4 steps to the healthy maintenance of a shower

Good Morning,

  My goal today is to give you 4 easy tips to maintain your shower and minimize your exposure to unnecessary chemicals.  Healthy shower care is really the same as eating your broccoli, going to bed early and drinking at least 8 glasses of water every day.  It may be a bit boring but when done it can be a huge boost to the value, health and care of your home and family.

  Lets start first with the soap scummy and hard water facts.... In our showers, we splash about hair care and body care products.  These "left overs" land on our shower walls and floors.  They then bind with the minerals in our water, creating what we have all come to know as SOAP SCUM!  To add to this, when moisture is available and there is a food source such as hair, skin and soap scum, then we will have MOLD!   And finally, if we let our water dry on our shower walls and glass doors we will have what is known as HARD WATER DEPOSITS! 

Because of these three common soils in a shower, a whole industry has been created to make bold cleaners able to remove Soap Scum, Mold and Hard Water Deposits with a single squirt.

 Those shower cleaners to tend to be very aggressive, reactive- when mixed with other products, acidic or high alkaline, abrasive and are often toxic!! They have to be, as soap scum, mold and hard water deposits are tough customers. But most of the materials that make up our showers:  Grout, natural stone, fiberglass, acrylic ...  tend to be pH sensitive and scratch sensitive!   Here is the break down... the cleaners we use in showers are often detrimental our health and the health of the materials in our showers.  For example: Acids break down grouts and stone; abrasives scratch surfaces; high alkaline damage sealers.
 More important than our shower materials are the people in the shower????  The air flow in showers tends to be very low and as you are cleaning, you are nicely tucked away behind glass doors and shower curtains.  Which means the aggressive, reactive and sometimes toxic products are filling your lungs and landing on you and they have no place to go but linger!

  Have I painted a scary enough picture?  It wasn't hard, it is the life of a shower!  But wait don't fret, there is good news behind all these worries.  An Ounce of Prevention in a shower does wonders!!! 

A number of years ago, we were visiting one of our customers.  She had a beautiful dark brown, polished marble shower.  It was impeccable!!! And it was over 5 years old!!  When we asked what she did to maintain she looked puzzled and said... "well I rinse and dry after every use"  So simple, but this little act of rinsing and drying a shower does more to maintain it than all the products sold combined!!!!!   That day was one of those Ah Ha moments of obvious clarity.  Since then we have added to her simple but incredibly effective system and you will find our 4 tips listed below:

4 Incredibly effective tips to a healthy and long lasting shower:

  1.  Ventilate:  When starting shower/bath turn on exhaust fans and run for 45 minutes to remove moisture from  bathroom.  This steps removes moisture and poor air.  (Make sure your exhaust vents are actually working.  Test by holding a piece of toilet/tissue paper up to vent.  It should be drawn up to screen.

  2.   Rinse:    After every use, rinse down the walls. Get a hand held shower head and rinse off your soap. Squeegeeing alone isn't enough. When you squeegee, the soap is just redistributed to the lower area and into any low spots-like grout joints.  This will give mold food and create a build up of soap scum.
   
 3.   Dry:  If you have already rinsed the walls then go ahead and squeegee or dry with a towel or shamee.  This extra step further removes soils and keeps the moisture/mold and hard water deposits at bay.
   
 4.  Clean with neutral - mild products:  The beauty of the preventions steps of vventilating, rinsing and drying is you will not have much to do on cleaning day.  When you do clean, go ahead and turn on your exhaust fans again, then use a neutral cleaner to do your cleaning.  Diluted dish washing liquid works pretty great.  We also sell a fantastic neutral and highly concentrated stone and tile cleaner.  Finding these neutral cleaners takes a bit more work because our cleaning industry does not normally tell us the pH of our cleaning products.  When in doubt please contact us and we will give tips on finding good neutral products.
The little effort will be worth it in creating a healthy shower and home.

The biggest concern I come across is convincing the whole family to start rinsing and drying their showers.  In our house the rule of thumb is last one to take a shower does the rinsing and drying.  Still adding preventative care to your home is a change.  And I understand how tough changing family habits can be but give it a try for a while and see if this new habit isn't worth a lot to minimize your families chemical exposure and minimize those repair /replacement costs to your family budget.

As always, wishing you all a healthy and happy home,
 Denise Frakes
Residue Free and Healthy Home Care Specialist

A Huge Thank You and Promised info!

Hi All,
    For those who attended my, Residue Free- Beyond Green, talk at Marlene's, thank you for your amazing reception and interest in creating healthy homes.  As a huge bonus, my cold felt better after visiting with you last night.  I think it was from all the TLC you passed my way-THANK YOU!  

   Most likely with a clearer brain, my use of the microphone stand would have been a bit smoother!  Of course, the beauty in living is there is no such thing as perfection.  If we wait for this illusive thing called perfection we will be waiting a very long time and so much good comedy would have been lost along the way!

   As promised, here are some connections and resources for you.  They include links to Emmanuel from King County Hazardous waste, where to by Alpaca Ball and to Jeanette who is the city of Federal Way Recycling and Solid Waste Project Manager.  As an added bonus, I gave you the links to Women's Voices of the Earth- a great resource for making your own products and the link to our very own Marlene's.

  If you want further info, have any questions or want to be contacted for upcoming talks I'm giving, please call or e-mail me anytime.  Thanks again for attending, it was indeed an honor and pleasure  visiting with you all!!
  
  As always, wishing you a healthy and happy home.
       Denise 
 Healthy Home Specialist
 Residue Free Living
 Master EFT practitioner 

Emmanuel from King County Hazardous Waste.  As you could probably tell, Emmanuel is passionate and quite knowledgeable in his work, plus his is an absolute pleasure to work with.  Please check out the amazing resources King County has to offer its residents.  How fortunate are we that we have a place to ask questions, safely and at no charge dispose of unused products ( cleaners, chemicals etc) and have awesome people to work with!! http://www.lhwmp.org/home/

Alpaca Balls- Dryer Balls.  Jeannette from Federal Ways Recycling program told us about a great place to find this balls at  www.Etsy.com  To find, in the search button type in: Alpaca balls.  As you will recall, alpaca dryer balls are felted wool to be used in your dryer in replacement of dryer sheets and fabric softener.  This is a huge reduction in chemical exposure plus when these balls finally wear out in 2-5 years, you can compost them as they are made of all natural fibers!!  Love it!!  There are two alpaca ball sites I recommend.  For keeping your alpaca ball shopping local, visit the Twilight Tango Alpacas which is located in Enumclaw Washington.  For finding your alpacas from a place near and dear to my heart, contact Pacages Farm Store - Alpaca Star Ranch in Amhurst Colorado. They raise their alpacas on the same farm my great grandfather raised his kids including my grandpa Biddie and Aunt Velma.
  
Jeannette City of Federal Way Recycling.  I feel so lucky to have friends like Jeannette.  Jeannette is incredible in her wisdom and resources.  She is the city's Solid Waste and Recycling Project manager.  If you live in the City of Federal Way you can count yourself lucky to have Jeannette on your team.  Jeannette has helped increase our city's recycling availability and knowledge.  She has opened doors for recycling in many of our multi-family housing as well as organizing local recycling events for us Federal Way-ers.  For all things recycling Jeannette is my go to expert.  She is a joy to work with and makes recycling very cool!   To get hooked up on her activities and contact Jeannette go to  www.cityoffederalway.com/recycle

Women's Voices for the Earth.  This site and organization are dedicated to keeping our families safe and healthy.  When you have a minute or two please visit is good mine of information.  The Women's Voices of the Earth is loaded with tips, recipes and resources for minimizing your chemical exposure and creating healthy homes and lives.  I love working with people and organizations that find joy in teaching and sharing, this is such an organization.  It is run by professionals with hearts of gold!!  http://www.womensvoices.org/

Marlene's Market.  I love Marlene's not only for their incredible selection and healthy foods but maybe more importantly for the contribution they make to our communities health and happiness.  Each month Marlene's brings in guest speakers to help teach and share valuable wisdom into living and being healthy.  The bulk of these classes are at no charge or at a nominal fee.  Next month, a class that is calling my name is on Feb 9th, Raw gluten free chocolate deserts- yum!!  I'm already booked on that day or I would be calling to schedule today.  Please go to Marlene's home site for articles, specials and class schedules. http://www.marlenesmarket-deli.com/

Best home care tip of 2013

With a title like "Best home care tip of 2013" you are probably expecting something spectacular!  This tip is not expensive, hard to do or even complicated.   Why I just learned about it at Thanksgiving boggles my mind but it is too good not to share. 

I discovered this miracle at my sister's house. She was boiling potatoes.  The pot was full to the brim with potatoes and water- but it wasn't boiling over causing the normal holiday mess.  No, it was just happily and rapidly boiling away.  What was her trick?  This is crazy but apparently it works like a charm.... drum roll please.. a wooden spoon placed over the top of the kettle!!!!  Seriously!!???!!!  Yup!!!

As far as we could figure the spoon breaks the surface tension and keeps the contents from going over board! I tried this new find and it works beautifully!!!  Crazy good!!

Wishing you all a new year filled with fun discoveries, joyful prosperity and daily blessings.

Denise Frakes

3 Pauses to Remove Stress Residue

   Next week is Thanksgiving.  Those words have a sort of starting line feel don't they?  And so it begins...the holiday season.  Nothing really changes except our to-do list and expectations.  What does the holidays have to do with a healthy and happy home?....pretty much everything.
   A healthy home starts with a nurtured family.   Of all the zillions of toxins I have learned about over the past many years, the one I feel is the most detrimental to our health is STRESS.  I just completed a program getting certified as a master EFT practitioner.  I did this specifically to help our homes and families let go of the residue of stress.
   This year I'm thinking we should practice a new way through the holidays.  
   3 Pauses
      The total time required is 30 minutes... 10 minutes per pause
          There is no time limit. The longer this one bakes the sweeter it is. 
               
     1st pause:  Quiet Time
          Upon waking up.  Give your self at least 10 extra minutes of free time.  My mom used to call it Quiet time.  You can do anything you want so long as you are quiet and doing something that makes you happy.  Morning prayer, yoga, compost writing, reading, drinking a cup of tea, listening....

   2nd pause:  Coming Back To Center
        Sometime during the day pause.  For 10 minutes stop and just breathe.  While you breathe you might want to stand up a little taller, relax your shoulders,  Breathe a little deeper, slower and richer.  Have a drink of water and smile.  Breathe, drink, smile and relax.  My yoga teacher Diane Bunting calls this checking in as " coming back to center".

   3rd pause:  Deep Relaxation Into Gratitude
       Just before falling asleep, let go- completely.  Breathe in deeply, breathe out slowly.  As you breathe out feel the weight of the world roll off your shoulders.  Smile a little and relax your face, neck and shoulders.  This is a good time to recall something good that happened today and feelings of gratitude. 

    I know from years of experience of trying November/December the hard way...A calm energy system is the greatest give you can give yourself and your family during the holidays. 

        As always, wishing you and your families a happy and healthy home,
                Denise Frakes
               Certified Healthy Home Specialist
               and now... Master EFT Practitioner:)

Resources for Green Cleaning and Healthy Homes

Today, we have at our fingertips zillions of amazing resources.  On the 29th of Oct I'm giving a class on green cleaning for the city of Federal Way.  Anyone who knows me or as ever heard me speak, will attest, I'm just full of information.  Some of this information is even useful:)

For this particular class, I can only speak for 1/2 hour!!!!!!  I know this is crazy talk, me only gab for 1/2 hours???!!!   Instead of fretting about it, I decided to blog my information so everyone has it at their fingertips. 

This blog is a group of very useful resources I'm highlighting in my talk.  A blog is a great format because all you have to do is point and click and you will be magically transported to my favorite resource sites.

4 Incredible resources - one stop learning for a healthy home!!!

1.  EWG: Environmental Working Group
      If you don't already have this one on your favorites you soon will.  The EWG actually has a few sites but and you can find them all here.
      a.  Guide to Healthy Cleaning Products This very new database give you incredibly helpful info on the safety of your everyday cleaners. It includes fragrances!! yeah!!!  http://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners

     b.  Skin Deep:  This EWG site is a database  and rating system of our personal care products.  You can either search for healthy products or check up on the ones you already use.  http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

     c.  Dirty Dozen:  Every wonder which foods are best bought organic and which foods you can buy non-organic.  This site helps you keep a healthy family, when you are on a budget. http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/

2.  Women's Voices for the Earth:  Don't let the name fool you, this isn't a soap box site but a well written and incredible healthy home resource!  It gives tons of household product recipes to make yourself.  It also has home party guides for creating healthy home and for baby friendly homes.  http://www.womensvoices.org/

3.  Wastemobile Service at the Auburn SuperMall:  If after you read your label you discover a few dangerous or irritating cleaners lurking around, Don't throw away or put down the drain.  Take your house hold chemicals to The Auburn SuperMall Wastemobile http://www.lhwmp.org/home/HHW/disposal-locations.aspx#auburn.  Besides your resource to safe disposal of household chemicals.  This site is also a fantastic source for a healthy home and a healthy environment.

4.  Blue Sky Services: An Ounce of Prevention:   While you are visiting our blog, please make yourself at home.  Our blogs are written from the trenches of cleaning and healthy homes.  Find how to maintain your home and create a healthy one from the perspective of 21 years experience in cleaning, research, practice.
www.dfbluesky.com

Seize the Season of Change!!!

   Welcome to Autumn!  As the weather changes, I seem to have an uncanny number of comments on this blog.   It seems a good time to write a new post.
   I trust you have all had a great summer.  Ours was very good but isn't there something about the quick and decisive changes in autumn?  With change so heavy in the air,  it give any change we put into practice extra power.  So with this extra weather changing power, what would you like to change?  Traditionally, we make our resolutions in January.  But if you want real staying power, make your changes now when the weather is on your side. 
   These changes don't have to be serious as this is a spontaneous resolution.  Why not have a little fun?  A couple of weeks ago, my mom and I decided to create a happiness project together.  Inspired from the book... "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin  we are gathering our mother/daughter connection- to stay motivated and on track. We started a year long journey together in creating happiness. 
   Take a moment or two go outside and see where the brisk wind takes you. There is always an abundance of serious in this world, why add to it?  Maybe what the effortless changes in Autumn are trying to tell us is to take life a little easier, have a little more fun and enjoy.
   Don't worry, January is just around for those deeper resolutions.  Of course, there will still be bathrooms to clean and dinners to cook, but in the end of your days won't an excess of happiness be a better memory???  Seize the season!
   Please share any Autumn changes you find while pondering Autumn.
   And thank you for your interest in our blog, your thoughts and comments are always welcome and most appreciated!!

    As always, wishing you and your family a happy and healthy home.
             Denise
Co-Owner of Blue Sky Services
Certified Healthy Home Specialist
   

Take your family to a pesticide free park- here's how

Greetings and welcome to summer!
    A wonderful friend of mine from gave me a mini broshure with the link to a great summer resource: "Where to find outdoor areas in King County that are either pesticide- free or pesticide reduced sites".  It is finally summer and with summer comes, and I say this with a dash of hope, sunshine and hot weather!
    Originally, I'm from Colorado where we can see about 300 days of sunshine!  After living in the NW for almost 23 years I have come to realize up here sunshine is a gift not a given.  I truly believe we should have spontaneous good weather hooky days.  This is where on any day, if the weather takes a beautiful turn for the better, we have so many allotted days per calendar year where we can close our office doors, shut off the computer and head outdoors.  :-)
    But where do we head?  If we are going to be playing and really enjoying the day we better get grass stains on our knees and dirt in between our toes.  What we don't want is pesticides added to this mix. 
   The Local hazardous Waste Management Program of King County has created this website for us.  All you need to do is click on the website below and type in your city or zip code.  This site will give you a map with little boxes.  The green boxes are for pesticide-free outdoor areas and the brown boxes are for pesticide reduced sites.  If you click directly on each box it will give you the address and site name.. lovely!

Pesticide-Free Places:  Where kids and pets play worry free
http://www.lhwmp.org/home/pfparks/index.aspx
You can also access with this site @  http://www.hazwastehelp.org/pesticide-freeplaces

    If you scroll down a bit further on this same site, you will find additional links including:
      * Why worry about where they play
      *  How to get listed on the map
      *  Make your yard pesticide free
      *  Landscaper help

   In Federal Way, as of this typing, there are three sites.  Not as good as I had hoped but probably an improvement from a couple of years ago. 
   If you have small children, pets, anyone with an impaired immune system or just have a very wise family, locate these sites and take a breath of fresh air with your spontaneous hooky and much needed NW sunshine days.

   As always, wishing you a healthy and happy home and family
  Denise Frakes
   Co-Owner of Blue Sky Services
    Certified Healthy Home Specialist

Blue Sky Presents: April 21st South Sound EcoGuild

We are honored to be a part of the 3rd annual South Sound Green Building Tour. Please join us on April 21st and 22 at the Northwest Eco Building Guild's weekend extraordinaire.

I will be giving a workshop: "Creating a healthy and residue free home" on Saturday @ 10:15am at the Resource Hub in downtown Olympia
http://www.ecobuilding.org/guild-chapters/olympia/green-tour For details, go to their website and check out all the festivities. ( address 403 Capital Way; Olympia WA)

Over the course of two days, there will be great workshops and booths. Plus, you can actual tour the healthiest, most sustainable, energy saving homes in the Olympia area. If you are looking to do future building or remodeling, this is a perfect place to meet your next builder and gain ideas!

"The Northwest Eco Building Guild is a 501(c)(3) community of builders, designers, suppliers, homeowners, and partners concerned with ecological building in the Pacific Northwest. The Guild empowers people through education to transform the built environment for long term sustainability."

If you want to improve the health and happiness of your own family, please come join me on Saturday morning. I will be discussing 6 of the most common but often sneaky toxins/allergens and irritants that find their way into our homes.

Don't worry I won't leave you hanging with only the bad news. I will give you 4 sound practices to help you minimize those sneaky 6! There will be plenty of time to answer your questions, South Sound Eco Building Guild has thought ahead. After my talk, I will be answering questions for another 45 minutes in a special discussion area! SWEET!

So come find answers and ideas for your own home. I look forward to seeing your there!!

As always, wishing you a healthy and happy home.
Denise Frakes
Co-owner of Blue Sky Services
Certified Healthy Home Specialist NCHH

Begin with the end in mind... Leave nothing behind

Yesterday, I sent out our first ever e-newsletter!! For all visiting our blog site today, welcome!

I think and study about cleaning, health, homes and even the philosophy of cleaning more than any normal person. But like us all, I'm not normal, normal doesn't really exist. I believe normal falls in the same category as perfection. They are both like a spring breeze, lovely to think about but try to hold on too tight and you will squeeze the breeze right out.

Why do I think about our homes and health so much? Because I believe every family has the right to be joyfully, healthy and happy. When we are sick, lacking energy or depressed this right is like the spring breeze, it is gone and becomes a distant longing. If I can shed a little light and health back into your life and your families lives, then all my my abundantly normal time spent learning and contemplating will be worth every second.

Today, I want to continue visiting with you about creating a Residue Free Home. My last couple blogs have talked about the basics of a residue free home. This blog is looking at the final principle which is... leave nothing behind. Stephen Covey in his book, Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, says "begin with the end in mind". This is exactly what we want to do in the care of our homes: Begin with the end in mind. The end is leaving our homes free of unwanted toxins, allergens, irritants and contaminates.

If there is one common that has followed Dallas and I in our 20 years + in cleaning is RESIDUE! The number one thing we see or see signs of, is residue left behind. Residue is often cleaners or chemicals over applied, sprayed around, mixed and unsuccessfully removed. When you spray a cleaner, fragrance, an aerosol, a pesticide, paint, disinfectant, perfume, or hair spray..... where does it all go?

In green cleaning, the focus is usually on safer products. I'm all for that!! But what is not usually talked about is the method those products are used. Of course, we start with the mildest and safest means possible in our cleaners and products but this is not the whole story. How we use and how often we use those products matters a great deal!! Unless we are putting oxygen into our air, then strive to leave nothing unwanted behind.

Here are three easy ways to minimize residue left behind
1. Do not spray chemicals into the air- minimize exposure
2. Open up windows, turn on exhaust fans - removes chemicals and allergens
3. Rinse and dry - make sure there is always a removal process

Of course, I will be writing more on residue free homes but these three ways will get you started. The air we breath is essential to our vibrant health. Keep your home's air clean, fresh and free of unwanted chemicals, allergens etc.

As always, wishing you a healthy and happy home
Denise
Co-Owner of Blue Sky Services
Certified Healthy Home Specialist with NCHH

Residue Free Homes: The basics and support sites

I love my job. Just in case you ever wonder, I love my job. Why.. because I get to research, learn and share. Tonight I'll be speaking on detoxing homes. This morning, I wanted to post the basics of creating a healthy and residue free home, plus give you links you can use for researching the safety of your own personal care products and household chemicals.

Lets start by creating a residue free home. What is a residue free home? It is a home that supports you and your families health as your number one priority. A residue free home leaves nothing behind that would be detrimental to the health and well being of your family.

A residue free home turns our focus upside down. In the the consumer products and personal care industries: beauty, speed, effectiveness rule our products. This creates products that may be effective but may also be also harmful. The first place I start in a home is to reorganize our priorities.

Priorities of a residue free home:
1. Health of family, pets and environment
2. Longevity of surface and investment
3. Appearance and beauty

With our focus turning to the health of our family we need a guideline. Here are my 5 rules of thumb for creating a residue free home. Of course this is the condensed version but it will get you started.

Creating a residue free home: my 5 rules of thumb
1. awareness- what do you use?
2. curiosity- what is in it, is it safe? A little research is a powerful friend
3. prevention- can I prevent the need to use this product?
4. mildest-safest means possible- is there a safer way or product I can use instead?
5. leave nothing behind- if I use it do I remove all traces?

Starting with awareness. What do you use in your home?
Take an afternoon and look around your home. Look at personal care products, look at cleaners, air fresheners, candles, home maintenance products, lawn care, auto care, pest control, disinfectants/germ control, crafts, office, pets.... the list is usually pretty big. Don't let this stop you. Your first step is only awareness of what your family uses in your home.

Be curious, ask questions...
Next, Start with one product at a time- one day at a time
Read the label - all of it!!!
Ask yourself how it is used. Sprayed in air, aerosol, put on skin...???
Does is smell?
How do I feel when I use it? What about my family?
Do I mix it with any other products- by accident or on purpose?
How often do I use it?
Where do I use it?
Why do I use it?
What is in it?
How long have I been using it? WHY?
Do a little further research. Look up the product's safety.
For cosmetics and personal care products:
EWG Skin Deep www.ewg.org/skindeep/
http://www.safecosmetics.org/

For household products: http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/
This site is a great start but by no means as good as the cosmetics sites.

Prevention: Is there anyway to prevent using this product?
This may be your best way to create a residue free home. Start minimizing the products/chemicals you bring into your home.
An example would be: Instead of using deodorizers to create fresh air, open the windows and let fresh air in. I know crazy right???

Use the Mildest Means Possible: Look for safer products, non toxic products, products used without getting into our air or on our skin. This is where, with a tiny bit of education, you can use incredibly safe products and get better results. Hint- we are a great resource!!

Leave nothing behind: When you clean or apply a product/chemical is there a residue left behind? In the past 20 years of cleaning, residue is the number one thing we remove when we clean.
Don't leave it in the air, on our surfaces or on us. When you use a product do not spray it into the air- unless it is oxygen we don't want to breath it! If you apply it to a surface rinse and dry it. If it creates any kind of odor, vapor, particles or gas turn on your exhaust vents and open windows.
Our homes are sacred spaces. This is where we should be able to be healthy and vibrant. It should never be the source of our un-health. Take back your home, become empowered to create healthy homes and vibrant families.

A word to the wise....this is a process. Remember Rome was not built in a day. Start with awareness and look at one product at a time, on day at a time. Listen to your body. Listen to your family. When you find a product or contaminate that makes you cringe don't panic but rejoice, you have just discovered another way to make your home healthy. Creating a residue free home is about living free and healthy. If you find products you do not want in your home, do not throw away but recycle or take to hazardous waste site for proper disposal.

Congratulations, you are one step closer to a healthy home. If you want further help. We teach classes on creating residue free homes and we can also work directly with you in your own home.
As always, wishing you a healthy and happy home!
Denise Frakes
Co-Owner of Blue Sky Services
Certified Healthy Home Specialist