Ditch and Switch: Candles and Cleaners, The Beginning

So real talk, prior to 2020, I really had never given a second thought to the products I was using.. Didn’t actually believe that something sold at Target could be harmful to my health (like why would someone allow that??)…Thought of the word “toxin” much like the word “poison” (as in thought something was only considered toxic if it required calling poison control about)…had loosely used essential oils in the past…assumed all oils were created equal…you get the picture.

Basically, I had no exposure to (or perhaps no interest to learn!) harmful household toxins, how ingredients in our products are not regulated, and the impact said toxins have on our health and wellbeing.

So fast forward to late summer/early fall 2020. My first baby was 7 months old, learning to crawl, and entering that active baby stage. At the same time, I was using a fairly new to me floor cleaner for my engineered hardwood floors. Supposedly it was what you were supposed to use to clean them. Honest to goodness, the cleaner was so strong that I got a headache every time I used it. I would have to open our doors and windows downstairs to ventilate while I cleaned, and I absolutely would not mop while my baby was awake – only when he was asleep as I did NOT want him inhaling this stuff. And then the thought occurred to me…if I don’t want him inhaling it, do I want him crawling around on it? Then putting his hands in his mouth? Nope. Didn’t want that either!

On a similar note, I loved me some candles. The Bath and Body Black Friday sale…yep I always stocked up on their candles! Loved the way they made my house smell. Was not a fan of the headaches I would get while burning them, but loved them nonetheless. About the same time of the floor cleaning debacle, and not wanting my baby crawling around in that mess, I also was worried about having candles burning on tables that he could accidently bump into and knock over a flaming candle. That was just a hard no.

Meanwhile, one of my friends on Instagram was sharing a lot about her own journey of ditching toxins around her house…how she was using essential oils,  natural cleaners, and swapping personal products. And I was intrigued! I followed along her journey for quite some time, took in lots of information, joined a couple of her classes, and eventually decided to order a starter kit from her.

My goal was simple – I wanted to ditch my candles for a diffuser and essential oils, and ditch my household cleaners for natural alternatives.

Now, if you stick around here you’ll soon find out that my initial goal continued to evolve and moved into my laundry room, personal care products, etc. The more educated I became on toxins, and the more aware I became of what my family was being exposed to, simply within our own home, the more products I wanted to start ditching and switching. And that did come – in time!

But it all started with candles and cleaning.

Follow along for the rest of my Ditch and Switch/low tox living journey if you too are interested in ditching and switching products around your house for safer, healthier, alternatives! If you don’t already have my free “4 Steps to Reduce Toxins” Guide, or aren’t on my email list, click here to download that for free today!

More to come!

Xoxo, Alli