Keeping the Family Safe with Green Home Cleaning Services in Chicago

The demands of your family, work, self, and home probably consume every day, and hiring green home cleaning services in Chicago might offer you a little extra time to relax or get things done that have been on the back burner for a while.

Green cleaning services means that the techniques and products used by your cleaning professionals don’t hurt the environment and that they’re also safe for use around your family. Today, most homeowners are aware that products containing noxious chemicals impact health and the environment, and they may also be responsible for contributing to global warming and climate change.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s comments on global warming:

Greenhouse gas emissions could cause a 1.8 to 6.3° Fahrenheit rise in temperature during the next century, if atmospheric levels are not reduced. Although this change may appear small, it could produce extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods; threaten coastal resources and wetlands by raising sea level; and increase the risk of certain diseases by producing new breeding sites for pests and pathogens.

Due to the impact on the environment and on your health, it’s essential to be aware of the benefits of green cleaning when you choose your professional cleaning service.

Benefits of Green Cleaning

• Reducing the likelihood of sickness. Some chemicals contained in non-green clean products have been blamed for causing anything from allergies to diseases, and even cancer.
• Improving conditions for wildlife. The chemicals we use each day for things like cleaning, cooking, and beauty routines often find their way into the water system and into the earth’s soil. These chemicals pose a risk to animals and plants which absorb the chemicals when they eat and drink. Although instant death from such inhalation doesn’t always occur, the long-term impact of chemicals on the animal population may inspire mutation, disease, and eventual death.
• Improving life-span of your possessions. Using natural substances instead of chemicals to clean may reduce the wear and tear that cleaning often has on things like furniture and the surfaces in your home. Natural substances like lemon, vinegar, and baking soda are harmless options for cleaning your home.

Avoiding cleaning chemicals that use phosphates, chlorine, and other chemicals that release noxious fumes into the air is essential. Cleaning solutions that avoid added colors and fragrances are best, as well as cleaning options that are biodegradable and pose no threat to the environment. Check out these fast and easy tricks to green clean your refridgerator!

Note: Even commercial cleaning services feature biodegradable and green cleaning products for use.

Options for Natural Cleaning Products

In-between visits from your green cleaning services in Chicago, you’ll want to employ green options for little spills, minor cleanups, and routine tasks required to keep your home as clean as possible.

Natural cleaning products pose no threat to you and your family’s health, and they don’t harm the environment, unlike traditional cleaning products, so you can do your cleaning as often as you like without fear you are polluting the earth or its inhabitants.

Many cleaning services in Chicago are offering these cost-efficient alternatives to harmful household cleaning products because they have realized that customers are growing more and more concerned about their health and the environment.

Releasing Chemicals Inside the Home

When people clean their homes, particularly during spring cleaning, tons and tons of toxic chemicals from household cleaning products they use are released into their homes.

Phosphates, heavy metals, neurotoxins, carcinogens like trisodium nitrilotriacetate, allergens, sodium hypochlorite in chlorine bleach, sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid, and other chemicals are sprayed into the air, swept out onto the ground, or washed down the drains.

These toxic chemicals eventually reach water sources like streams, rivers, and the sea, contaminating them or changing the pH balance, and killing marine life. Algal blooms are not uncommon when you have an abundance of phosphates in the water.

Living things like plants and animals also get affected by these chemicals. Think of livestock that feed or walk on the earth and drink water.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers some eye-opening information about chemical runoff and contamination from chemicals used in the home:

Be aware that many chemicals commonly used around the home are toxic. Select less-toxic alternatives. Use non-toxic substitutes wherever possible.
Buy chemicals only in the amount you expect to use, and apply them only as directed. More is not better.

Additionally, the EPA suggests avoiding throwing chemicals away in the trash, and always bringing excess chemicals to hazardous-waste collection sites. Chemicals should never be thrown down the drain because damage to the septic system, as well as contamination of the surrounding earth and groundwater, could result.

The EPA also suggests using phosphate-free detergents or employing detergents labeled as low-phosphate. Water-based products are best.

Shifting to natural cleaning products is not just marketing advice, but a necessity. It has to be done, especially when you need to clean a significant portion of your home before a gathering or party, or during big projects like spring cleaning.

Easy Ways to Use Natural Products

Using natural products often requires nothing more than a trip into your cupboards to find some common household materials that are virtually harmless to the environment.

• Cornstarch from your kitchen can be used to polish your furniture . It can also be used to clean carpets and windows.
• Baking soda is a natural deodorizer and can counter acids.
• Lemon juice, as well as vinegar, are also natural deodorizers and can be used to clean surfaces like glass or metal.

As you can see, there are many natural cleaning products just lying around your house. All you need to do is find out what they are and, with a little help from cleaning services in Chicago, you can do your cleaning as safely as possible for your health and the environment.

Going Further with Green Cleaning

Avoiding noxious chemicals isn’t the only way to get you home clean without using harsh chemicals. The materials you use and the maintenance habits you employ in your home may also offer ways to reduce your impact on the environment and the eco-friendly nature of your home.

• Make your own towels: If you’re sick of sorting mismatched socks, get them out of the rotation by reusing them as rags. You can do the same for old tee shirts or stained bath towels to keep them out of a landfill. Another great option for producing a streak-free shine is to use old newspapers to dry surfaces after cleaning them.
• Freshen your air: Candles and room sprays mask odors but don’t clean the air. In fact, many can be as harmful as cigarette smoke thanks to their high levels of lead, according to the University of Michigan. But you can have clean air and a pleasant-smelling home by switching out candles for fragrant houseplants. That’s because plants absorb dangerous toxins similar to the way they absorb the sun’s UV rays.
• Switch to cold water: Green cleaning tips don’t just involve saving the environment. You can also save on your electricity bill by washing all of your clothing in cold water and only washing things that are truly in need of a good cleaning. If you’ve only worn that pair of pants once, fold them and put them away instead of tossing them into the dirty clothes hamper.
• Ditch the dryer: You can also save money and the environment by drying clothes on a line instead of the dryer. Set up a clothes line directly in your washroom or hang one outdoors if your area isn’t too dusty.
• Mitigate mold: Mold and mildew are common problems in areas that are notoriously wet (in bathrooms, under kitchen sinks, or around cracks in the foundation, for example). Tackle these nasty spots now for a cleaner, healthier living area. A mix of vinegar and baking soda works well for surface mold infestations, but problems that go deeper than that may require professional help.
• Go paperless: Don’t let your mailbox go unattended. Clean it out for good by signing up for paperless statements through your bank or billing services.
• Pick the perfect paint: If your cleaning to-do list includes a fresh coat of paint, make sure you choose the right kind. The color, of course, if up to you, but the type of paint should be chosen carefully to avoid unwanted toxins in the air. Look for paints that have low VOC levels and breathe easily.
• Don’t dump your drugs: Don’t toss your expired medicines in the garbage. Instead, dispose of old medicines through a federally-sponsored national drug take-back program. If no such program is available in your area, be sure to throw them away in a sealed bag along with coffee grounds or kitty litter (to reduce their appeal to scavengers) after removing all personal information.
• Give it away: After going through your closets, cupboards and crannies, you’ll likely come up with piles of unwanted goods. Don’t toss these treasures, though. Instead, donate what you can, recycle what you can’t then throw the rest away. Keeping it out of a landfill is one of the best ways to keep your community green for many years to come.

Interested in Green Home Cleaning Services in Chicago?

Using natural cleaning products map help prevent allergies, respiratory diseases, cancer, and even reproductive abnormalities. You might have to make some significant changes in your lifestyle to accommodate a fully green existence, but it’s definitely worth it when the air you breathe is clear of particles that can make you sick. Your family’s health may depend on the products you use for cleaning and whether you hire a green cleaning company.

Are you interested in a green home that’s maintained by a green cleaning crew? At Sweep Home Chicago, we are fully committed to providing all of our customers with quality cleaning services. Get a Free Cleaning Estimate in the Chicago area today!