Tips for a Safe and Non-Toxic Home

Our homes are where we spend the majority of our day, so it’s very important that our living spaces are non-toxic. That means clean air, clean water, and no unwanted chemicals, and that's easily done with the right strategies.

I’d like to share some tips that I follow to have a safe and non-toxic home.

Water:

Let’s start with the most basic building block of life: water. If you go to websites like EWG, they often publish studies about what's in our drinking water. I think we all know that standard tap water, depending where you live, can be bad to worse. 

However, what’s concerning is they're finding more and more heavy metals in the drinking water, and even more concerning, they’re finding forever chemicals. For example, the stuff they put on non-stick pans  runs off from manufacturing facilities into the soil, into the waterways, and ultimately into our drinking water, which is super scary. 

There are a couple of ways you can address drinking water in the home. In my house, we love our alkaline water system. We've been using this system since we lived in Chicago.

It's a six stage reverse osmosis system, and it uses minerals to alkalize the water to about 9.0 pH. We change the filters once a year. 

We also use a whole house system outside that cleans and softens the water before it comes in.

Many of the other alternatives fall short. When it comes to pitcher filters, I think they don’t do nearly enough. Or if you have water filtration built into your fridge, it's usually one small filter that's not up to the task. 

But there are two really good countertop filters I recommend: AquaTru and Berkey.

“If we're talking about a non-toxic home, we have to think about where we spend the most time: our bedroom.”

Mattress:

If we're talking about a non-toxic home, we have to think about where we spend the most time: our bedroom. 

As you start to investigate toxins in the home, you’ll quickly discover that mattresses can be a primary culprit, because the materials used to make most mattresses are not only made of toxic ingredients, but they off-gas over time. Then the toxins, allergens, and endocrine disruptors, which will mess up your hormones, really can affect you.

For these reasons, I recommend the Birch Natural Mattress from Birch Living. We have four of them in our house right now. It’s organic, non-toxic, and it's made of four materials here in the USA. But most importantly, it's comfortable. 

It’s made from natural fibers, so it stays cool and breathable. Birch gives you a 100 night sleep trial to make sure you love it, and it comes with a 25 year warranty, so you know it’s going to last.

If you’re in the market for a new mattress, use my link to get $400 off the mattress of your choice, along with two free pillows.

Air:

Air purification is an important part of keeping your home non-toxic. There are going to be more pollutants in the air in homes that are under construction

In my opinion, the Air Doctor is the best air purifier on the market. There's an ultra HEPA filter inside which cleans 99.7% of viruses, bacteria, and allergens like pollen, mold, and smoke. This can be particularly helpful if you live in areas that have wildfires.

I leave mine on all the time and when it's safe, it's at a low speed. However, when I cook and smoke up the kitchen with steak and whatnot, it fires up on high. It goes to red alert because it's cleaning the air and actually does a great job.

I recommend having at least one air purifier in the house to ensure that your air is clean and non-toxic.