You probably stay on top of vacuuming your home and sweeping because it is easy to see when it needs to be done. Or washing the counters, cleaning the toilets, windows etc. I recently saw a post from a member in one of my FB groups share something she had just cleaned. It had me saying…..”Ummmm I have never washed that before!” Whoops. So I thought, what are other household items we might not be washing enough? Yes there is. 

Thank you Grove for sponsoring this post (every item I hand-select to feature) First have watched the movie Stink on Netflix? It is so good. And also sad the way toxic chemicals that are in our everyday cleaning products can cause major health problems. The average household contains about 62 toxic chemicals, say environmental experts. We’re exposed to them routinely — from the phthalates in synthetic fragrances to the noxious fumes in oven cleaners. Ingredients in common household products have been linked to asthma, cancer, reproductive disorders, hormone disruption and neurotoxicity. Scary. I encourage you to do your own research, but please look into what you are cleaning with. 

I have recently started to pay my friend to clean our home. I love being able to help her support her family. She was cleaning with any household cleaner that had been advertised as “the best”. I asked her to clean my home and household items with cleaning products I found at grove.com that are free of toxins. And after she was finished she was SOLD!! I did a lot of research and checked every cleaning product on  www.ewg.org to ensure it was not toxic. EWG- The Environmental Working Group is an American activist group that specializes in research and advocacy in the areas of agricultural subsidies, toxic chemicals, drinking water pollutants and corporate accountability. EWG is a non-profit organization. They give household items a grade. I have been working on only having A rated- household items in our home. Some items I THOUGHT were all-natural were not! Like Borax!

I like that grove.com offers household products that are non-toxic at an affordable price. If you are not familiar wit Grove Collaborative, it is a customizable auto-shipment service that delivers all-natural home, beauty, and personal care products directly to your door! They aim is to make living a healthy lifestyle easy and accessible for you and your family. They offer healthy, effective, eco-friendly, and affordable. After you place your first Grove order you will be set-up with personalized, scheduled Grove shipments, so you’ll never run out of the products you love. By default orders come every month, but you can edit the frequency of when products ship to you via your product subscriptions.

Five Household Items you Might Not be Cleaning Enough- 

#1- Dishwasher

I totally thought that since the dishwasher is WASHING my dishes the actual dishwasher is being washed every.single.day. Nope. Overtime grease, soap scum and food debris build up in dishwashers. Not only does this provide a breeding ground for germs, it also reduces the efficiency of the appliance! Especially the dishwasher filter. All dishwashers will have one or more filters to remove food particles from the wash water during the cycle. These filters are typically self cleaning, but depending on your water conditions or detergent usage these filters can become clogged! You can do a google search to see how often you should clean your dishwasher filter. But most recommend once a month. 

How to clean your dishwasher- We simply took out the filter and washed it in our soapy mixture to Dr. Bronner’s – All-Purpose Cleaner to clean the filter. As far as the dishwasher- #1- Put vinegar in dishwasher: Start with an empty dishwasher. Place a cup of white vinegar in a dishwasher-safe container on the upper rack of the machine. Run the dishwasher through a hot-water cycle. This will wash away grease and grime and remove musty odors, too. #2- Baking soda rinse: Sprinkle one cup of baking soda across the bottom of the dishwasher. Run a short, hot water cycle. The dishwasher will be fresh-smelling and have a brightened, stain-free interior.

#2- Drains 

Did you also know that pouring boiling hot water down your drains once a week will help prevent clog-causing buildup on the interior surface of pipes! But you should also do a little deeper clean once a month. You can just use baking soda and vinegar. They are one of the most underrated power couples and can be used to clean a variety of things around the house. One of the more useful duties these common household products are capable of performing is cleaning drains.  

How to clean your drains- #1- Pour a pot of boiling how water down the drain. This will loosen up any sludge that is stuck in the bottom of your drain. #2-  Add 1 cup of baking soda into the drain. You’ll want to let this sit for a few minutes to maximize its’ effectiveness. This will also help to loosen up the sludge. #3- Next pour a mixture of 1 cup vinegar and 1 cup hot water into the drain. Cover the drain with a plug to ensure that the chemical reaction is kept down, jolting the clog loose and restoring flow. Let it sit for 30 minutes.  #4- Pour one last cup of hot water down your drain! All done! Repeat once a month.     

#3- Oven

Many people think that cleaning their oven is something to save for a special occasion, but the longer you wait to clean it, the harder it will be. Keeping up with monthly cleanings is the best way to make sure your oven stays in good working order. You can lessen the work of cleaning a grimy caked on oven by wiping it down once a week or at least once a month. The process is super simple and you do not need a self-cleaning oven (which that feature is not the best).

How to clean your oven- First vacuum out the crumbs. Then all we did was sprayed the oven with some vinegar water then sprinkled Bon ami all over. We also use the same cleaning process for the glass stove top. You can do this in your microwave too. Let the Bon ami  sit then scrub it with a cleaning brush and a razor blade to get the really stuck on spots! My friend was SO impressed with this process. She had tried much harsher cleaners before that even irritated her hands and lungs that did not work as well as this simple, all-natural process.     

#4- Bedding, sheets and pillows 

You should wash your sheets, and other bedding at least once every two weeks. If you have night sweats, or just sweat a lot in general, increase washing up to once a week. Our sheets get covered with dead skin cells, oils from the skin, saliva and sweat. This can make for a dust mite paradise! A study I found said that only 44 percent of the 1,000 Americans surveyed wash their sheets once or twice a month. Just 11 percent get around to it around once a season and 5 percent decrust their sheets only once or twice a year. Yikes! Most pillows are machine washable—they should be tossed into the laundry seasonally, about 3-6 months to remove mold, bacteria, and odors. Pillowcases should be laundered every week, and protectors should be laundered once a month! 

 

What I use to brighten my whites- I have been searching for the best cleaning products to wash our white towels and bedding. I do not use bleach or Chlorine. The key to keep your whites white is to care from them from the start!!! It is hard to get a stain out after you have put it though the dryer. I found Molly’s Suds on Grove! It is an Oxygen Whitener that uses sodium percarbonate and other earth derived ingredients to aid in breaking down the hard water minerals to bring back your whites! And you can also put your white sheets and towels on a line to naturally brighten them in the sun! 

 

 

#5- Shower Liner 

My friend actually had me clean my shower liner and I again, had not done it!! We do not use plastic shower liners, they can be very toxic. Instead we have an affordable fabric shower liner that can and should be washed! I actually read it should be washed once a week. But trying washing it at least once a month getting started! Or wash it every time you wash your sheets! I highly recommend ditching fabric dryer sheets. If you have not switched to dryer balls, now is the time!! You can find them Grove.co this is actually where I got my first set of dryer balls and I have never looked back!!  (Find where I talk about shower liners HERE).

Check out grove.com for your everyday household items to be shipped right to your door!! They have the best scrubber brushes and really great unique products. Keep in mind, your shipments to grove.com are 100% customizable, and you have complete control over what products you get and when you want to receive them. Orders can be modified as well as postponed without penalty, and when you postpone an order, you are moving your next scheduled shipment, so you won’t receive another one until that date! Pop over and join grove.com HERE.

PS- I used THIS on my toilet bowls and THIS to clean the bathroom floor tile and shower tile. 

Click on an image below to shop some of my favorites from Grove!

Don't Miss Any of the Fun!

Join my newsletter subscription and get a chance to get your design question answered LIVE or on the blog!