A few weeks ago, I ran this post about Healthy Child Healthy World’s article about BPA-free sippy cups. Days later, the folks at Healthy Child Healthy World contacted me to ask if I would write a review of Christopher Gavigan’s new book Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home. So of course, I said yes. Over the next week I plan to run a series of posts about Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home because the content of this book is informative, well written, and a must-have for any green and health conscious parents’ bookshelf.
One of my favorite chapters in Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home is “Cleanup Time.” Gavigan alerts parents and caretakers to the ominous truth that many cleaning products are not only dangerous but are marked poison. Gavigan organizes the chapter into ten easy steps for green cleaning in our homes and emphasizes non-toxic and eco-friendly cleaning products as well as homemade recipes for safe cleaning.
A humorous though dead serious mantra from “Cleanup Time” is: “I will no longer throw paper towels at my messes.” Last year when my dd was born, I realized how much time and money I spent keeping our house clean. The first major change I made to reduce time and money, as well as to go green, was to stop purchasing paper towels for cleaning. Instead I used strips of old t-shirts and worn hand towels to dust and wipe down furniture and hard surfaces in our home. Not only did we save money otherwise spent on paper towels, but we reduced our waste, and maybe, just maybe, we saved a few trees.
Gavigan also includes money saving tips for green cleaning: simple recipes for nontoxic cleaners. Reading this section was something like having a conversation with my mother-in-law, a woman who was living and cleaning in an eco-friendly fashion before eco-friendly was even a word. One ingredient recommended by both Gavigan and my mother-in-law is white vinegar, which kills mold and bacteria. Vinegar is also an odor eliminator, a helpful quality since our cat litter is a smelly zone in our house. This afternoon I placed a bowl of vinegar in the designated cat bathroom and already the unpleasant litter odor is disappearing.
And last, but definitely not of little importance, is Gavigan’s explanation about the necessity for clean floors in a family home. First off, our little ones are closest to the floors. Even if they’re walking, they put their hands on everything and then stick them into their mouths. Sometimes I catch Annabelle trying to shove a shoe into her mouth. Since our children are more susceptible to ingesting and absorbing dangerous chemicals on our floors, it’s not a bad idea to keep them clean and to place a doormat at your front door. Gavigan quotes a 1991 EPA study in which keeping a door mat and wiping shoes on it resulted in cutting lead dust, and thus lead contamination, in homes by a whopping 60 percent. Phewy! Think about that. A $10 doormat can help prevent you or your child from suffering from lead poisoning that is caused by lead-contaminated soil.
These are only a few pointers from Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home‘s “Cleanup Time.” To learn more, seriously, read this book. If I could, I would carry it around in my purse.
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