What Is a Whole Home?
Our homes are our place of renewal. As men we will often retreat to our homes for our R and R after what can feel like a battle out in the world. After your body, what reflects who you are? It’s likely your home for it is the place escape to, the place you invest in and the place you share with others.
As we focus on the health of our bodies and our planet, we are becoming concerned with the health of our homes. Are you living in a house that is a toxic dump, like the FEMA toxic trailers? As publications such as Natural Home Magazine tell us how to create and live in a clean environment, we learn how to detox our homes. What is happening now with our homes is very similar to the growth cycle of holistic health, which was once a fringe phenomenon. Now it is a huge market and the green building sector represents a $50 billion dollar annual market.
It is true that the weak economy is affecting the home improvement market. Yet, the green/whole sector continues to grow. We not only want to live in healthy homes, we want to live in homes that we enjoy and that nourish us. Esoteric arts such as Feng Shui are now commonplace. People are recognizing are realizing subtle factors such as the placement of a piece of furniture can affect the flow of the chi – the feel of a room.
The home was once considered a man’s castle. Today it is the family’s sanctuary from the stressors of modern life. Our homes are the base of operations for our whole life. Join us in sharing your thoughts and feelings around your home. What do you do to make your home whole? What are your plans for creating the whole home of your dreams?
I clean with effective eco friendly cleaners that I mostly make myself. There are two great books on cleaning: Clean House, Clean Planet by Karen Logan and Green Clean by Mason Hunter and Halpin. Of the dozen green cleaning books I’ve purchased these are the best. For last Christmas, I gave green cleaning kits for gifts to my friends and family.
I use soap nuts in place of laundry detergent and my clothes are clean and smell really fresh.
My home feels really clean and safe because I don’t use the chemical mixes that most people use to clean their homes.
Lots of fresh beautiful fragrant flowers make my home heavenly!
For so many years, all the “green” products were really subpar. It was frustrating to pull dishes out of the dishwasher and have to rewash them. Or pull clothes out of the washer, and have to re-wash them because they smelled sour.
I’ve found that the Melaleuca stuff is actually better at cleaning than the garden-variety, grocery-store harsh chemical stuff. And everything smells so good without being perfumy. I just wish they’d make it easier to buy!