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August 22, 2025 60 mins

Ready to ditch the toxic chemicals and create a healthier home environment? In this episode, Katie and Chrissy dive deep into the world of cleaning products - from the hidden dangers lurking in conventional cleaners to simple, affordable alternatives that actually work.

We cover everything you need to know about transitioning to non-toxic cleaning, including why it's often the second step people take after switching to healthier food choices. You'll learn about the balance between staying clean and not over-sanitizing (spoiler: your immune system needs some exposure to build strength!), plus discover why that dust in your home contains way more than you might think.


Chapters: 

00:00 Welcome to Crunchy Stewardship

01:04 Introduction to Today's Topic: Cleaning Products

01:22 The Risks of Conventional Cleaning Products

01:38 Homemade and Natural Cleaning Solutions

05:17 The Importance of Multipurpose Cleaners

07:37 The Role of Bacteria in Building Immunity

13:45 Dust and Indoor Pollutants

21:38 Floor Cleaning Tips and Tricks

30:26 Kitchen and Bathroom Cleaning Essentials

31:18 Finding the Right Toilet Bowl Cleaner

32:17 Toilet Hygiene Tips

33:27 The Importance of Gloves in Cleaning

35:12 Exploring Non-Toxic Cleaning Products

42:45 Homemade Laundry Detergent

48:17 DIY Dishwasher Tablets

51:56 The Downside of Dryer Sheets

55:42 Challenges with Cloth Diapers

57:05 Starting Your Non-Toxic Journey

59:03 Encouragement and Final Thoughts

59:48 Listener Engagement and Feedback


Key Takeaways:

Whether you're just starting your crunchy journey or looking to make the switch from conventional cleaners, this episode gives you practical, budget-friendly solutions to create a healthier home environment for your family. It doesn't have to be expensive, in fact it could actually save you money while also keeping your family healthier! 


Links We Mentioned

Recommended Brands:

  • Grove Collaborative Multipurpose cleaner  - https://amzn.to/4fLeyPo 
  • Branch Basics Concentrate cleaner for all purposes - https://amzn.to/3HP3zIa
  • Molly Suds Dish and laundry detergent - https://amzn.to/3UCHqjn
  • ECOS Toilet bowl cleaner - https://ecos.com
  • Nature's Promise - Toilet bowl cleaner (available at various retailers)
  • Seventh Generation Various cleaning products - https://amzn.to/45sS56q
  • Puracy Dish detergent pods - https://amzn.to/4oNqh4h 
  • Aleva Naturals Laundry bars for DIY detergent - https://alevanaturals.com
  • Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap Multi-purpose soap bars - https://amzn.to/45Nq3Bt

Helpful Apps:

Connect With Us:

Join Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/crunchychristianmama

Follow us on Instagram @crunchystewardship

FREE How to Afford Non-Toxic Living Workbook: https://crunchystewardship.com/how-to-afford-non-toxic-living

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Katie (00:00):
Hey, and welcome back to Crunchy Stewardship.

(00:02):
My name is Katie Fiola Jones.

Chrissy (00:04):
And my name is Chrissy Rombach.
We are two cousins who arepassionate about learning and
sharing knowledge to equipothers to steward their
spiritual, mental, emotional,financial, and physical health
in order to honor God with everyaspect of their lives.

Katie (00:19):
In our podcast, we take deep dives into what it means to
steward our lives as Godoriginally intended for us with
the resources that he has givenus.
We look at all sorts of topicslike food, medicine, finances,
mental health, and lots morethrough a natural lens and with
a biblical foundation.

Chrissy (00:41):
Before we get started though, if you have been
enjoying our podcast and want tohear more of it, please make
sure you subscribe and leave usfive star rating.
This is tremendously helpful inhelping other people find our
show in the future.
And if you aren't already signedup for our weekly newsletter, go
ahead and take a moment to dothat by clicking on the link in

(01:02):
the show notes.
So today.
We are going to be talking aboutcleaning products.
This is one of those items thatafter food is kind of a next
step for a lot of people on,transitioning their home to a
healthy, non-toxic environment.
And let's be real, a lot ofthose conventional cleaning

(01:25):
products out there do quite theopposite of clean.
They might make the surfaceantibacterial with absolutely
zero microbes on it at allwhatsoever, but at the same
time, they come with a huge riskto our health.
And so today, Katie and I arejust going to be talking about
those risks that conventionalcleaning products, um, serve to

(01:46):
us when we use them, and thensome ways that you can get
around them, other cleaningproducts that we use, that we
love, um, even some homemademethods that we use and love.
So stay tuned.
I'm actually really lookingforward to this episode.
I think it's gonna be great.

Katie (02:01):
Yeah.
I actually find it really funnythat we have not had a podcast
episode on this.
I know when you and I weretalking about our plan of what
to talk about next, we werelike, how have we not done a
cleaning products episode?
Because what's actually kind ofinteresting for my journey, the
kind of like getting intocrunchiness journey.

(02:22):
I actually switched a lot of mypersonal care products and
cleaning products pretty earlyon, and this was like years ago
before I would ever considermyself crunchy.
But when I was going throughthis like switch of these home
products, whether it wascleaning or personal care, I was
doing it more with this mindsetof being more environmentally

(02:43):
friendly.
And you are kind of going downthis environmental route, or
just the health and crunchinessroute, they tend to collide in
many ways because a lot of theproducts that tend to be
healthier for our bodies arealso healthier for the
environment because a lot of theconventional products that we

(03:06):
use in our homes for personalcare or for cleaning, tend to be
very toxic and have chemicals inthem that like are endocrine
disrupting.
So for our health, that's reallybad, but they also have negative
impacts for the environment andthey intoxicate or they, what is
the word I'm thinking about?
They, they make our water supplybad.

(03:27):
I can't think of the word, butthey, they're, they're basically
bad for both things.
And so I originally got intothis like cleaning product
journey myself, just from moreof an environmental thing.
And now that I'm learning, oh,it's also actually they can be
really bad for our health aswell when we're using some of
these more conventionalproducts.

(03:49):
So, yeah, it's kind of funny,you're right that it is
typically one of the first stepsif, if, if it's not the first,
it's usually the second stepthat a lot of people take after
food.
So one of these two things tendsto come first or second.
And we haven't had a, an episodeyet on it, but here we are.
It's never too late.
Right, Chrissy?

Chrissy (04:09):
Yeah.
That's so funny that you saylike you started your cleaning
product journey way before yourfood journey.
I was kind of the other wayaround.
I, well, not even the other wayaround, just a mixed mosh of a
lot of things.
I started my food eating healthyand then I started cleaning
products, eating healthy.

(04:30):
And slowly but surely both ofthem have been evolving as I've
been running out of cleaningproducts that I've been using
and replacing them withhealthier items.
And then same thing with food oflike changing my grocery store.
I immediately have access to somany more healthy food options
than I did before at a previousgrocery store.
And so it's a process and by nomeans are either Katie or I

(04:52):
perfect at it.
Um, we both.
Still, I know I still have a fewthings in my house that I cannot
wait until that bottle is emptyso I can get something better.
Um, so yeah, we're just gonna gothrough it and we have a little
bit of an outline.
It's actually crazy.

(05:13):
We made an outline for thisepisode, unlike previous
episodes.
Um, so we'll just start offtoday talking about multipurpose
cleaners.
What are the best, how can we doit?

Katie (05:28):
Yeah.
I think multipurpose obviouslyis one of those like products
that obviously there's manypurposes for it, and it's one of
the cleaning products that Ithink should be switched the
soonest if you can, because youuse it everywhere typically.

(05:48):
You know, you use it on yourkitchen counters, you use it in
your bathrooms, you use it, Imean, anywhere.
Everywhere, right?
And so one of the things thatI've learned about multipurpose
cleaning is that we often usethese like bad products, and
more expensive products, butyour multipurpose cleaner can be

(06:11):
as simple as just vinegar andwater.
In fact, that's kind of like thetraditional and original
cleaning for anywhere around thehouse was just vinegar, like
using vinegar on everythingbecause it kills the bad stuff
that you don't want and, and itstill is safe and healthy for

(06:31):
your family.
Because, I mean, one of the bigthings for me too is like with,
with having a baby around, if Iuse any of the products that are
your typical, like, have Cloroxand all the nasty stuff in it.
You think if I'm spraying thaton kids' toys or even on the

(06:52):
kitchen counters or on my chairsor anything like that, that is
stuff that Malakai puts in hismouth on a daily basis or eats
off of or he touches orsomething like that.
I mean, even our floors, youknow, you think about all the
things that we are touching andgetting into our bodies.
And so even just having any ofthe other stuff on these things,

(07:15):
like any of the other cleaningproducts, um, on these items in
our house, can be disruptive forhis gut especially.
We're just really, I mean, afterhim being on so many antibiotics
when he was born, we're alwaysconcerned about, his gut and
keeping his gut really healthyand just building up his immune

(07:36):
system.
And so, mean, this is somethingwe didn't talk about in the
introduction, but something thatis on my mind and I've actually
been learning more about is thatsometimes it's not actually
really good to go and disinfecteverything in your life because
we kind of need the bacteria inorder to build up our immune
systems and to keep our gutshealthy.

(07:57):
Because if we don't have them,we like, we need that bacteria
in order to grow good bacteriato then fight off infections and
and things in the future.
I bet you probably have more tosay about that because you
probably know more about likethe bacterial growth and funness
and stuff.
I dunno.

Chrissy (08:19):
I have to say, I have not studied bacterial growth
before, but in general, the wayit works is when your body is
exposed to, microbes, slowly butsurely, you get a little bit of
this, a little bit of that yourbody's immune system has the
natural ability to fight offlittle pathogens here and there.

(08:41):
You know, that's why when kidsare little, a lot of people are
say, say, ah, it's fine.
He can eat the dirt.Well, yes,quite literally, dirt is
actually known to have a lot ofreally beneficial microbes in
it, like probiotics.
Um, it, it does have actuallyprobiotics and prebiotics in it,
which is fascinating.

(09:03):
Maybe don't go out and just likeeat a spoonful of dirt.
But also, um, when we talk aboutlike buying fruits and
vegetables, if they have dirt onthem, especially if they're
organic, if they're not organic.
Don't take this advice, but ifyou're eating organic, then it's
very good for those fruits andvegetables to still have the

(09:25):
dirt on them and you just eat itlike straight out of the ground
or you rinse it underwater realquick and then take a bite of it
because those little micro dosesto these pathogens give your
body the ability to fight themoff quicker.
So essentially you're tellingyour immune system, Hey, I'm
bad.
I'm a little tiny bad guy.
And your immune system's likezap little, tiny bad guy.

(09:46):
You're gone.
Well now the immune system has amemory, which is wild.
God.
The the more, actually, let mejust side note.
The more I learn about the humanbody, the more I realized just
how amazing and beautiful God'screation is.
Like God created our bodies toheal themselves and he also gave

(10:09):
us.
The ability and the resourcesthrough our natural environments
to maximize that healing.
And so if we are exposingourselves in micro doses to
these pathogens that arenaturally around us, our bodies
will have the innate ability toprotect us from those.

(10:29):
So like I was saying, a littledose of, say a flu virus.
You know, one kid in theclassroom, way on the other side
of the room has the flu.
Your kid is on this side of theroom, the flu virus does travel
that far.
It goes bloop, bloop, bloop,bloop all the way.
And your kid gets a little tinysniffle.
Okay, that's it.

(10:51):
They'll get it at maybe thefirst time, or they'll get the
flu the first time.
Well, the immune system has amemory.
And so when.
A kid or a person is exposedthen to that pathogen a second
time, they're not going to havethat same reaction as they did
the first time.
So essentially the way ithappens is our bodies have a

(11:14):
memory.
Our immune system has a memory.
So as it's exposed to these tinylittle pathogens repeatedly, it
creates a memory of what thatpathogen is like, and then is
more able to fight it off in thefuture.
For instance, the common cold,um, kids get colds all the dang
time.

(11:35):
I swear.
Toddlers are little snot balls.
We're running around withboogers hanging out their nose.
Especially the daycare kids,they always have a cold.
But how many of those kids whoalways had a cold as a child
grow up to continue alwayshaving colds?
Very few.
It's those repeated very smallinstances of illness or

(12:00):
pathogens or bad bacteria thatyour body is exposed to earlier
in life gives your body theability to then fight it off
quicker and more easily as anadult or even like the second
time your body's exposed to it.
Um, now at the same time, I dohave to caveat.

(12:20):
Allergies are different becauseallergies are opposite.
If oftentimes with allergies, ifyou're exposed the first time,
your body doesn't know what itis and so it doesn't react.
And then the second time itknows what it is.
And so it overreacts, but that'snot what I'm talking about.

Katie (12:37):
Hmm.

Chrissy (12:38):
I'm talking about illnesses.
Allergies are a completelydifferent ball game.
If you wanna talk to me aboutallergies, you can definitely
open this conversation up on ourFacebook group Crunchy Christian
Mamas, on a Budget, becausethat's just a whole nother
rabbit hole that's really fun togo down.
So that's my little scienceytidbit for today.

Katie (13:00):
Yeah.
So what I am hearing is it's,it's kind of like this balance,
right?
We don't want to be.
Overly clean.
In fact, I've actually heardsome now like new ideas about
like, washing your handsconstantly or I, I mean all the
things like, we don't want tocompletely disinfect our lives
because we need the organismsthat are living on our bodies

(13:24):
because it, it's kind of like asymbiotic relationship is kind
of what I'm hearing from youand, and what I've been hearing
from other professionals thatit's like we kind of, we want to
work together and it helps tobuild our immune systems and
help us to fight off worsethings in the future.
And so it's actually kind of agood thing, but we also don't
want to live a very messy life.

(13:44):
We, we don't wanna be sloppy.
Especially actually, the, theinteresting thing I've been
learning about in our home isdust and like not leaving all of
the particles, like justleaving, like living around in
our house because dust itself onall of our surfaces is not just.
Like, I know that a lot of uslike kind of have the idea that

(14:05):
yes, there are dust mites andthere's skin cells that are like
left around in dust and there'spet dander if you have pets,
but.
Not only is dust made up ofthose things that were, that are
pretty common that weunderstand, but it's also made
up of pollen from the outdoors.
Um, it's made up of mold spores,insect particles.

(14:25):
That was one thing that I waslike, oh, yeah, that probably
makes sense of, with all thelike spiders that I kill in my
house and flies that die.
Like, so there's like insectpieces and then you think about
like if you have windows open oreven just when your doors open.
But like you think about all thestuff that comes in, like, if
your neighbor is doing some kindof renovation project and you

(14:46):
guys live near each other, thedrywall from your neighbor's
house is going to get into yourhouse.
But also if you're walkingaround in the yard and like your
neighbors are sprayinginsecticide or herbicide or
anything, like they're sprayingtheir yard, or if you're walking

(15:06):
around the park, the parkusually sprays their lawns.
If you track that inside withyour shoes and don't take your
shoes off, then all of that getsinto your house as well.
So it's on your floors and thengets into the air.
And so dust is like, not justthese like common things that we
think of, of like dust mites andskin cells and stuff, but it's

(15:27):
also just all these otherpollutants that are kind of like
hitching a ride into your home.
And so it's really importantstill to clean up your house,
um, because there's, there'sother stuff besides kind of the
germs that we're thinking of.
And so in my mind, that's likethe one thing that I am trying

(15:48):
to battle against, I guess.
Especially with a baby who'snow, you know, scooting around
the floor everywhere.
He's like picking up everything.
And a lot of times, oh my gosh,he literally, Chrissy the other
day he's doing this funny, like,crawling thing with his, like,
he like.
Puts his face on the couch andlike on things and he like
literally like mouth open wide,just like drags his mouth on

(16:10):
things.
And so he's like picking upwhatever is on the couch or on
the floor or on whatever he isputting in.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, likewhat was on there last, you
know?
So I'm like, try not to panic,but I'm also like, okay, yeah,
build that immune system.
But if it's like glyphosate onthe floor, I'm like, no, please
don't put that in your mouth.
So anyway, it's this balance oflike, okay, we need to not

(16:33):
disinfect everything, but wealso wanna be aware of the other
things that could be pollutingour homes as well.
So we need to kind of have thatbalance of like cleaning it and
keeping it sanitary, but alsonot like overdoing it.
So anyway, all that to say,we'll go back to now talking
about multipurpose cleanerbecause you do want to clean off

(16:55):
your surfaces and stuff.
I personally have completelyswitched to just using vinegar
and water, and it's kind of likea, I actually can't remember if
I did like a 50 50 ratio or,slightly more of vinegar,
slightly more of water.
I, I honestly can't remember,but I literally have just a
spray bottle that says vinegaron it, and it's just a diluted

(17:18):
vinegar mixture that I spray oneverything to clean it.
And that's, it's just a triedand true way of cleaning and
that's what I use formultipurpose cleaner.
Um, sometimes if I'm gettingfancy I'll add like some
essential oils to it and stuff,but I mean, at that, it's just
kind of like, nah, it's kind ofa waste.

(17:38):
I just like to, um, just do thebasic vinegar and water, but
I've, I've committed now to justdoing that for multipurpose.
Um, what do you use formultipurpose, Chrissy?

Chrissy (17:51):
I actually use one from Target.
It's called Grove, and Ioriginally got this more so
because of the environmentalaspect to it.
I have a friend who's like bigonto clean cleaning and
everything like that, and I gotthis actually before I started

(18:12):
my crunchy journey.
So I've had this multipurposecleaner for at least a year now,
I think maybe longer.
And you buy it in like a little,maybe one or two ounce jar and
then dilute it in a full spraybottle of water.
And, I personally think it's amuch better option if you don't

(18:37):
like the smell of vinegar,because I know that's a huge
turnoff for a lot of people.
Vinegar is very, it smells verypungent.
It kind of smacks you in theface after you're cleaning with
vinegar.
It's like, oh my gosh, my wholehouse smells like vinegar.
Um, and so this one, it actuallyhas a very pleasant smell.
There's a few different options.

Katie (18:54):
So we actually did use Grove for, oh, actually a few
years we were using Grove.
Um, I think, I don't know forsure, but I think that they may
have fragrance in them.
They had some ingredient in itthat I was like, I don't know if
we wanna do this anymore.
But I really enjoyed usingGrove.
We have all of their bottlesstill, like their glass spray

(19:16):
bottles.
I really like them and I likethat they have nice little
labels on them that you can kindof switch around and stuff and,
and it's really nice.
Um, I also just decided that,you know, vinegar and water does
the job and it's the leastexpensive way of cleaning, and
so I kind of just decided that.

(19:36):
I don't really care about thevinegarey smell and I'll just
get over it because it's savingme money when I'm like spending
more money on our groceriestypically when we're, you know,
since we do all organic and allthe healthier options and stuff.
So we've been doing that, whichdoes cost a little bit more than
just your traditional, you know,conventionally grown foods.

(20:00):
So that's kind of one of thecompromises I've made.
I don't love the vinegar smellall the time, but you know, it
gets the job done and it's cheapand so it kind of what we're,
what we're doing now.
But I do really like Grove otherthan that.

Chrissy (20:19):
I did actually just do a quick little Google search of
Grove, which is always the bestway to learn information, do a
quick Google search.
Um, apparently they have quoteunquote, like natural fragrance
in it, which I have actuallyheard that if a company is clear

(20:41):
on how the fragrance is created,then some fragrances can be
okay.
But in general, for the mostpart, fragrance is no bueno
because it is an endocrinedisrupter.
So it is something you want tostay away from.
Um.
But I also, at the same time,some companies have figured out

(21:03):
a way to create fragrance thatis actually okay.
So I don't know where Grove ison that one, but I think
fragrance is the only ingredientin there that is like
questionable for that

Katie (21:19):
Yeah.
I think you're right.

Chrissy (21:21):
at the same time though, vinegar and water works
fantastic and still smells fineif you add, a little bit of
essential oils to it.
Or if you do like a one quartervinegar to three quarters water,
then it's not gonna be asaggressive and pungent of a
smell.
So, yeah.
So let's transition to talkingabout floors.

(21:41):
'cause Katie, I know youmentioned, um, of course with
Malakai scooting around andeverything on the floors getting
on him and in his mouth.
So, let's talk about some of thethings that we use for our
floors.
How frequently do we clean ourfloors?
I'm not very good at that allthe time, but that's just a side
note.

(22:02):
Um, so for me, I am someone whovacuums on a daily basis.
I have one of those littlecordless handheld vacuums that I
will go through the apartment,boom, boom, boom, 15 minutes
done, got the whole thing everysingle day.
And if I didn't, if I misssomething, then I will sweep it

(22:23):
up because.
I like, one of my biggest petpeeves is things sticking to my
feet when I'm walking around myhouse.
I don't like wearing shoes inour apartment or in our house.
I not even like, my not wantingto wear shoes is not even from a
cleanliness standpoint because Igrew up in a shoe wearing

(22:43):
household.
We always wore shoes in thehouse.
It's more so of like a, I justdon't, like, they just get
annoying on my feet.
They get in the way and they'reclunky, and I just don't like
the way they are on my feet.
And so that's the reason that Idon't wear shoes in the house.
Not necessarily because of thecleanliness of it, although that

(23:03):
should be another reason.
But yeah, so I vacuum everysingle day.
And then in terms of cleaning,mopping my floors, I
unfortunately don't do that veryoften.
I think honestly, probably maybeonce every other month, once
every three months.
And.

(23:24):
Just because it's an, it's anannoying process and I just
don't like doing it.
And because of that,unfortunately it is taking me so
long to get through my floorcleaner from my pre crunchy life
that I'm still using my precrunchy floor cleaner, but I'm a
little bit less concerned aboutit because I don't have a baby

(23:45):
crawling around and I usuallydon't sit on my hardwood floors.
So that's generally how thatgoes.
What about you, Katie?
I.

Katie (23:57):
Yeah, we, we vacuum all the time.
We have a, just one of thosesimple, you know, battery
operated ones that I vacuum ourkitchen area especially, I
probably vacuum it like two tothree times a day just because
Malakai is throwing food all thetime.
So we just have stuff all over.

(24:18):
And I'm the same way.
I, I hate stepping on food.
I did recently go to the thriftstore and get some indoor flip
flops for myself just becausethe floor here for some reason,
walking on it.
It's the, the place we're in.
We're not in our actual home.
We're in a temporary house.
We're living in somebody's guesthouse right now.

(24:38):
While we are in the process oflooking for a new home, as we've
just moved to Michigan and i, Idon't even know how to describe
it, but it's just, for somereason, my feet are just really
tired on it.
So I wear indoor flip flopsbecause I don't want to wear my
outside shoes inside and, anddrag around all the dirt and
nastiness.
And so I do like that it is likea laminate flooring because I

(25:03):
actually hate carpet likedecently with a passion.
I enjoy the cushiness and thecomfort of it, but it is so hard
to clean and keep cleaned, andit just like attracts all of the
nasty pollens and dust and allthe things that I was talking
about that are, are just in ourair and, and in our households.

(25:23):
And the carpet just sucks it allup.
And so I hate it.

Chrissy (25:28):
I love carpet.
Because it's so soft and cushyon my feet.
And it's more cozy and I feellike I can sit on it.
Especially like if you keep itclean and you vacuum your carpet
at least once a week like you'resupposed to do, then it doesn't
get all that nasty.
And if you're not wearing shoes,then it continues to not be all

(25:49):
that nasty and it absorbs soundso your house isn't nearly as
echoy.
I'm not even kidding you, Katie.
Our apartment is probablymajority laminate flooring, and
I have rugs in every room thatdoes not have carpeting because
I love carpet.

(26:12):
Like I actually have a rug in mykitchen right now.

Katie (26:15):
I do like rugs.
I, I like rugs because they're alittle bit more cleanable and,
and especially if they're therugs that you can put into a
washing machine.
I love that.
I, I started hating carpet moreonce we had foster children who
spilled stuff on the carpets allthe time.
They like, kid, you not,Chrissy, they peed on the

(26:38):
carpets and, and then you thinkabout like, with pets and stuff,
when they pee on carpets orlike, you know, heaven forbid
they poop on it.
And it's just like, you justthink about all that nastiness,
like getting stuck in thecarpet.
And I just feel like no matterwhat you clean it with and how
often you clean it, it juststays there or the smell stays

(26:59):
there and all this stuff.
So yes, I, it, it depends onwho's living in the home.
If it's just like Wes and I,then I'm like, yeah, carpet's
great'cause we know how tohandle it and take care of it
well.
But kids are, and petsespecially are a different
thing.
Not that we would ever havedogs, so, um, that's a different
story, but

Chrissy (27:20):
We can agree to disagree on that topic.
Granted, I am speaking from apre-child perspective.

Katie (27:27):
Yes, it changes, everything changes when you have
kids.
You're like, how can I keep myhouse as clean as possible?
It's so hard when you are a neatfreak and have children because
they don't understand yet.
But I have learned that withcarpets, um, and with, when it
comes to vacuums that, HEPAvacuums, so like having a HEPA
filter in your vacuum is thebest because they pick up the

(27:51):
highest percentage of dust andpollen, mold, bacteria and, and
anything else that would be onthe floor.
And we do not currently have aHEPA vacuum at least I don't
think our big one is.
And I can't check right nowbecause our big one is in
storage right now.
We've been using our little one.
And then our friends that we'restaying with have a bigger

(28:12):
vacuum here.
And I, I haven't looked at thatone, but our little kitchen one
that we use, um, it.
not a HEPA filter, but when youuse that, it, it gets the best.
Like it cleans the best.
And so if you can look for that,um, HEPA stands for like high
efficiency particle orparticulate air, I think.

(28:34):
Something like that.
So it's, it's supposed to be thebest for cleaning.
And so I, I have that writtendown and it's like, oh, at some
point when we, you know, get anew vacuum, maybe I will over to
that, but.
of the best ways to keep yourfloors clean are just to like,
not wear shoes inside.
Again.
Like you just never know.
What if you did step in dog poopand you just didn't realize, and

(28:55):
then now you're wearing yourshoes inside and you're getting
dog poop everywhere.
And then you're like, why doesmy house smell so bad?
And then again, like if you'rewalking on your neighbor's yard
and they just sprayed, thenyou're dragging all that inside
too.
And so I'm just very like,acutely aware of that.
Now we actually, for cleaningour floors, we are still using
Grove because same thing, likeyou, we had like an abundance of

(29:16):
it and it's just taken a whileto like go through all of it.
And so we still have a fewthings of it.
I don't know what we're gonnaswitch to afterwards.
Um, and I'm just kind of lookingfor something that is decently
affordable, and is yeah,non-toxic and all that kind of
stuff.
So I'm, I'm kind of on thelookout.
But that's where, where I'm atwith that.

Chrissy (29:38):
I was honestly just planning to switch to vinegar.
Vinegar and water for my floors.
Yeah.
'cause I don't do it frequentlyenough to warrant needing
something fancy.
You know, it's just little hereand there.
And also my floors.
It's not something that I wantto be completely germ free

(30:00):
because

Katie (30:00):
Mm-hmm.

Chrissy (30:01):
like we mentioned earlier, it's good to have a
little bit of germs around.
And so I honestly just thinkvinegar and water they work
great.

Katie (30:10):
So, okay, so both of us don't really clean our floors
that often.
At least not mopping and, and Idon't know, maybe that's a good
thing, maybe that's a bad thing.
Who knows?

Chrissy (30:20):
We can, we can choose to agree on that one.

Katie (30:24):
Yes, definitely.
So the areas that I definitelyclean the most are, I mean, at
least that I use the most, likecleaning products in general.
So those would be like in thekitchen, you know, when we're
doing dishes, obviously we'redoing dishes all the time,
running the dishwasher all thetime, especially when we have
people over, like we had itgoing at least once a day when

(30:45):
Wes' parents were here.
Um, but then, so the kitchen,the bathroom, we clean very
regularly.
I love having a clean bathroom.
It bothers me a lot when I seehair anywhere.
I'm like, I gotta clean it.
And then the laundry, we'redoing lots and lots of laundry
when we have kiddos.
So those are the, the areas thatwe're using the most, like
cleaning products.
So let's kind of go throughthose to talk about what we're

(31:07):
using and why.
I think, so for the bathroom, weact, we obviously use a lot of
multipurpose cleaners, so I'musing a lot of vinegar like in
our showers and around the sinksand stuff.
But the thing that I am now onthe hunt for a better product is
like a toilet bowl cleaner.
'cause I've, I've gone through afew different ones and haven't

(31:28):
found one that I really lovethat's like non-toxic because,
and especially like some of the,like, stronger stuff is so like
nauseating, you could just,like, you smell the fumes and
you, you can tell that they aretoxic.
Um, and I know that they'retrying to kill all of the
nastiness that is in a toilet.
Um, but I don't know.
Are, have you found a goodsolution for, um, a toilet bowl

(31:51):
cleaner?
Like one that you'd recommend.

Chrissy (31:55):
Not yet.
I unfortunately also with thisone, have not been able to test
new ones.
This is the one aspect of myhousehold that still has bleach
in it, which honestly, of allthings, I'm okay with it being
the inside of the toilet bowlbecause I don't, I don't touch
the inside of my toilet bowl.
I don't know about you, but Idon't touch it.

(32:17):
Um, and I close the lid before Iflush so that it's not coming
out into the air and things likethat.
That's another thing.
Close the toilet lid before youflush so your nasties don't go
in your nose.
'cause that's disgusting.

Katie (32:31):
Or all over the floor

Chrissy (32:32):
Um,

Katie (32:32):
even.
Right.
You know, like the floor and thewalls and stuff

Chrissy (32:35):
yeah.

Katie (32:35):
I never thought about that, Chrissy.
It's actually, I'm like, I'mlearning something!

Chrissy (32:40):
Do you not close your toilet when you flush?

Katie (32:42):
I don't think every time, I mean, I, guess I can't really
say so Probably not.

Chrissy (32:49):
I also, so this originally started because in
high school I had a veryrealistic fear at the time of
things falling in the toiletbecause we had a bathroom right
off of our game room and theamount of ping pong balls that
made it into the toilet onaccident was absurd.

Katie (33:06):
I remember that

Chrissy (33:07):
So I made it a habit.
I made it a habit of closing mytoilet lid in high school.
And then I learned about thefact that it all just like comes
up into the air when you flush.
And I was like, well, good thingI have.
And now it's an irrational fearof things falling in the toilet.
So I always have the toiletclosed.

Katie (33:26):
that is so funny.
My big thing when cleaning atoilet is when I do wash it, I,
I don't, feel like it alwaysgets on my hands because the way
that the toilet bowl cleaners,you know how you have to like
open the cap and you have tolike touch the part where the
cleaner usually comes out?
And it's not that there's alwaysstuff on it

Chrissy (33:44):
Just wear gloves,

Katie (33:45):
I guess I could, but it's just, sometimes i'm like
cleaning it really fast and Ijust like go and I just do it
and I'm like, Ooh, all the, thelike the nasty chemicals and
stuff.
And so that's like, I need toswitch what we have.

Chrissy (34:00):
Being a nurse, I have learned that gloves make any
situation 10 times lessdisgusting.
So in the hospital you clean upeverything.
It's just part of the job andjust one thing I learned is.
Everything just becamesignificantly less disgusting
when there was a barrier betweenmy hand and the thing that I was

(34:23):
touching.
And so I brought that home.
I bought like disposable glovesspecifically for cleaning my
bathroom because at this point Iknew that I had toxic items that
I was cleaning my bathroom with,and I didn't wanna touch them
with my own hand for an extendedperiod of time before rinsing it

(34:43):
off, you know?
And so yeah, I just got likenitrile gloves from Target and I
used those and then I just threw'em in the trash.
And voila, I never touched asingle thing.
I don't have to touch the toiletbowl cleaner.
I don't have to touch the brush.
I don't touch the trash can nextto the toilet.
Like, nope, I don't touch itbecause it's nasty.

(35:08):
And that's just the nature of abathroom.

Katie (35:12):
I do know that, um, Branch Basics has a cleaning
product concentrate that youdilute for different things and
they, you could use it for likeyour toilet and you could use it
for everything.
'Cause they have like a ratio oflike, this is how much water to
the cleaning product that youwould need for windows or for

(35:36):
your kitchen or for the toiletor something like that.
And so have been consideringBranch Basics though it's really
expensive when you like, compareit to some of the other things,
especially when you compare itto something like vinegar.
And so that's one that I'vebeen.
Considering lately for thebathroom, like the toilet

(35:57):
specifically, we've been using,I think it's, the one that we
had recently is seventhgeneration.
And it's not like a completely,there, there's something in it
in the toilet bowl cleanerspecifically that I realized it
was not super non-toxic.
And so, um, I'm gonna beswitching that, but that's the
one that we have right now thatI've been wanting to switch away

(36:20):
from.
So I don't know, I don't knowwhat I'm doing yet.

Chrissy (36:25):
I know according to EWG's Guide to Healthy Living,
um, they do say that ECOS is agreat brand for toilet bowl
cleaner, and so is Nature'sPromise.
Um, I haven't tried either ofthose, but Nature's Promise
actually comes in multipledifferent scents.

Katie (36:47):
That's what's really hard about like a lot of the cleaning
products too, is that they havefragrance.
That might be what why I wastrying to get away from Seventh
Generation, um, maybe they hadfragrance in it.
And, and just a recap for thosewho maybe hadn't listened to
some of our other episodes wherewe talked about it, whenever

(37:07):
anything says natural fragranceor just fragrances or perfumes,
or anything along those lines,that's kind of like a key word
that there might be other toxicchemicals.
Because when it comes tosomething like fragrance, they
actually, there can be hundredsof other products and chemicals

(37:28):
that make up that fragrance, butthey do not have to disclose it
because it's, it is in smallamounts.
Like, so it's not like a, likethere's a huge amount of
something really toxic, but it'sjust the fact that it's there
and you don't exactly knowwhat's in it.
And so it's, it's kind of likethe principle of it that you

(37:48):
just don't know.
Um, same thing comes when youlook at foods and you see
natural flavors.
So anything that says flavors orfragrance, when it comes to
other, like household products,those are the things you kind of
wanna stray away from because itcould potentially be very toxic.
Um, and you just don't know.
So that's, that's the wholething.

(38:09):
So take it or leave it.
I know some people who just kindof say it is such small amounts
that they're not super worriedabout it, but I mean, who knows?
I, you just don't know what it'smade of.
They don't have to disclose itin any way except for the fact
that they say fragrance.
So, um, that's kind of whyChrissy and I are saying like,

(38:31):
we, we wanna switch away fromthat because it's just that idea
of like, you just, you don'tknow.
It's, it's no bueno as Chrissywould say.

Chrissy (38:39):
No bueno.
All right.
Well, I think we've talked abouttoilets enough.
Should we transition to dishes?
Now,'cause you also said youguys run the dishwasher a lot
and I wanna know, what are youguys using for your dishwasher
and dish soap in particular?

Katie (38:58):
Yeah, so we, this is actually the, the deeper dive
that I went on recently wasactually our dish detergent and
laundry detergent, so the twodetergents in our household.
Um, I went on more of a, a deepdive because I realized the
stuff that we had, here's,here's what I was learning.
So the product that we wereusing.

(39:19):
Most recently was a brandcalled, I think it's called
Puracy, P-U-R-A-C-Y, I found iton Amazon.
I found out that it's Bobbyapproved.
I found out that, EWG has a, agood rating of it.
I don't remember what it was.
So I actually started using anew app.
So that's also what I wanted totalk about today, that I started

(39:42):
using a new app called SwitchNaturals.
Now I found out about it througha Facebook group that I'm a, a
part of, and a lot of ladieswere like, I super trust this
app.
However, you do have to pay forit.
So it is like a one-time fee.
I don't remember what it was.
It might have been like$30.
And I wanted to try it outbecause I was like, what, what's
all the hoopla about with thisapp?

(40:04):
They actually go even deeperinto some of the products,
including.
This is the new thing I waslearning was the lining of, for
example, like when you dolaundry pods or dish detergent
pods, there are like the casingthat these things come in are
often made up of a microplastic.

(40:26):
Now the microplastic doesn'tusually show up in, the EWG app
or the Bobby approved app, andit doesn't even really show up
as like a microplastic, ingeneral.
But when you do a little bitmore deep diving, they, the way
that they phrase it is that it'slike a biodegradable plastic-y
kind of thing.
And, and you know that it's kindof a plastic because it, the,

(40:49):
the word you see it in theingredients is like poly
something.
And poly usually is a code wordfor plastics.
And so.
It is a type of plastic that islike biodegradable.
So a lot of people are like, oh,it's not that bad.
But then other like, so theSwitch Naturals is kind of on
the hunt for some of thesemicroplastics that were becoming

(41:09):
more aware of.
And so a lot of the pods thathave been used in the past,
including this brand that I'veactually been enjoying using
Puracy, I think is again whatthe name is.
I didn't write it down for theepisode, but, um, they had that
microplastic in it.
And so I was like, well, Iwonder if there is a better

(41:29):
option.
But also, again, like,'cause I'malways on the hunt for like, I
don't wanna have to spend an armand a leg for it because Branch
Basics does have a super clean,super non-toxic dish detergent
as well as laundry detergent,but they are both very
expensive.
And so I'm like, is there a waythat I can do this that's not
going to break my bank?

(41:49):
And so the brand that I didrecently switch to for our dish
detergent, and I'm consideringfor our laundry detergent, but
we'll talk about that in asecond.
Um, is Molly Suds.
So that's Molly, like the girl'sname, M-O-L-L-Y, suds, and like,
you know, like bubble suds kindof things.

(42:10):
So that's what we've switchedto.
I actually just today got theorder in from Amazon for our
very first package So I, Icannot give you the report on
how well we've liked them oranything, but we did just buy
them after all my research.
That's the one that I ended upfinding that's not super
expensive.
My friend actually back inColorado, she was one who

(42:32):
recommended it to me.
Um, but yeah, so that's what,we're using for our every day.

Chrissy (42:41):
I think I can beat you on the price

Katie (42:43):
Ooh, what do you use?

Chrissy (42:45):
because I, I make my own both dish detergent and
laundry detergent.
This was one of the first swapsthat I made, mostly because of
the price of them, because Ihated going to the grocery store
and buying dish detergent,laundry detergent, paper towels,
and toilet paper, and feelinglike I was going to be broke

(43:05):
until I got paid next.
And so I was just scrolling onInstagram one day and this lady
popped up on my feed and she hadmade her own laundry detergent.
And so lady who makes yourlaundry detergent on Instagram,
if you're listening to this andyou say, Hey, this is my recipe,

(43:29):
then I got it from you.
There's your credits.
I didn't make this myself, butmy laundry detergent
legitimately has.
Four ingredients.
It has a laundry bar, which inthe past I have used Aleva
Naturals, which I really love.
It smells nice.
It's just like a very gentle,like kind of floraly smell to
it.
And it doesn't have any colorsin it at all, so the laundry

(43:51):
detergent doesn't have anycolors to it.
So I've liked that.
But the next batch I'm making,I'm going to use a Dr.
Bronner's Pure Castile soap barto make my detergent.
And so we'll see how that goes.
I still have a few months leftof what I have, but anyways, so
the first ingredient is alaundry bar, non-toxic laundry

(44:13):
bar of some sort.
Second ingredient borax.
Third ingredient is washingsoda, and the fourth ingredient
is just a ton of water.
I'm not even kidding you.
This recipe, I'll put the recipeitself in, the description and
it will be posted on ourFacebook group.
But this recipe, I'm not evenkidding you, it makes an entire

(44:33):
five gallon bucket of laundrydetergent and I only have to use
a third cup of detergent in eachload.
And my clothes have been cleanerthan they were with regular
detergent before

Katie (44:51):
So, I guess I didn't realize this.
So your recipe is actually for aliquid soap and not a powdered
soap, huh?

Chrissy (45:00):
Yes, yes, it is liquid.

Katie (45:04):
got it.

Chrissy (45:04):
Well, it, it's kind of more jelly.
It's like a jelly,

Katie (45:08):
Hmm.

Chrissy (45:10):
like a very thick liquid.

Katie (45:11):
a good way to describe

Chrissy (45:12):
Kind of chunky.
Yeah.
Actually, my favorite part ofmaking this is like at the end
of it you have to stick yourhand in it and mix it all
together.
And it honestly feels so great.
'cause it's just like thissmooth cold jelly that you're
just like mixing all the wayelbow deep.
It's kind of fun.

Katie (45:33):
you are so strange.
I don't know that.
I think I would probably justuse like a spoon, a very large
spoon.

Chrissy (45:40):
I think I have done that, but it was easier to just
use my hand.

Katie (45:46):
You're so funny.
I, so in our laundry journey aswell, I, I actually got to the
point where I was about to buythe Branch Basics laundry stuff,
and I had added it to the cart.
And then, you know, they, theyhave just a laundry detergent,

(46:07):
but then they also have aOxidizer or something like a,
oxygen booster and I was aboutto buy that as well, and I'm
like, man, okay.
So if, if you, they recommendusing that for super dirty
clothes that are really smellyor have lots of stains on them
and all this stuff.
So I'm like, okay, maybe I'lladd that for certain loads.

(46:30):
But then I looked at theingredients, like the actual
just listed ingredients for it,and it was just like baking soda
and like sodium.
It was basically sodiumbicarbonate and sodium chlorate
maybe, I don't actuallyremember, but it was two
different forms of sodium

Chrissy (46:46):
Essentially baking soda and salt.

Katie (46:48):
Yes, thank you

Chrissy (46:50):
You are welcome.

Katie (46:51):
for the scientific explanation I knew it was like
even more basic than that.
So I looked it up and I wasgoing to, I just like looked up
those two washing ingredients onAmazon and I looked up the like
per pound or something, perounce price of it compared to
the mixture of it on branchbasics, and I realized that I
could make like three times theamount for basically the same

(47:15):
price if I bought the twothings.
And I was like, wow, they'reliterally just taking these two
very basic ingredients andselling it for outrageous prices
because they were able to callit like the oxygen booster.
So I was about to buy the two ofthese to make my own oxygen
booster when.
I was like, I might as well makemy own detergent at this point,

(47:36):
just like Chrissy does.
So I did recently buy I, but Ilike see, I don't like the
liquid stuff, so I looked up apowdered recipe for it because I
just like to have the dry.
I don't like any of the messwith the liquid stuff.
So,

Chrissy (47:52):
That is one thing with the liquid.
Yeah.
I always have to rinse off mylittle measuring spoon after I
use it, but I have a sink closeto the laundry, so it doesn't
bother me.
But that's another thing aboutmy dish detergent is my five
gallon bucket costs me$5 a year.
Like I don't think, I don'tthink I could find anything

(48:16):
comparable to that.
And also, I'm just now realizingI didn't talk about my dish
detergent because I make thatone homemade also, which again
costs me maybe five to$10 formy, um, they're not pods,
they're.
Tablets.
So I make dishwasher tablets.

(48:37):
It's washing soda, baking soda,kosher salt and lemon juice.
And I realized the lemon juice,it has to be fresh squeezed
lemons.
It cannot be like the lemonjuice you get in the bottle
because that actually has somepreservatives in it and it's not
like just fresh lemon juice.
And I'm not as happy with mydish detergent as I am with my

(49:02):
laundry detergent.
So it's still in the works.
I have also seen dish detergentrecipes with citric acid in
them, which you can get citricacid.
Not super expensive off ofAmazon.
Also, it still ends up beingcheaper than buying dish
detergent.
Um, but this one is definitelystill a work in progress.

(49:22):
But I essentially just mix it upin a mixing bowl and then I put
it into.
A little silicone ice cube mold,and they're very small, maybe
like one tablespoon little icecube sized, um, mold and just

(49:43):
spread it all out.
And I let it sit on the counterfor a day or two until it's
dried out completely.
Or I'll sit it like in a windowclose to the sun so it dries out
faster.
And then I have a little glassjar left over from like a peanut
butter jar that I had before,like natural peanut butter comes
in glass jar sometimes.
So I had one of those and I justpop it in my glass jar and boom,

(50:06):
there's my dish detergent.
Another downside of them, I, Ikeep talking downsides of this.
It's great, it's cheap.
It works.
It's not my favorite.
Also, sometimes they kind ofstick to each other in the jar,
so I have to like stab'em with aknife occasionally to get them
unstuck from each other.
But it still works.
And so if you're looking forsomething that is cheap and you

(50:28):
don't really know what to committo yet, but you want something
that's non-toxic, in theinterim, this works and it's
great.
And I recommend, and I will alsoput this recipe in the
description and on our Facebookgroup if you're interested.

Katie (50:44):
Yeah, I didn't realize that you actually made the whole
tablets and everything too.
That's the best way.
Like if you want the like,non-toxic version of the pods is
to do the tablets that don'thave that coating on it.
The other, the other thing Iactually really like having the
laundry sheets.
Like we've been doing laundrysheets in the past, that was

(51:05):
like a, it was almost a cleanbrand.
And again, we switched way backwhen, um, I was trying to do the
more eco-friendly version oflaundry stuff.
And so we switched to a brandthat comes in like a cardboard
box, so then you can recycle thebox and then it's just a sheet
so it doesn't have the plasticsand it doesn't have, you know,

(51:25):
it doesn't have all the otherlike colorings and stuff in it.
And so.
We've been, we were doing thatfor a long time and I really
like them, but a lot of thesheets also, in order to get it
in that sheet formation, it hasa similar coating in it that is,
it is pretty comparable to whatthe, uh, plastic microplastic

(51:46):
stuff is for the pods.
So, uh, I just, I realized that,and the one we had also had
fragrance in it, so I was like,we gotta, we gotta switch away
from that either way.

Chrissy (51:56):
I think another thing that's important to note is it
is very important to stay awayfrom dryer sheets.
Um, dryer sheets for a long timehave been known carcinogens.
IE they cause cancer.
And so I've switched away fromthis for a while now.
Like even growing up we didn'teven have dryer sheets.

(52:18):
But we use just a wool dryerball, which helps like really
reduce the static that you getjust from your clothes being in
the dryer.
And occasionally, I know Katie,you probably do this too, you
put um, some essential oils onthe dryer ball and then it helps
to still make your clothes smellyummy.
You know?
'cause I know a lot of peoplejust love the smell of clean

(52:39):
clothes.
Well, you can still get thesmell of clean clothes.
Even without using harmfulproducts.

Katie (52:48):
Yeah, my favorite is lavender.
I put that on our dryer ballsand it works so well.
Like I kid you not like, youjust put a couple drops on each
ball and it, it is good to go.
But it is, I mean, you canliterally tell the difference
these days, like people walkingdown the street who use the like
tide.
You know, fully scenteddetergents, and you just, you

(53:09):
can smell them like so strongly.
And I, I, it's interesting thatnow that we have been really
walking away from all of thescents and fragrances and
perfumes and stuff that are inall these products, my body is
more sensitive now to them whenother people have them.
And I literally, like, was nextto someone who had this really

(53:33):
strong scented detergent ontheir clothes, and I had to walk
away from them physicallybecause it was just too much for
my nose.
And I was like, oh no.
Like, I don't wanna be rude, butI just, like, I can't, I can't
stand it anymore.
And it's, it's very interesting,like getting all like, cleansed
from it.
You know, your body's like, likedetoxed from all these scents

(53:55):
and stuff.
And now like, being exposed,you're like, oh, you can tell
that it is not normal.
Like, that's not, that's notgood.

Chrissy (54:02):
Yeah, I feel like Fabric Softener is one of those
that I can very much smell onother people if they use for
fabric softener.
It's like.
Bam.
It's very pungent.
And um, I've always beensensitive to the smell of fabric
softener, actually.
'cause we didn't use it.
My mom didn't use it growing up.
She was like, eh, clothes feelfine as they are.

(54:23):
We don't really need that.
And so, anytime I knew someonewho used fabric softener, I like
couldn't really handle beingaround them very much.
'cause it just, it lingers onthe clothes.

Katie (54:36):
and nowadays they have those like scent boosting pods,
you know, like, so we actuallylike did use them several years
ago early in our marriage.
We use those, they're like thelittle plasticy beads and like
even that, I'm like, it probablyhas plastics in it.
And so they're like waxy andstuff and you put them in your
laundry and it like boosts thescent and, and I used to really

(54:57):
love them, but again, like thetransition away from it actually
was hard for me because I was soused to the really strong
scents.
And so I was kind of sad to walkaway from that.
So like having the essentialoils on the dryer balls, that
was like a really goodcompromise where it was like,
oh, I really like having thescent'cause it feels clean, you

(55:18):
know?
You get that idea of like, oh,it just feels clean.
'cause it smells pretty.
But then now the more that Ihave cleansed myself, my body
from it, it's like now smellingit on other people.
It's like not even my ownclothes and I can just tell that
my body, like a radar getsturned on and I'm like, oh wow.
I just, I didn't realize likehow toxic it really was.

(55:40):
And so, um.
it's just really interesting.
Now, the laundry detergent thatwe haven't really switched, but
it's not super toxic is so, sowe do, uh, cloth diapers for
Malakai and finding a reallygood detergent that is strong

(56:01):
enough to get rid of all the,like ammonia smell from the
diapers, um, is hard because youalso don't want to destroy the
diapers themselves because youwanna keep them absorbent and
like actually doing their job.
So like having a balance there,it's really, really tough.
And so.

(56:21):
What I use and have been using,um, for the last, like six
months to a year probably now,is the arm and hammer laundry
detergent.
And we do like the free andclear.
So it's the, it doesn't have anyscent, um, or anything like
that.
So that's what we've been usingand it works well.
I don't think it's completelynon-toxic and stuff, but it's,

(56:44):
it's as good as it's gonna getright now because that journey
would be much harder at thispoint to completely switch,

Chrissy (56:51):
All right.
Well I think we've kind ofcovered everything and we are
actually over time.
So Katie, do you have any lastthings that you wanna say before
we sign off?
Yeah, sure.
I, when people typically come tome and ask.
Where can I start on thisjourney on becoming healthier,

(57:14):
living a, a, you know, lesstoxic lifestyle and people who
just wanna learn how to glorifyGod with their bodies and just
stay healthy long term.
The area that I typically startwith and I recommend to people
is generally food.
Because food is so easy toswitch over, um, as you're

(57:36):
buying new groceries all thetime.
And I think it has the mostimpact sometimes.
But the second area that Iusually recommend that people
generally switch over,especially if they're already
kind of eating generally mostlyhealthy, um.
Is usually this area of cleaningsupplies, and so the cleaning

(57:58):
supplies and stuff like they,they can be really, really
disruptive to so many systems inyour body that it is really.
Super important to get themswitched over to something that
is less toxic and isn't going tobe, um, damaging to your body
long term.
And so I would just recommendlike taking some small steps

(58:23):
starting today.
Like think of the areas that youcan, um, the, the cleaning
supplies that you can switchover.
But yes, it's going to be hardbecause.
You know, we don't switch outour cleaning supplies as often.
At least, at least we don't, youknow, we don't go through them
as quickly as we do our food.
And so it's going to take sometime, but is really going to

(58:45):
make an impact on your health,um, especially long term.
You might not notice it rightaway unless you're having some
kind of reaction to breathing inthe chemicals or from the stuff
that you've noticed lately, butit will make a, a really big
impact for your family and foryour health.
And so, yeah, I just wannaencourage you that, um, you can

(59:07):
do it.
It is, you know, I understandlike Christy and I have been
there, we've done this, walkedthis journey as well, and it's
obviously been challenging, but,um, my recommendation would be
to start with the small thingsand even look for those like
ways to like, make your ownstuff.
Um, even if it's just usingvinegar and, it doesn't have to

(59:27):
be super expensive to, switch.
Everything over eventually, butyou can do it.
You've got this and yeah, we arewalking alongside you in this
journey.
You can do it.
You can do it.
Just put your mind to it.
You can do it.

(59:48):
All right.
Well, thanks again for listeningto this week's episode.
We'd, we always love to hearwhat your takeaways are from
each episode.
So, um, if you're on Spotify,you can leave a comment directly
onto the episode.
We love reading those, so feelfree to do that.
Um, on.
Apple, uh, podcast, you canactually leave a rating.

(01:00:09):
So tell us what you're enjoyingabout the show, but also we love
reading your emails.
So if you get our weeklynewsletters, um, go ahead and
respond to that or join us inour Facebook group to let us
know what you're loving aboutthe podcast, what topics you'd
like to hear about.
We've definitely, we've gottenrecommendations from.
Many of you on differentsubjects, and if you have left

(01:00:31):
us a recommendation as far aslike what you love to hear on an
upcoming episode, believe me, wetake those in account.
And so we've written all ofthose ideas down and it's kind
of crazy.
Our list just kind of keepsgrowing and it's exciting and we
hope that you're enjoying eachof these episodes, but thank you
so much.
Um, we are just so thankful forall of you guys.

(01:00:53):
See you next time.
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