Rapinchuk - Clean mamas guide to a healthy home: the simple, room-by-room plan for a natural home

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BECKY RAPINCHUK is the founder of Clean Mama, the popular homekeeping community made up of more than 20 million readers. She is the author of Simply Clean and The Organically Clean Home, and has been an adviser and home-care expert for multiple brands.

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CLEAN MAMAS GUIDE TO A HEALTHY HOME . Copyright 2019 by Clean Mama, LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Front cover design: Bliss and Tell Branding Company; illustrations: Bekah Williamson

Illustrations by Bekah Williamson

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Rapinchuk, Becky, author.

Title: Clean mamas guide to a healthy home : the simple, room-by-room plan for a natural home / Becky Rapinchuk.

Description: First edition. | San Francisco : HarperOne, 2019 | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018036756 (print) | LCCN 2018038317 (ebook) | ISBN 9780062856333 (e-book) | ISBN 9780062856319 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Home economics. | House cleaning. | Orderliness. | Do-it-yourself work.

Classification: LCC TX158 (ebook) | LCC TX158 .R36 2019 (print) | DDC 648/.5dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018036756

Digital Edition MARCH 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-285633-3

Version 01132019

Print ISBN: 978-0-06-285631-9

For my husband and kids. You make everything better.

Contents

Ive always been a bit obsessive about cleaning. Years ago, I was an art teacher at an elementary school, and let me tell you, no one knows messes like art teachers. I was surrounded by dozens of sticky, splattered, paint-and-glue-covered six-year-olds each day, and it was my job to get them playing with art supplies and perfectly cleaned up in a forty-five-minute class period. Id already had my share of kiddo-transmitted illnesses, and so I wasnt about to waste precious days off sick with the flu or a cold. So my motto became: disinfect everything.

I waged a war on germs, using a water-and-bleach solution, disinfecting wipes, and disinfecting spray as my daily weapons. The stronger the product, the more I trusted it to keep my students and myself clean and healthy. I can remember discussing different cleaners with my parent helpers, and we all agreed: the stronger, the better and the more germs eradicated and out of our lives. Kids even brought in disinfecting wipes as part of their supply list. I gladly added these to my stash and knew I could get rid of any germ that came my way.

Maybe this sounds familiar to you. Maybe youve been part of Team Disinfectant Spray too. Maybe you have an arsenal of sprays hidden in your hall closet. I get it. It feels good to be armed against germs. But I ended up throwing almost all my sprays away after a scary moment with my daughter.

When our first child was born, my germaphobia increased, and my Disinfect everything motto ruled our house. I blame hormones and my heightened protection instinct. It was no longer a matter of protecting just my health but also the health of my sweet baby and her developing immune system. My stash of cleaning products drastically increased, and I desperately fought to create a safe living environment, free of harmful bacteria and germs.

I was cleaning my daughters high chair when she was about a year old and placed the bottle of all-purpose cleaner on her chair. She snatched the bottle, held it up, and sprayed it directly onto her chest, neck, and face like perfume, happily inhaling the scent. Horrified, I grabbed the spray out of her hand and wiped her clothes with a paper towel, hoping it hadnt stained her outfit. I didnt think too much about what was on her skin until I glanced at the back of the bottle. It was covered in warning signs in the tiniest font explaining how toxic the contents were. How had I not noticed this before?! This was the fancy spray that Id paid more for because the commercials promised it was safe for kids and could be used to clean toys, high chairs, counterseverywhere kids make their biggest messes. The commercials also touted that it didnt need to be rinsed. In my mind, no need to rinse indicated that it was safe and effective.

I heeded the toxicity warnings and, in a full-blown panic, started making frantic calls to Poison Control, dunking my daughter in a warm bath, giving her milk to settle her stomach, nervously examining her for signs of a rash or allergic reaction, and spending the next twenty-four hours watching her closely, hoping she wouldnt be one of the 7 percent who dies or is severely affected by toxin exposure. (If you want to take a few years off your life, spend some time on the Poison Control website.)

Fortunately, no rash appeared, a middle-of-the-night ER visit was never necessary, and my baby girl seemed her happy and healthy self the next day. But those moments of panic stuck with me, and I couldnt shake the feeling that there was something wrongvery wrongwith what had just happened.

Starting that day, I learned more about cleaning products, and I found that the products I thought were safe and keeping my family healthy were actually toxic. This is what really makes me angry: we pay to bring harmful toxins into our homes. Think about that for a second. Im not talking about your baby spraying something on his or her face and neck; Im talking about the use of these products for normal, everyday cleaning. When you wash your hands with a simple hand soap to get rid of germs, you add artificial fragrance and possibly formaldehyde onto your skin. Im not telling you this to send you into a full-on panic. We are all doing our best to take care of our families and provide safe, healthy spaces for them. I just want to help you in that taskthats why youre reading this book! Im going to show you how to decipher ingredient labels and find or make products that are truly