Detoxing my Charleston Home Update | What's Working For Us and What's Not

It’s been 3 months since I started on my Detoxing my Charleston Home journey and I wanted to give an update on what’s stuck and what hasn’t. Plus, my biggest takeaway.

The purpose of this blog series was to follow along as I made some changes around our household, real-time. Some of them I had implemented for a week or two before writing the blog post about it, but some not. As with everything in life, it’s a learning experience and I definitely learned a lot during this process!

Here’s how each week went, along with what has stuck and what I’ve ditched.

Week 1: Scented Plug- Ins Replaced with Essential Oils

Man, I loved the idea of this! After my research, I learned how terrible synthetic fragrance is for you, and I was— and still am— committed to eliminating it in my household.

We have 2 dogs and let’s be honest, it’s nearly impossible to make a house smell 100% dog-free (despite bathing them and their beds often) so I used to lean on the scented plug-ins. But unfortunately the essential oil in the plug-in ran out in less than a week, and pure essential oils are too expensive (for me) to keep up with that. Maybe if Costco sold them in bulk?!

As a substitute for this, I bought a reed diffuser from Park and Madison (local) which was much better because it lasted closer to a month.

During the holiday season through December, I’ll keep cinnamon broomsticks in the living room for a seasonal scent. I got mine from Trader Joe’s for I think $5.99 each.

Week 2: Fragrance-free Laundry Detergent and Dryer Sheets

Per the Environmental Working Group, I chose Whole Foods’ fragrance-free detergent for this switch and I just bought another bottle! I do about 3-4 loads of laundry a week and one bottle lasts me more than a month. This one is here to stay in my household for sure.

I’m still enjoying the fragrance-free dryer sheets, plus I added wool dryer balls into the mix.

Week 3: EMF Protection

Not much to say here except I feel good having placed these EMF shields on our cell phones, laptops, microwave and WiFi router.

Week 4: Scented Candles Replaced with Essential Oil Infused Candles

Just to be clear: the candles I buy now are still scented. They are just scented with pure essential oils and not synthetic fragrance. I started off with one from Park and Madison and one I got on Amazon called Natura which made my house smell like a spa. For holiday scents, I discovered this Etsy shop, Essentially Charlie that makes all their candles, including seasonal blends, with pure essential oils! My favorite so far is Clove + Cinnamon. Super pumped that I discovered these.

Also to be clear: this doesn’t mean I will never use a fragranced candle ever again. Progress, not perfection, remember. But in the last few months it has honestly been quite easy making this switch. And I’m a girl who loves candles.

Week 5: Tupperware Alternative: Glass Tupperware

Again, not much to say here except I’m loving the glass Tupperware I bought. It’s so much easier to clean and keep clean, and much better quality.

Week 6: Aluminum- Free Deodorant

I’ve been going strong on this aluminum-free deodorant for almost 3 months now. I think my razor was getting a little dull because I started getting irritated last week so I took a break for a few days and used the old stuff. But other than that, it’s been great.

I will say that in the summer this switch is tough because you will still sweat using aluminum-free. So I kind of always felt wet. But now that it’s fall, it should be easier to tolerate through the winter and into spring. I’m 90% sure I can commit to this long-term but time will tell.

I’m proud of myself for implementing so many changes and staying committed to those that really worked for us. My biggest takeaway from this is realizing just how strong and harmful synthetic fragrance is. I’m in and out of houses all the time and I’ve noticed that houses with plug-ins smell so harsh to me now and leave my throat irritated. This was surprising to me but just goes to show that I made a good change.

Are there any ways that you’ve detoxed your own home that I should give a try?