3 Tips to Improve Indoor Air Quality

We're happy to have a new guest blogger, Green Cleaning Coach Leslie Reichert. Hailed as the "Martha Stewart Of Green Cleaning", Leslie is a cleaning expert that uses her sparkling personality, great sense of humor and contagious passion to engage her fans and followers. She has learned the hard way what toxic chemicals can do to your body. After years of owning and running a large residential housekeeping service - her body rebelled. She found that her immune system was “broken” and the only way to heal it was to find alternatives to the commercial cleaners she was using every day. Leslie's search for alternatives lead her to her family’s history and launched her into her life’s mission.

3 Tips to Improve Indoor Air Quality

Indoor air quality has become a new concern for the new millennium. No one in the late 1950’s or earlier ever thought about their indoor air quality. I personally remember going to sleep under a casement window that did not have a storm window on it. During snow storms, I’d watch snow seep into my bedroom and sparkle in the moonlight. This would never be acceptable today with the high cost of energy.  People have worked very hard to make their homes air tight. In making homes energy efficient, another problem has been created – poor air quality. The EPA and other experts say that our indoor air is 100 times more polluted that our outdoor air!  Some of our homes only see fresh air in the early months of spring before the air is thick with pollen and in the late fall before it gets cold enough to turn on the heat. The other ten months of the year the home has the windows closed and the air is being recycled over and over. If your heat and air conditioning are running for ten months of the year, then you are living with recycled air. Everything you are putting into the air is staying in the air and being re-circulated around the house.  Our homes are so energy efficient there may not be any fresh air introduced to our homes except for the occasional open door. You need to know the different ways to keep your air safe and healthy for your family. Here are three tips that are easy and economical.

• Use non-toxic cleaners when cleaning your house. Do your research and learn what is in the cleaners you are using now and switch to a non-toxic version. The best way to know what is in your cleaner is to make them yourself. You can get a free recipe for a green cleaning scrub at www.thejoyofgreencleaning.com along with a video to learn how to use it.

• Avoid air fresheners that use chemicals to mask scents. Air fresheners that use synthetic fragrances are just adding chemicals to your air to cover up unsightly smells. Work on finding the source of the smells instead of covering them up.

• Keep your window screen clean and free from pollen and dust. A simple way to cleaning them is to wipe them with a large looped microfiber cloth.  Or you can use a lint roller to collect the dust.

Leslie Reichert is known as a Green Cleaning Coach. She is a national lecturer, contributor to a The Daily Green, which is a Hearst publication, a frequent homekeeping expert on Martha Stewart Living Radio and author of the book: The Joy Of Green Cleaning- a handbook for DIY cleaners.