Cleaning products

Cleaning products can be very tricky to navigate. There are so many things to look out for, and we don’t even know it all. However, we do try to avoid products that have the following ingredients: ammonia, chlorine bleach, fragrance / parfum (opt for essential oils),  phthalates, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS), 2-Butoxyethanol (Glycol Ether), Formaldehyde-Releasing Preservatives, artificial dyes or colorants,, and 1,4-Dioxane. We understand this looks like a lot, so we have listed below our go-to products!

  • We use Branch Basic pods. 

  • We use Mrs. Meyers Rain Water scent. Be aware because some of their scents have SLS in them. These do have fragrance in them, so there are also other brands, such as Ecos, if you don’t want parfums. 

  • We use Ecos dish soap. Seventh Generation also has a good option.

  • We use Branch Basics for all of our household and bathroom cleaning. It’s a great general cleaning brand. We purchased the “Cleaning Essential Kit”, which comes with a concentrate and 3 different labeled bottles - All Purpose cleaner, Glass cleaner, and Bathroom cleaner. The concentrate has lasted us a long time, and we keep our place pretty clean, but at the moment we live in an apartment, so our surface areas we clean are much smaller compared to a house. Depending on your cleaning habits, the concentrate bottle will last you over a year. 

  • Seventh Generation is our go to option as it uses less toxic ingredients, but still will disinfect countertops and sinks.

  • We use Molly’s Suds for our laundry detergent. They have clean ingredients that actually wash our clothes, leaving them smelling fresh and washed. We also use the Branch Basics Oxygen Boost for vibrant colors and whites. Branch Basics also has a great laundry detergent as well.

kitchen & Household products

  • We avoid any non-stick Teflon pan because of the PFAS and PFOA. We always opt for a ceramic pan, stainless steel, cast iron, or ceramic coated dutch oven.

  • We never use plastic cutting boards, and only opt for wood. Plastic cutting boards cause loads of plastic to get on the food we cut. To avoid contamination of food, we never use our wood cutting boards for prepping meat & poultry. 

  • We avoid using plastic for our food storage container, so we opt for glass containers. Our glass containers still have plastic lids, however, we will neither heat the lid in the microwave nor put it in the dishwasher due to the high heat.

  • We have shaker bottles and other water bottles that are stainless steel. Our shaker bottles are from the company, Bolde, and our water bottles are Yeti’s.

    We make sure our to-go mugs are stainless steel, as we don’t want to put hot liquid in a plastic container. 

  • We try to opt for silicone, wood, or stainless still for our cooking utensils. 

  • It is important that our parchment paper is unbleached and totally chlorine free. The brand we use is If You Care and the link is here:If You Care Parchment Paper Amazon Link

    We avoid using foil directly on our food. We still use foil to cover our food, but we don’t let it directly touch our food. 

  • Try to avoid Teflon and plastic coated air fryers. Opt for brands that use stainless steel or have ceramic coatings.

    For blenders, if you’re simply using them for cold drinks, plastic is okay, but try to not place your plastic container in the dishwasher. The high heat causes plastic chemicals to release and leach into your food. 

    Pressure cookers & Crockpots are usually ceramic coated, which is great. 

  • Many coffee makers are filled with plastic. We want to avoid this as much as we can because the hot water is flowing through, releasing plastic particles. There are many good options that limit plastic in these devices.

  • For under our kitchen sink, we use the Clearly Filtered 3 Stage Filtration system: Clearly Filtered Link

    For our shower, we use the Aquasauna water filter: Aquasana Shower Filter Link

    We are a tad limited with the filtration system we can use since we’re in an apartment, however, ideally we’d have a house filter, shower filter, and kitchen sink filter.

Bedding

  • We absolutely love Saatva for our mattress and bedding: Saatva Mattress Link

  • We use Saatva bed sheets and duvet. They have amazing Organic options for bedding, which is what we use.

  • We use the o=company, Avocado, for our pillows. These are Organic, made with great materials, and are very comfortable: Avocado Pillows Link