Buy This… Hydrogen Peroxide Bleach.  Hydrogen peroxide, that staple of bathroom medicine cabinets everywhere, has the same disinfecting and cleaning properties as regular (chlorine) bleach.  But hydrogen peroxide is much safer to use – both for you and the environment.  You can use straight hydrogen peroxide as a bleach alternative. And since it’s designed to go on your skin anyway, there’s no worry about burning and no noxious fumes to inhale, since hydrogen peroxide is nearly odorless.

You can also buy non-chlorine bleach, which is made of hydrogen peroxide. Just treat it the same as regular bleach – be careful about skin exposure and inhalation.  But since hydrogen peroxide-based bleach is not made with toxic chlorine, you won’t be exposing yourself to harmful chemicals that can cause minor health problems such as headaches and allergies, or something much worse.

Not That… Chlorine bleach.  Chlorine bleach is harmful to the environment – belching out toxic residues that kill fish and wildlife and generally just pollute the planet.  Remember, everything that you wash down the drain – whether in your laundry or through cleaning – ends up in the water system, and that includes chlorine remnants. And the use of chlorine results in the formation of dioxins, potential carcinogens not good for you or the planet. 

Chlorine is harmful to you, too.  You know that you don’t want bleach to touch your skin because it can burn.  And inhaling chlorine bleach fumes can lead to some serious medical problems, either immediately or down the road. Cleaning with chlorine bleach releases those vapors into your indoor air, where the chlorine fumes will linger for days and months, even if you don’t smell them.

Buy This….Hand soaps made from vegetable glycerin or castile soap. These all natural sources of cleaning power are more gentle on your hands and use easily renewable resources.  While you’re going for all natural, choose soaps that use tea tree, lavender and other anti-bacterial essential oils instead of triclosan.

Not That….Hand soaps made with petroleum based products or triclosan.  Many soaps contain petroleum byproducts such as petrolatum, mineral oil or other derivatives.  These products are made from non-renewable resources and essentially you’re just washing valuable oil down the drain.  Triclosan is a powerful anti-bacterial that does indeed kill germs, but in the repeated, small, everyday doses of a hand soap is thought to possibly lead to greater medical problems such as endocrine disruption and reduced natural resistance to germs.

Buy This…..PEVA shower curtains. These chlorine-free plastic shower curtains look similar to vinyl ones, but don’t outgas toxic chemicals into your home. Readily available at Target, Ikea and other mass market stores, it’s easy to find a PEVA shower curtain and they don’t cost much more than vinyl.

Not That…..Vinyl shower curtains.  The U.S. EPA has found that a new vinyl shower curtain can increase the amount of toxins in your indoor air for a month.  The Center for Health, Environment and Justice discovered that six hours after opening a new vinyl shower curtain, your bathroom’s indoor air has 16 times more VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) than guidelines set by the U.S. Green Building Council and the 100 different VOCs released into the air will linger for more than a week.

Buy This….. Cellulose Sponges. These plain sponges don’t contain any added ingredients or make claims of being “anti-bacterial” or “resists odors.” Try Whole Foods’ 365 brand of cellulose sponges. Plain cellulose sponges can be found in grocery stores and home improvement stores such as Home Depot.

Not That….Sponges containing triclosan. Most dishwashing sponges on the market today claim they are anti-bacterial and resist odors. This usually means they contain triclosan, a powerful anti-bacterial that was originally developed for hospital settings. Triclosan has been linked to a variety of health problems, such as endocrine disruption. Overuse of the chemical means it’s accumulating in our waterways and polluting the water, with negative health effects for marine life.