As we say farewell to 2023 and usher in the new year, it’s time to reevaluate how you maintain your comfortable home. This is the perfect occasion to adopt new, eco-friendly cleaning habits around the cleanliness of your home and office. It is a brand-new start to a welcoming space you can complete your work or come home to and feel refreshed and satisfied.
Not only is eco-friendly cleaning a fantastic way to begin revamping your living space, but it helps lower any potential damage to our environment. Over 75% of the VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions we breathe and get exposed to come from conventional cleaning products. In this post, we’ll go over how you can break free of harmful carcinogens and embrace the power of safe, healthier, and eco-friendly alternatives for greener cleaning routines in 2024.
The Essence of Eco-Friendly Cleaning in the New Year
Conventional cleaning products often have harmful human-made chemicals that can leave a residue or pose a threat to you and your family’s well-being. Eco-friendly cleaning is the exact opposite. These are naturally based compounds derived from substances like aromatic oils, vinegar, baking soda, and other combinations proven to eliminate dirt and grime.
When you rely on a professional team like ours at Unique Cleaning Solutions, you’ll experience benefits from eco-friendly cleaning products like:
- Safety: greener products don’t include harmful chemicals that can irritate the skin, eyes, or lungs.
- Healthier Home: without those dangerous chemicals, family members or employees won’t be exposed to allergens that can exacerbate reactions like an asthma attack.
- Social Responsibility: you’ll feel proud to play your part in a cleaner, healthier environment free from pollutants.
- Clean Spaces: just because these cleaning products are eco-friendly doesn’t mean they lack power. In many cases, they eliminate grime, mildew, dust, and bacteria more efficiently than conventional products.
As you experience the many benefits of these products, you will see how wrong popular myths about eco-friendly cleaning are. For example, many consumers believe greener products are more expensive. Nope, you’ll find green cleaning products to be comparable to any other conventional alternative.
Another myth relates to cleaning power or scent. Eco-friendly products will indeed have some vinegar, but that is mixed with pleasing aromas of natural oils and substances – a much better solution than the chemical smell of other products. Why not make it your New Year’s resolution to embrace the effectiveness of these products?
Starting 2024 with Innovative Cleaning Solutions
DIY Eco-Friendly Cleaners for the New Year
Many of the eco-friendly cleaning products you would want to use to keep your home looking crystal clean can be found at your local grocery store or in your kitchen pantry. If you want to test out this theory, try a DIY all-purpose cleaner. All you need to make this solution is:
- ¼ Cup Vinegar
- 12-20 drops of your preferred scented oil
- 1 tsp castile or phosphorus-free dish soap or washing soda
- 2 cups boiled or distilled water
Pour that distilled or boiled water into a spray bottle and mix the other ingredients to keep your kitchen counters or bathroom space immaculate.
Another eco-friendly DIY recipe for cleaning you can use is:
- 1 cup soap flakes
- ½ cup washing soda
- ½ cup baking soda
- 1 tbsp hydrogen peroxide
- ½ cup white distilled vinegar
This recipe works perfectly for keeping your clothes fresh, clean, and soft. If you want a little extra “oomph,” soak your clothes in water with this combo for around 30 minutes in the washer before laundering as usual.
You can find all kinds of easy-to-use and natural products in your home or shopping aisle. That includes things like:
- Vinegar
- Borax
- Lemon/Lemon juice
- Baking Soda
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Castile soap
- Essential oils
- Olive oil
- Water
- And more
With so many varieties, you’ll make 2024 a year to remember for a cleaner, happier living space.
Discovering New Eco-Friendly Brands
If you prefer not to mix DIY recipes, there are reputable and industry-recognized eco-friendly cleaning brands that you can pick up for your 2024 cleaning habits. Examples we have found to be highly effective include:
- Dropps for laundry detergent and dishwashing.
- Frosch is an EU Ecolabel-certified neutral cleaner for the home.
- Earthhero, is a certified B corporation that is 100% carbon neutral and offers a massive selection of eco-friendly cleaning products.
- Pur Home, is our choice for a great natural castile soap.
- Seventh Generation is a great starting point for your 2024 cleaning habits. They are available in most big box stores and grocery stores.
- Blueland, buy once, refill forever. Eliminating single-use plastic is as easy as fill, drop, clean.
All these brands are doing their part in lowering chemical emissions. They formulate products based on safe and easy-to-source ingredients that lower the chances of any harmful substance entering your skin or food. This is more than a trend. Eco-friendly cleaning is a widely accepted method to keep dirt away from your surfaces and prevent nasty chemical smells from clogging your home.
Technological Trends in Eco-Friendly Cleaning for 2024
2024 is going to be so much easier with eco-friendly cleaning. Automation through IoT (Internet of Things) integration helps with reminders and dirt detection.
These same systems will begin to use AI (artificial intelligence) to help improve cleaning schedules so you can get the most efficient timing to keep your home clean and safe.
Even something as simple as technologically forward trash cans do a lot for your living space. These detect when your trash is full and, in some cases, if you accidentally put a recyclable into the container. The better the technology, the more we can create a safe environment for our homes and our futures.
Overcoming Challenges in Eco-Friendly Cleaning
Anytime you make a change to your daily habits, there are going to be some growing pains. Start by assessing your current situation. What conventional cleaners are causing you and your family harm? Introduce DIY or eco-friendly brands for one type of cleaner at a time. Maybe you keep a bottle of Seventh Generation by your sink for wiping down counters one week and then try a new DIY laundry detergent the next.
Next, you’ll want to get everyone in your home or office on board. Even though you are forward-thinking and looking to embrace the power and safety of eco-friendly cleaning, your family members may not have heard of this before.
Educate them on the benefits and make it easy by keeping the new products you’re introducing in the same spaces as their predecessors. That way, when someone reaches for a glass cleaner, air freshener, or laundry soap, your eco-friendly alternative is there instead.
Remember to have fun. Going greener in your home or business doesn’t have to be a stressful event. Get feedback from your family as you make the changes. You have the power to make 2024 an incredible year full of clean habits. You’ve got this!
Final Thoughts
More than 53% of U.S. households have moved to eco-friendly cleaning products. With so many benefits and the availability of DIY alternatives, this is a surefire method to enhance your 2024 with a clean and welcoming living space.
Give any of these brands a try or mix a batch of your own solution. Integrate these new products into your habits, and you’ll be amazed at how effective they can be. As you gather around the fireplace with warm memories of holiday gatherings in your mind. Set your attention to your 2024 New Year’s resolutions and pick up some eco-friendly cleaning products today.
While you’re enjoying the eco-friendly cleaning revolution, be sure to check out our guide on keeping that bathroom “guest ready” with our cleaning tips and tricks.