Last November marked the third month at my brand-new apartment, and I found myself partaking in a somewhat spiritual Sunday ritual – cleaning. I’d bust out four industrial-sized spray bottles and spritz my way from the kitchen to the bathroom. At this point, I’d been scrubbing, vacuuming and mopping my Sundays away for about ten weeks, and I’d started to notice something odd. Every Sunday evening when my boyfriend eventually wrangled me from my final dusting frenzy for dinner, I felt a slight headache and a not-so-slight difficulty breathing, along with a nagging, wheezing cough. “Dust,” I pronounced, week after week, making an ass out of you and me by assuming I knew what it was.

“Bronchitis,” the doctor finally said, after two midnight visits to the emergency room. I had bronchitis, an infection that developed after three days with no relief from that nagging cough, and the onset of allergy-like symptoms that literally clogged my chest and nose to the point that I was absolutely gasping for air every time I tried to inhale.

Here’s my argument: It all started with the neon yellow Lysol; one of the spray bottles I was liberally squirting here, there and everywhere in the smallest apartment in history… windows closed. After weeks of it, and a final, particularly intense spray session, I became a sufferer of what doctors labeled “latent asthma, intensified by bronchitis” which I like to call bull****. I never had asthma as a child, and since the month that I spent nearly-not-breathing, I’ve never had to use an inhaler again. I argue that the chemicals I was using led to an allergic reaction, caused an asthmatic response, and eventually developed into bronchitis. Believe it or not, several studies have actually shown a direct link between chemical household cleaners and asthma.

So, what did I do? I stopped using chemical household cleaners. In fact, I threw them away (unfortunately, they are far from biodegradable, another reason not to buy them in the first place). And now, I stock my apartment with one all-purpose natural cleaner, and I do the rest of my cleaning with homemade concoctions that are safe, simple and sustainable. So, spray away fellow clean freaks!

Here are a few of my favorite suggestions for sustainable, safe cleaning:

To disinfect: Boil a pot of water to simultaneously add some moisture to your living space and use as a natural, chemical-free way to sanitize nasty sponges. Pour the super hot water over sponges, dish-scrubbers or toothbrushes to rid them of bacteria. (You can also use the leftover boiled water from making a cup of tea or French-press coffee). *Make sure the water is boiling; that’s what kills the bacteria.

To clean a shower/sink/toilet: It’s as simple as grabbing two ingredients from your cupboard: baking soda and vinegar (rice vinegar works well). Combine two parts vinegar to one part baking soda for an effective soap-scum remover. Use vinegar alone to rid your toilet of gross rings. Green Upgrader recently wrote an “Ode to Vinegar” and its natural cleaning powers, click here to check it out.

To clean a countertop/floor: I’m a fan of natural all-purpose cleaners because they have essential oils that smell nice without destroying your lungs. However, a good DIY out of the cupboard solution is to mix one part water with one part vinegar. Vinegar itself is great at getting rid of nasty odors and also acts as a natural disinfectant. In addition, tea tree oil is a wonderful disinfectant, and can be added by dropper to water to make a fresh-smelling disinfecting spray! If you don’t like the smell of tee tree oil alone, add any other natural essential oil — eucalyptus, lavender, orange for a spray that suits your sniffer best.

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