Tag Archives: toxic

Are Dryer Sheets Harmful to Your Family? What Alternatives Do You Have?

I know a lot of people who just can’t do laundry without throwing in a dryer sheet. I’ve never had that habit, and when I tried the ones we were given back when we were first married, really couldn’t see what the benefit was. But a lot of people do love them, and use them without considering the potential harm the simple dryer sheet may do to their family.

A big part of this is air quality issues. There’s an article on the National Institutes of Health website that gets into the risks of using scented products indoors, and dryer sheets are one of the topics covered. They give off a variety of VOCs, and there have been cases of children having a seizure after being exposed to dryer sheets. It’s not going to happen to every child, of course, but that’s still pretty serious.

Simply put, there are better ways to help your laundry smell fresh, ways that don’t involve the waste and harsh chemicals of dryer sheets, even the unscented ones.

Line Dry Your Laundry

Hanging your laundry out to dry is one of the best ways to handle the issue. You get that fresh air scent naturally, rather than the imitation some dryer sheets try to give. Not only does line drying mean you don’t need dryer sheets, it saves all the energy using your dryer would have taken.

You can still take down slightly damp laundry and give a few minutes in the dryer for those things that tend to come out crunchy when line dried, such as towels and jeans. The crunchiness may not last long once you start using them, so you may choose to skip even that much use of the dryer if you can stand it initially.

Vinegar in the Wash

You can add a half cup of white vinegar to your wash during the last rinse cycle as a natural softener. This can even help your laundry come out softer when you line dry it. Vinegar in the last rinse cycle helps to remove the last of the detergent from your laundry.

Essential Oils

If you truly love the scent given to your laundry by dryer sheets, why not make your own? Pick a favorite essential oil, place a couple drops of it onto a damp washcloth and include in the dryer with the rest of the load. It will scent your laundry nicely.

Aluminum Foil Ball

Another tip for those who use their dryer for their laundry is to add in a ball of aluminum foil. Roll some into a tight, 2-3 inch diameter ball and throw it in the dryer with every load. It will take care of any problems you have with static in your laundry, and should last a long time. A tennis ball may help as well, but they may contain toxic chemicals.

If you prefer the dryer balls you’ve seen advertised elsewhere, go for ones that are PVC free and aren’t packaged in a bunch of plastic. Just be aware that some people feel that some types create holes in their clothes over time.

Eco Friendly Dryer Sheets

If you just can’t give up the dryer sheet habit, at least go for some of the more environmentally friendly options. Mrs. Meyers is a good choice, but Method may be easier to find locally.

You can also buy reusable dryer sheets such as Static Eliminator. They should be good for hundreds of uses, which beats buying boxes of dryer sheets. On the other hand, I don’t know that they’re any better than any of the solutions you can do right at home.

As you can see, there are plenty of simple ways to quit using dryer sheets without having to deal with static cling or laundry that doesn’t smell right to you. Make this simple change and you’ve cut one source of VOCs from your home.

4 Toxic Household Cleaning Supplies and Their Alternatives

Many of the classic household cleaning supplies that were used by our parents and their parents before them are fairly toxic. These days we’re more aware of the hazards, but not always sure of how to avoid them. These are some of the problem cleaning supplies and how you can replace them. It’s often surprisingly simple.

1. Bleach

Bleach is certainly powerful as a cleaner, and there are times when you have little other choice for getting rid of mildew. But for routine cleaning it’s really more power than you need.

Bleach is an irritant. If you’ve used it, you know this already. The fumes are uncomfortable to breathe. They aren’t good for you or for your children. On top of that, the labels even warn you about too much contact with bleach.

Replace with: Lemon juice. For many purposes, lemon juice does a very good job. Natural sunlight is also great at bleaching out certain stains. They aren’t as strong, but for most purposes they’re quite good enough.

2. Ammonia

Ammonia is often used in glass cleaners as well as other surface cleaners. Just as with bleach, the fumes are rather unpleasant, and if you read the label you can see that it’s hazardous.

Replace with: Vinegar. It’s not the most appealing of smells, but the scent dissipates as it dries, and it does a fair job of taking other scents with it. Vinegar works great on glass and other hard surfaces, and can be combined with baking soda for many cleaning chores.

3. Air Fresheners

You may love the way air fresheners smell, but their ingredient list may be enough to drive you out of the house. They may contain chemicals such as 1,4 dichlorobenzene, formaldehyde, naphthalene and other VOCs that can cause respiratory effects. These can be a problem if anyone in the house has asthma or other breathing issues.

Beyond that, they don’t usually actually freshen air. They often deaden your ability to smell or simply cover up one smell with another.

Replace with: Open windows are ideal, weather permitting. If not, boil some favorite herbs or some apple peels on the stove, or spray vinegar in the air. Any of these will help with household odors.

4. Toilet Bowl Cleaners

Toilet bowls can get pretty awful looking, and that squeeze bottle is an awfully easy way to clean them, but it’s not the best for the environment. The chemicals in toilet bowl cleaners are very strong, not the kind of thing you want around your family, especially small children.

Replace with: Baking soda plus scrubbing for basic stains, borax plus vinegar, time and scrubbing for worse stains. Or buy a reputable eco friendly brand of toilet bowl cleaner. Seventh Generation makes a toilet bowl cleaner, for example.

Since many products don’t list ingredients, your best bet is to avoid cleaning products that say “Caution.” “Danger” or “Warning” on them. These will have some sort of hazardous chemical you should try to keep out of your house as much as possible.

Products with specific environmental benefits listed are better than ones claiming to be green with no claimed benefits at all. If it says biodegradable, does it say how soon? Are there no phosphates in it? If there’s a clear statement of the benefit, there’s more likely to be something to it. “Natural” and “eco-friendly” don’t mean a thing on their own.

What Is It With Toxic Metals in Children’s Jewelry?

This is really ridiculous. It seems that since lead levels in children’s jewelry is being monitored, now cadmium is being used. Just trading one toxic metal for another.

This is why I don’t like to buy cheap jewelry, for children or myself. You don’t know what you’re getting in most cases.

The Smart Mama even tested some children’s necklaces she bought at Target and found high levels of cadmium.

There has also now been a call for the use of cadmium to be banned from children’s toys.

It’s good to see some quick action, but at the same time, couldn’t they have looked at this back when they were overreaching with CPSIA? I mean, if you’re going to go so far overboard in other ways, at least be thorough with the things that should be regulated.

I’ve never been big on children’s jewelry, and the main reason is how often I hear of it being recalled. It’s ridiculous. Before CPSIA it seemed like one sort or another was always being recalled over lead levels. Now no doubt it’s going to be cadmium too. Some issues are just best avoided.