My housecleaner quit. That was my impetus to change and take back the cleaning that I probably should have been doing all along (if I had more time, energy and desire to do it).
I was buying all these commercial off the store shelves for my housecleaner's convenience. Pledge, Wet Swiffer, Lysol toilet bowl cleaner, Scrubbing Bubbles (aerosol can--eegads!), stainless steel and granite cleaners, Windex galore. Keeping her happy was my priority in those decisions--it wasn't my the health of my family.
But she up and quit on me anyways!
It was just about the time I was transitioning to chemical-free solutions for my hair and body, and was toying with the idea of trying to replace some of my toxic cleaning agents. But when I thought about trying to explain to her how to use it, what it is, I realized it would be too hard (her English was really bad). When I lost her (she got a full-time job), I almost hired someone else right away. But then I felt convicted like maybe I should use the opportunity to start cleaning myself so I cancelled the appointment.
I had had these convictions before--like 11 years ago when my second son was born. Vinegar spray on everything. (Dave was not too happy.) But then I got lax, and forgot about why I was avoiding chemicals in the first place. When life got hard, I chose convenience. But with convenience always comes a cost. You're gonna pay the price of convenience in some way or another--whether that's inhaling carcinogens, taking a toll on the environment, increasing your carbon footprint, or putting your kids at a health risk with chemicals already proven to be toxic but not regulated in the US.
I'm STILL not 100% chemical free and may never be....
I'm STILL not 100% chemical free and may never be, and that's OKAY. It's more about shifting my perspective and values, and making better decisions out of that. It's about having some convictions and then acting on them. Not about being perfect, or being staunchly anti-chemicals. So yea I still use certain things out of convenience, like Tide for laundry and normal dishwasher detergent. I also didn't throw everything else out right away. I have certain things in my cupboard to use in a pinch. The Costco-size containers/packs of 4 take a long time to use up you know! I can't just toss it, I'm too Chinese.