have pesticides, herbicides and pharmaceuticals in it.

I get that investing in a water filtration unit can be expensive but start where you can and save up for one. I always believe that anything is better than drinking tap water. 

If you need the bare minimum to begin, simply start with a Brita filter. While this is just the very basic, it will at least filter out some of the contaminants such as some heavy metals and chlorine. While I wouldn’t rely on this for the long I recommend just getting something to get you started. Check out Brita filter here.

A much better option with about $50 more in price point is the Clearly Filtered pitcher. We have the under the sink unit and love it but it is definitely at a higher price point. You can get the refillable pitcher for around $80. The Clearly Filtered pitcher is made to remove fluoride, lead, BPA, glyphosate, PFOAs, hormones & over 365 of the most harmful tap water impurities. Check them out here:

5. Switch out your conventional personal care products- I think this was one of the hardest yet easiest at the same time step for me when I was transitioning to a more nontoxic living. I was so used to the standard makeup and lotions that I didn’t believe there would be better options out there that actually worked. Well, I have news for you they do work and even better in my opinion!

Start with what you put on your body daily. I switched my toxic Jergens body lotion(which in my opinion never felt like it hydrated my skin) to just pure organic shea butter. Shea butter is so moisturizing and luxurious and a jar lasts me so long! Check out my favorite here!

Switch over your shampoo and conditioner. As I talked about before, shampoos can contain a bunch of nasty chemicals we do not want going directly on our scalp. I have found this brand and have used it for years. Acure is such a great company with good for you ingredients and doesn’t make your hair feel grimy or anything! They have a few different options for different hair types. I love the Curiously Clarifying. Check them out here!

Change out your face wash and lotions as well since these are used daily! A great budget friendly brand I love is CocoKind! They are an amazing brand with all natural ingredients. Check out this link and you can take a quiz where you can build a new skin care routine!

Another brand I love is Kora Organics. It is more expensive that CocoKind but delivers more of a punch specialized skin care. They are certified organic and use only the best ingredients. Check them out here!

How to Live a Life without Chemicals

I hope this post has helped you realize that you can take control over your living environment and showed you how nontoxic living does not need to be overwhelming or drain your bank account. 

I promise you that once you start making some easy, sustainable switches, you will never want to go back to using toxic chemicals in your home and life. You will feel so much more vibrant and your bank account may even be a little more full!

References

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cancer/

www.ewg.org

https://www.epa.gov/iaq-schools/why-indoor-air-quality-important-schools#:~:text=EPA%20studies%20of%20human%20exposure,times%20%E2%80%94%20higher%20than%20outdoor%20levels.

https://www.epa.gov/tsca-inventory/about-tsca-chemical-substance-inventory