Clean Mama’s Guide to a Healthy Home: The Simple, Room-by-Room Plan for a Natural Home – 50+ Organic DIY Recipes for Detoxing and Family Wellness

I did a lot of “healthy home” research when I started having babies ten years ago. My youngest is five now, and, after reading this book, I realize that a lot has changed since I first started my journey toward greener living. The basic principles are the same: typical household and personal care products have a ton of added chemicals that are hurting us on a daily basis. But I can’t believe how many more readily available and budget friendly organic resources there are now. Seriously, ten years ago, I could barely find cloth diapers, even quasi-organic skin care, reusable sandwich bags, and the list goes on. I’m happy to see how many more options are out there. Clean Mama’s Guide to a Healthy Home starts off by explaining all the reasons why it’s important to use as many organic household products as possible. There isn’t much new to me in this section, but I guess it’s always good to lay a foundation for the newbies… She encourages readers to go through the entire house and throw away all products that are filled with chemicals. If you feel bad about wasting products, then use what you have and buy an organic alternative the next time around. Chapter 5 is very useful in that it goes through the few simple products you’ll need to get your house clean. Author Rapinchuk lists them out and then details what tasks they can be used for. So for example, hydrogen peroxide can be used to treat stains (on white clothes), clean grout, or disinfect toilets and showers. Other basic cleaning products she uses are soap, vinegar, baking soda, essential oils, epsom salt, kosher salt, coconut and almond oil, oxygen whitener, rubbing alcohol, vodka, and borax. She gives a ton of “recipes” for cleaners, but her simple, all-purpose cleaner is a good place to start: All Purpose Vinegar-based Cleaner 3/4 cup water 3/4 cup vinegar 5 drops lemon essential oil 5 drops lavender essential oil Chapter 7 is another favorite of mine, where she lists ten changes you can make right now to get your home cleaner—like taking off your shoes when you're inside, putting plants in high-traffic rooms, using an air filter, and opening the windows. The last part of the book gives room-by-room cleaning suggestions. She lists ingredients in products to look out for (and remove), suggests cleaning products (purchased and DIY) to replace them, and offers quick tips for making immediate changes. Her advice covers the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, living areas, laundry room, entryway, garage, and basement. One of the things I love most about this book is that, in addition to giving so many DIY cleaner recipes, she also offers affordable, available, and effective product suggestions. Like I said, there are so many more “green” options available to families than there were even just a few years ago. What a game changer. This book has already been an invaluable resource to me. It is packed with information, and even though I know I can’t possibly make all these changes at once, it has given me both a good place to start and a goal to work toward. I know I will be referencing it again and again.

Everyone is different but for me I found this book as a really good resource to finally start using all natural products in my home and I highly recommend it for 2 main reasons. 1) When I started doing the weekend kick start as recommended in the book, I started calculating the cost of all the products I buy for various tasks around the house. These costs for specific window cleaner, counter cleaner, toilet cleaner, air freshener, hand soap etc etc really add up. With this book as a guide, I figured I could purchase 5-8 inexpensive items (vinegar, baking soda, castile soap, some essential oils) and have all natural products for a fraction of the cost! Not only is it better for me and my family, I can make and change EO fragrances whenever I fancy and feel good about it all. So I started slowly and have made a few of the recipes she suggested. Its remarkable how well simple natural ingredients work. You don't need the name brand chemical filled stuff in the stores. 2) The other great reason I think this book rocks is that she simplifies this all natural home remedy thing. I've been bouncing all over the internet trying to get started but by following her weekend kick start plan, YOU WILL get started. Then make the all-purpose cleaner and keep rolling along. I'm going along slowing but having fun. My honey even noticed the new hand soap and loved it. Go ahead and purchase this resource. I think you'll be glad you did.

I have made my own cleaning and laundry items for years. I like to try new things and over the years I have changed to things that work better for me. When I saw this book I decided it was time to try a few new things. I first purchased the audio version and within the first hour of listening to it I went back on line and bought a hard copy. The product education in the book is exceptional. I have tried the moisturizing hand soup (great), several of the cleaning products for countertops/sinks/showers (all very good) and I made a batch of the laundry detergent (outstanding). If you need to learn a cleaning routine this book will help, however if you already have that down the cleaning item recipes and the best I have ever found. If you are interested in having a clean house, avoiding harmful chemicals, saving money and finding a few new ways to be kinder to the environment then buy this book NOW.

I've been following her blog for awhile and decided it would be nice to have her written resource. I've been working on building a small collection of cleaning resources, particularly for when people ask me for tips, I can hand them a nice copy! I LOVED the section on what is in mainstream cleaning products and why you want to avoid them. That really helps to have a one stop resource for that! It was nicely written and easily understandable! I love that there is the WHY and the recipes all in one spot. I learned a lot more about peroxide than I had known before so that was great! I have been studying cleaning products for over a year, so some of the recipes and tips about baking soda and vinegar weren't new to me, but would be FANTASTIC for someone just starting out. This is a book I want to send to many of my family and friends - READ THIS! It helps explain so much and help you step by step swap out products. I really liked how there was room by room analysis of products to switch out! There are some things that start to feel overwhelming. I personally am not anywhere near buying 100% cotton or looking at specific mattresses etc. That's probably not going to happen for me. But I do love that she gives you a thorough examination of what all the products around us entail. Just be prepared if you're just starting out that it could seem like everything is bad for a second. ha I don't think she makes you feel that way because she reminds you it's all a process. Just a heads up :) Definitely recommend this book!

This book is amazing! Clean Mama's Guide To A healthy Home is a great way to help me & everyone get their home in order, non-toxic & clean. There are easy swaps from toxic cleaner to non-toxic as well as recipes for homemade cleaners that work great. This book was an eyeopener for me. I had no idea how toxic the cleaners were, especially for my sweet dog Snuggles. If you have small children and/or pets, you really need this book as well as following Clean Mama on Instagram & Facebook. Becky has some great post to with all your cleaning needs, even a routine. Which I desperately needed. If you don't buy this book or follow Clean Mama, you are really missing out! Happy Reading.

This book is great for someone that likes a clean home but doesn't really know where to start! Clean mama shows you how to detox your home while cleaning it from top to bottom with just minutes a day! Highly recommend if your home need a refresh or a total reboot!

I’ve been trying to figure out a good cleaning schedule for years. I was introduced to Clean Mama last year when my best friends gave me two buckets labeled “kitchen” and “bath” with glass bottles, microfiber towels and pretty glass jars filled with Castile soap and vodka. Along with these was a package of recipe labels for natural cleaning solutions from the Clean Mama Website. My interest was piqued so I began reading her website. I started using her ideas immediately and was sold!!! When I saw her book, “Clean Mama; A Guide to a Healthy Home” I preordered it. I love this book! I ready it quickly when I received it and I’d now my favorite reference books for natural cleaning methods. It’s so handy. Thank you for taking the time to compile all this information in one easy to go to place.

This book is incredible for DIY recipes and is a quick read! It makes cleaning fun. I would stick to the DIY recipes in this book. Some of the brands she recommends- EO, Everyone, Rebel Green and Better Life- actually are not rated well with the EWG or Think Dirty. Some products are, but not all of them are. So, I would just steer clear. Keep in mind the Network Marketing companies she also recommends- Beautycounter, YL and Doterra’s information are not available to research through the EWG or Think Dirty which she recommends. Overall, I like the book. I just think you can not recommend the EWG or Think Dirty then recommend brands that haven’t scored well with either or the information is not available. Stick to making your own stuff with castile soap, water and oils. This is by far the safest option!