Detox your space
Since we have full creative freedom to personalize the environment of our homes, we can choose to set the atmosphere of our lives.
When we want to feel healthier, we immediately want to think of hydration, food, and exercise. While I will never dispute these intrinsically important elements of health, I think it is important we search (our homes, work, behaviors, and habits) for areas that are subject to toxicity. Sometimes, we are just unsure about where to look.
these small hacks can help you detox your space in a big way
Throw away expired products. Is this better in bold? Throw away expired products. Because I very much mean it. Take an hour or two to go through each part of the house, find all the expired products and junk every last one of them. Products degrade with time, bacteria, fungus, and harmful micro-organisms can breed over time causing potentially harmful adverse reactions.
This includes, but is not limited to cleaning products, skincare products, pharmaceutical medication, dietary supplements, vitamins, herbal products, cooking oils, cooking spices, coffee, tea, and condiments. You would not keep spoiled milk in the fridge, so do not put spoiled products on your face or dangerous moldy spices in your food. This also includes anything that has a missing or broken cap, functioning caps that were not replaced properly, and basically anything that has not been stored correctly (learn about how to store plant-based and natural products).
This is also a great opportunity to introduce new, natural, chemical-free, or plant-based products into your home. Tips: Consider buying loose leaf teas and spices (we like these local stores), the herbs are usually fresher and higher quality. Try using one or two multi-purpose cleaning natural products maximum, no need to get every type of harsh cleaner out there to stash under the sink (a chemical warfare).
Test your drinking water. You have removed plastic water bottles from your life, vowed to never go back, meticulously stickered your hydroflask; you always remember to bring it with you, you wash it regularly, you are hydrated, and you are glowing. And yes, we are blessed in Tahoe with some truly pure water, but that doesn't mean you are drinking truly pure water. At-home water testing kits are cheap, simple, and easy to do, and the results can either offer you areas of improvement or give you a sigh or relief. Either way, it is best to know (here are some recommendations on kits and places to purchase them).
Purchase air purifying plants from the local nursery (we like these stores too). Not only does the presence of plants bring joy and life into your space, but these plants are useful for air purification. Speaking of space, in 1989 NASA cleared a number of plants to use on the space stations, and since these and many other plants have demonstrated the ability to filtrate potentially toxic organic chemicals. Some of these plants include heart leaf (P. oxycardium) and elephant ear (P. domesticum) philodendron, golden pothos (S. aureus), and spider plants (C. elatum). You can read the full NASA trial here.
Organize junk drawers & cabinets (the pantry and closet storage too) and you might just find those items you were looking for or next time you know where to find x, y, z. The goal is to clear out the drawers to free up some free space, throw things away, do not just move things from one drawer to another.
Clear clutter
Take all the knick knacks, candles, hair ties, and extra things in your bedroom, office, kitchen, or on nightstands and collecting on tables, and put them in a container for a week. If the smalls lying around aren’t enough, take anything without a distinct home or placement, and put it in a container. Make your house look like a hotel (temporarily) with only the necessities exposed. After a week, reorganize (or place stuff in your newly organized drawers). Hopefully, by living with zero clutter for a week, it will be uncomfortable to want any difficult-to-part-with clutter back.
References:
Wolverton, B., Douglas, W., & Bounds, K. (1989). A study of interior landscape plants for indoor air pollution abatement. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/nasa_techdoc_19930072988