Your home is your sanctuary – a place to get away from it all, relax, and recharge. You want it to feel like a safe haven, which is why it’s so important to ensure that you’re not harboring anything that may prove to be toxic or in any way hazardous to your health.
Take a look around your home, and you are bound to discover items that, whether you realize it now or not, can actually be harmful to your health. If you’re not sure where to start, keep an eye out for the following problematic products.
1. Toilet Cleaners
This is one toxic cleaning liquid that most homeowners find hard to live without. However, if a small child gets hold of a bottle of toilet cleaner and pours the liquid all over the floor, they could sustain life-threatening injuries.
The acidic substance not only burns the skin but can have devastating effects on the eyes when it comes into contact with them. That’s why it’s important to always use gloves when pouring toilet cleaner and store it on a high shelf to ensure young hands can’t get to it.
2. Teflon Pans
While a non-stick coating is marvelous, most people keep Teflon pans around for far too long. If your pan has flaked or sustained scratches, some of the nonstick coating is mixing with your food every time you cook, and this is not an ideal recipe for good health.
Teflon pans should be disposed of the moment the coating starts to flake. To avoid repeating this problem in the future, opt for a safe and effective alternative like ceramic cookware.
The ceramic finish makes these pots and pans more beautiful to look at, but more importantly, it’s also 100% non-toxic. Ceramic pans are better for your health and more sustainable for the environment, making them the ideal non-stick option.
3. Other Cleaning Substances
If the toilet cleaner revelation was overwhelming, you may be stunned to learn that most multi-purpose cleaners can be just as toxic. So many harmful chemicals go into most cleaning substances that homeowners are advised to seriously consider organic and non-toxic alternatives.
4. Power Boards
Extension cords and power boards are ubiquitous items in most households. These versatile multi-plugs make us believe that we can draw as much power as we want from a single socket.
However, the truth is that plugging too many items into a cheap power board may cause a fire.
Another reason why you need to play it safe with power boards and extension cords is that exposure to wear and tear over time can cause fires, especially when the worn-out cord is allowed to rest underneath carpets.
5. Air Fresheners
We all love a home that smells as good as it looks. That’s why we spray air freshener to provide a whiff of delight throughout the home. However, in the long run, these air fresheners can cause hormonal disturbances and other damage within the body, particularly for young children.
For best results, use an aroma diffuser along with safe and therapeutic essential oils.
6. Mothballs
Most people don’t realize this, but mothballs can be quite harmful. The naphthalene in mothballs can cause red blood cell damage, and mothballs have also been shown to cause cancer in animals. More research is needed to determine if they have the same impact on humans, but for now, the safest bet is to stay away.
Whether your home contains any of these problematic products or not, it’s worth doing a regular audit to ensure you’re not harboring anything harmful. Then, it’s just a matter of being mindful of what you bring in.
