133 The 101 on Skincare Gadgets like the Gua Sha, Derma Roller, and Jade Roller and Enhancing Your Toxin-Free Skincare Performance

130 Gas Prices are Crazy - Living the Electric Car Life and How to Save Money

127 Who Has The Time and Money for Self Care? How to Use Small Pockets of Time To Stay Balanced and Happy During The Busiest Seasons of Motherhood.

I am pretty passionate about self care. As a mom, taking care of yourself  and just taking the time to put your mind in the right place is so important. Because it really does impact how you show up as a wife, as a mom, and as a person in your community. It can make all the difference between being angry and grumpy all the time to dealing with stress in a healthier  way. I thought I’d share some simple ways that you can fit self care into your life without feeling like you're being overindulgent, or that you have to spend an entire Saturday all yourself to really get that self care in. 

Who Has The Time and Money for Self Care? How to Use Small Pockets of Time To Stay Balanced and Happy During The Busiest Seasons of Motherhood.

There are a ton of  self care memes and Pinterest images, books, podcasts all about self care, but I just wanted to share how I do self care Simple tips that don’t take a lot of money and that you can fit into little small pockets of time during your day. So you can do your best to stay balanced and happy during those busy seasons of motherhood. 

Meditation is a big part of how I stay grounded. It's a practice that I've had for many years and it has really helped me. I will say that when I first started meditating, my mind wandered all the time. Now I can meditate while my husband walks in with his radio on. This happens very frequently. I'll be meditating in our bedroom and he'll not realize I'm meditating and he'll walk in with his very loud radio on his phone. After having a practice for so long, I am to the point where I can truly still concentrate even with distractions like that. Meditation is a practice and the more you practice it, the better you will get at it. 

Reading is another way that I care for myself. Whether it is reading a personal development book or just reading for fun, taking a few minutes to read a book and escape for a little bit can be such a great way to heal your soul and just help you take a break from life. Again, this is something you can fit into a small pocket of time. Meditation can take five to 10 minutes. It can take longer if you want, but it really can be short and sweet. I like to do mine early in the morning before I start my day before I even go downstairs and greet my family or have my coffee or check my phone.

Reading you could do just for a few minutes, you could do it while you're eating your lunch. There's just little ways that you can squeeze it in to really make that self care a priority. 

The other thing that I do that is just so important beyond self care is just really taking time for you. 

Do you feel like you've been saying yes, too often? Do you say yes, and then end up doing it begrudgingly? Here’s your permission to say no a little bit more often. And know that you're not doing it because you don't want to help out, you definitely want to help out, right? You want to be a person that is a helper. But really, if you're doing it with spite, or with a little bit of just frustration because you’re stretched too thin, then it’s not benefiting anyone, including the people you’re helping. For example, you said you’d bring cookies to a party and life became overwhelming and bringing cookies got to be too much.. It's okay to say no. It's okay to just not bring them at all, or to pick up cookies at the store instead of making them at home. 

Another thing that I have done that maybe is not a small amount of time, but something that really has helped me, is having something that is just for me. And for me that's a side job. I've always had side jobs in my life. The day job provided financially and for my career but it didn't necessarily fill my passion bucket. My first side job was as a Jazzercise instructor. Yes, I taught Jazzercise and I loved it. And I loved that I was able to exercise and also make a little money and help other people be healthy at the same time. 

Crunchi started as a side job too. It was just a way for me to help other women feel more empowered and beautiful and also help them learn about why toxin free living is so important. And then that side job grew into Detox By Design and this podcast, and eventually it became my full time gig. And now I have a couple other side jobs. In case you didn’t know, I’m currently serving in an Italian restaurant. I just love connecting with people there and making them happy by serving them delicious food, and getting out of a house and conversing with people. I also help my friend with her interior design business, which fills my creative heart, and the ability to create these gorgeous spaces and also help her grow her business. So I've always had these little jobs that were all my own. I think as moms, sometimes our lives become so focused on our children and our husband and making the family unit work, that we don't realize how much we are missing something that is just for us. And it doesn't have to necessarily be an income producing job. Maybe you need a volunteer opportunity that is just specifically for you. It's not something your family does, it's not something that's for your family. It's just for you. It helps you feel better, because it's special for you to experience and enjoy. 

Another thing that I really love to do for my self care is connecting with people. I'm an extrovert, so spending time with and connecting with others really fills my bucket and really makes me feel happy. If you're an introvert, this might not be so great for you, it might leave you feeling drained and not as happy, definitely not self care. But for me, making a phone call to a friend I haven't chatted with in a long time or sending a Marco Polo is something I can do in a really small little snippet of time. 

Finally, journaling is a great thing to do to really help your mind get in the right place. It's sort of like meditating with a pen. Go back and listen to my episode about manifesting, it was just a couple episodes ago. There's some great tips about how to involve journaling and manifesting together and just dream about the life you want and write it down and believe that it will happen because if you believe it will happen, then it will.

For self care, you don’t have to spend a bunch of money at the spa, or spend an entire day on self care to reap the benefits. If you want to do that, great! But not everyone has the time or money to be able to do that. These are just a few little ideas of how to just focus on yourself and take care of yourself on a more regular basis so that you can be better to serve others. 

I would love to hear your ideas on how you take care of yourself. You can DM me @themeganmikkelsen on Instagram. You can also join my Facebook group called Toxin Free Talk and I would love to hear from you in my email at megan@detox.design. I also have a weekly email that I send out with toxin-free tips and discounts and you can sign up at www.meganmikkelsen.com. Know that I am here to support you on your toxin-free journey and as I said before I love to connect with people.

Thanks for listening and sharing the message with others. With your help we can make this planet happier and healthier one step at a time.  

126 2 Old School Ways to Fight Weeds in Your Garden Without Worrying about Your Kids Playing In the Yard

I spent way too long in my yard yesterday picking all the weeds. Luckily, I had a couple of little helpers who were helping. Weeds are pretty much the bane of every homeowner's existence. I actually don't mind yard work, but picking weeds is definitely not my favorite activity. I'm going to share a couple of old school ways to fight weeds that don't use any sort of harmful chemicals, like Roundup or other unmentionable chemicals. 

2 Old School Ways to Fight Weeds in Your Garden Without Worrying about Your Kids Playing In the Yard  

These are a couple of tips that I got from my mom and another friend. There's so many reasons that we want to pay attention to what we're using in our garden. Our kids are playing in our yard, chemicals seep into the ground and get into our waterways. It impacts bees and other wildlife, fish and our oceans. It's just so important that we are choosing healthier and more eco-friendly options for weeds. 

If you are not familiar with why we need to pay attention, you should just Google Roundup and why it's bad. 

I personally am just a pick it out of the ground kind of person because I just don’t feel like going through the trouble of making my own natural weed killer. But after seeing some images of this one natural weed killer that my mom sent, I was blown away. This is a super simple recipe.

• 1 gallon white vinegar

• 2 cups of Epsom salts

• ¼ cup of liquid dish soap. 

Put it in a spray bottle and spray the weeds. It's especially helpful if you do it when it's sunny and the weed killer kind of penetrates the weed a little bit more. How nice is that?

The other one that my friend told me about is just so simple. And she suggested it for our walkway that is made of bricks and  little tiny weeds that pop up in between those bricks. I actually have a lot of weeds that are coming in on my front porch that's also made of brick. The worst weeds are those ones that when you pick them, they spray their seeds everywhere. Oh my gosh, those ones just drive me crazy. And when I'm picking weeds, I don't really want to pay attention to being very, very careful. But with those weeds, I go to the bottom root. And I just pull up as gently as possible to stop those seeds from spraying everywhere and causing more work for me. I definitely need to use my friend’s tip. She said, to spread coarse salt all over the walkway where you struggle with weeds. She said she got this tip from her grandmother. How simple is that?

I will say that sometimes it might take a few applications when you're using a natural weed killer like this. Also with both of these weed killers, you want to make sure you avoid the plants that you want to keep alive, because even though it’s safer for you and the environment, it could harm other plants in your yard.

It's so helpful to have these simple and easy ways to really take care of the weeds but without having to worry about your kids playing in the yard right? If you have a natural solution for weeds, I would love to hear it. Please just send me a DM on Instagram @themeganmikkelsen or you can email me at megan@detox.design. 

125 4 Simple Steps to Deep Clean Your Water Bottle, Hydro Flask, Yeti, or Stanley Handle Cup Naturally and Without Harsh Chemicals

Today we're gonna be talking about Hydroflasks, Yetis, and the Stanley handle cup. All of the popular containers that you love, but might not be as clean as you think they are. 

4 Simple Steps to Deep Clean Your Water Bottle, Hydro Flask, Yeti, or Stanley Handle Cup Naturally and Without Harsh Chemicals

But before we dive in, I just wanted to remind you about a way to hear from me regularly to get weekly tips. It's super easy and it's a great way to just stay on top of your toxin free journey. Because I know how it is. Sometimes you get really inspired about something and then you kind of forget and you go back to how things used to be because… it's easier. Well, I would love to help you get through those initial stages of going toxin free, so that you don't have to worry about it anymore. You can live your life with less stress, just knowing that you are choosing the best and healthiest that you can for you and your family. All these weekly tips are just in a simple email that keeps you up to date on what I'm talking about. It includes lots of fun tips and sometimes I have some discount codes in there. So go and check it out. You can sign up at www.meganmikkelsen.com. 

So I have two daughters and their water bottles or Hydro Flasks are attached to their hip practically. I'll be honest, I don't think that they get washed that often. I know it's disgusting. And I probably should be better about doing it for them. But I'm kind of a hands off mom. I'm just being truthful here. I have taught them certain things to do on their own and I remind them, but I'm not a person that does it for my kids when I know they can do it for themselves. Although in this case, maybe I should be giving them a little more help keeping their water bottles clean and not getting moldy or grimy and potentially making them sick. 

I have 4 tips that will make it easier to keep water bottles clean and fresh tasting:

1. Clean it every night and deep clean it once per week. Pretty simple, it's not too hard. It’s a lot easier to keep up with it than to clean the mold off later.

2. Use baking soda. You can put 2-4 teaspoons of baking soda in the water bottle, fill with water, shake it, and then leave it overnight. You can also take 2-4 teaspoons of baking soda, put the baking soda in a bowl with the straw and lid and soak them in there overnight to really get all that grime off. That's one of the best ways. Just do that once per week and it'll stay clean. 

3. Remove all physical grime with a straw cleaner. Don’t forget  to take apart that Hydro Flask, the straw, all the little parts in there, and you want to make sure you take it all apart and you wash every single piece individually. Just to make sure it's totally clean.

4. Get any smells out Use a 1:4 vinegar to water ratio and leave it in the bottle for 10 minutes. Then you can clean it out and just get any extra smells or tastes or grossness out of there. You also can make a paste using an oxygen brightener. I have one in my store at www.detox.design/thebox. Oxygen brightener is such an amazing household cleaner. Not only is it great for your laundry, it is super good for just cleaning your sink or cleaning out coffee cups that have that coffee ring or again cleaning out your Yeti or your Hydro Flask or your Stanley handle cup. 

So those are my four simple tips. It's really pretty easy. I hope this one was helpful and I hope you can clean up those water bottles so that you are ready to stay hydrated all summer!

124 “Doctor Recommended” - Why you still need to read ingredient labels of the products your doctor suggests.

While I often seek traditional medical care through physicians, I also know that I have to sometimes do a little research and decide if what is being recommended by my doctor actually lives up to my personal health and care needs and standards.

“Doctor Recommended” - Why you still need to read ingredient labels of the products your doctor suggests. 

This issue came up for me originally from my parents. My parents live in California and have  their whole lives. They both have pretty fair skin and have spent a lot of time in the sun. They've both had skin cancer that they've had to have removed, some of it being pretty scary - and they’re being vigilant about sun protection and wearing SPF. 

I remember a few years ago, when I was still just beginning my toxin free journey and trying to share with them about what products they should be using on their skin. My mom shared the sunscreen recommended by their doctor and I looked at the ingredients and I was appalled! It was shocking to see the ingredients in the sunscreen recommended by their dermatologist, a chemical sunscreen not a physical barrier sunscreen. Not only that, but it had ingredients in it that have actually been linked with cancer. Can you believe it?

I'm just gonna say it. It happens all the time. I'm not a physician, I do not know how doctors find brands to share with their patients, but maybe they're advertised to in the journals they read. Or maybe it gets dropped off by pharmaceutical rep that comes into their office and they're told, “this is the best cleanser, this is the best lotion, this is the best sunscreen.” I don't really know because I'm not a physician. But I can tell you that you still need to read ingredients, even if it's “doctor recommended”.

In fact, I did a quick little Google search because you know how I like to do that and I like to look at real ingredient labels. Well, I pulled up Cetaphil, which is one of the ones that people ask me about all the time. And the reason why people ask me about it all the time is because, guess what? It's “the number one doctor recommended cleanser”.  Although I don't know how you could call it gentle when you consider that it includes 

• Cetyl Alcohol

• Propylene glycol

• Sodium lauryl sulfate

• Sterile alcohol

• Methylparaben

• Propylparaben

• Butylparaben. 

As you can see, multiple parabens are in Cetaphil. If you still have Cetaphil at home, no judgment. If you need to learn more about parabens and other endocrine disrupting chemicals, you need to go back and listen to some of my older podcasts. Parabens are definitely something you want to avoid, yet doctors continue to recommend Cetaphil over and over again. 

Cerave is also another one that has been recommended all the time. And I'm not kidding you when I hear over and over “but my doctor recommended it.” Okay, so let's look at Cerave ingredients:

• Petroleum, which you may not know but petroleum is a byproduct of oil refining. It's actually not allowed in Europe and it often has heavy metal contamination, it's just not good. I have a whole podcast on mineral oil and petroleum and why you need to avoid it. 

• Phenoxyehanol

• Disodium EDTA

Not good ingredients at all. 

Again, I’m not quite sure how doctors decide which products to recommend. But maybe they just aren't keeping up to date with knowing about ingredients, knowing about endocrine disrupting chemicals being in so many products.

Those are just a couple examples of products where I have specifically heard that they were recommended by a doctor. And yet, a red flag goes up because I bet that doctor is not reading the ingredient label and isn't considering how harmful some of these ingredients are in these products. That’s why it’s important to educate yourself and be your own health and consumer advocate.

If you have a doctor recommended question for me, I would love to hear it. You can follow me on Instagram and send me a DM there. I'm @themeganmikkelsen. Or you can email me at megan@detox.design. I would love to hear from you.

123 4 Quick Tips for Getting What You Want and Manifesting The Life of Your Dreams

So the craziest thing happened the other day and I really had to share this story, because it's pretty unbelievable. 

Manifestation is something that I have been working on for many, many years and it continues to bless my life. This is probably one of the biggest blessings that I have had, and not just for me, but for our family as a whole.

4 Quick Tips for Getting What You Want and Manifesting The Life of Your Dreams

So a little bit of background here. My husband has parents that are quite a bit older. My father in law is 93 and my mother in law is 85.  About eight or nine years ago, my father in law had a stroke and my mother-in-law has been caring for him full-time since. You can imagine how hard that is on her. She's always been very fit and active. But she's aging and taking care of my father in law has really impacted her health and her movement and her ability to just enjoy life.

I love and adore my mother in law, and have so much respect for her. She is a very independent woman. She truly sees it as her duty to take care of her husband. It's honestly quite sweet to see how she wants to take care of him.

They live about an hour and a half away from us in a 55 plus community and are completely independent. We have been wanting to provide more help, but of course the distance makes id difficult. We’ve been looking for a solution that would allow her to stay independent while also getting a bit more help at home. 

A few weeks ago, we were having a family dream session - our family does this often. 

If we're in the car on a long drive, we'll just have these family dream sessions where we just talk about the biggest dreams we can think of. Like, “I would love to go to Japan or I would love to climb Mount Everest, or whatever it is”. In these family dream sessions, where we're talking about things that we would like in our life, not necessarily experiences, sometimes they are really concrete things like a new bathroom, or a house that has a shed in the backyard. Our family was doing this a few weeks ago - and although I have thought in the back of my head how much I would enjoy having my in-laws live nearby, I had never really spoken it out loud - I said to my family, my husband and my two daughters, “I would love it, if your parents, could move into the house next door. That way we could help support them. We could be there for anything they needed. You know, we could help out with your father, who needs more care, and yet, they can still be independent. It would just be wonderful if they could be right next door.”

Literally, two weeks later, I am getting the mail and there's a different car next door that I've ever seen there. This guy's getting out of his car, and he's pulling a drone out of his car. Turns out he's a photographer, and he's looking at the house next door to ours. I had no idea that our neighbors were going to move. They have a teenage son, they just did not seem like a candidate that would move. So he is talking on the phone to a real estate agent. And he said, “You told me to call you if there ever was a house in this neighborhood and there's one for sale.” 

This house is a one story, three bedroom, two bath, perfect for my in-laws. They currently live in a three bedroom, two bath, one story. It is literally next door to us in our neighborhood. So crazy. Long story short, we were able to get this house for them. 

We all feel so blessed and fortunate that our family can be closer.

But I'm telling you this story because manifestation truly does work!  I wanted to share a couple of quick tips about how to really make it work for you. 

1. You need to say it out loud. And write it down and speak it to others. If you don't share it, then it’s likely not something you truly desire. If it's something you truly want down to your core without any question that it is the right thing for you, you need to put it out there, not just think it.

2. Envision what it is going to feel like when this happens. In this case, this looks like me envisioning walking over to their house helping them out, having them over for dinner. Truly visualizing how that would work and what it would be like. And although I hadn't said it out loud until that family dream session, I had been visualizing what it could be like for them to live next door for a very long time. But it wasn't until I actually said it out loud, that it happened two weeks later. Isn't that crazy? 

3. Write it down and put it in a place where you will look at it often. So whether that is on your phone's screen, or maybe it's on a post-it note on your mirror in your bathroom, or maybe you have it written in your journal, and you look at it and you read it every single day before you go on with your day. Put it somewhere you're going to read it and see it and know it. Just have that reminder, that message out to the universe that this is what is meant to happen. 

4. Release control and let it happen. I had never envisioned this specific house being the one they bought. Honestly, I thought it would be the house on the other side of us. If I had been trying to control it like, thinking it needed to be a specific house, it probably wouldn't work, right? Because sometimes we want something, but we don't know what is truly best in the long run. If you release control, it's going to happen the way that is meant to happen. When we try and control the situation, that's when we get disappointed and negative energy ends up being expressed. When we release control, we are happy and surprised and all that positive energy helps make it happen just the way that it's supposed to.

If you’re looking for more resources for manifestation, I recommend Abraham Hicks and my favorite, Gabby Bernstein. I first read her book, The Universe Has Your Back a long time ago. The first time I read it I struggled with it. I was like, Oh, I don't know if I can believe this stuff. But the more I read and the more I practiced, the more I really found how effective it was. I also really love Gabby Bernstein's Miracle Membership. 

I have so many other instances of how manifestation has really just helped me live a happier life, helped our family live happier lives, helped us achieve and realize goals that we never knew we had as far as family goals go. Like traveling to certain places, the kind of experiences we want to have, and just where we want to be in life.

So those are my quick tips for getting what you want and manifesting the life of your dreams. I think if more people did this, we'd live in a much happier and healthier world. 

I hope you liked this episode. It’s a little bit different but this has been something that I think has really helped me in my life, and I hope it blesses others.

122 Feminine Care Products - Why it's Important to go Toxin-Free, Non-Toxic, Green, Clean, and Healthy for your Monthly Visit

This is something I know I've needed to talk about for a while. But it's kind of uncomfortable to talk about tampons, pads, cups, and all of those sorts of things. But it's important. So I'm going to do it!

Feminie Care Products - Why it's Important to go Toxin-Free, Non-Toxic, Green, Clean, and Healthy for your Monthly Visit 

If you can't tell, I grew up in a family where you didn't necessarily talk about this kind of stuff. It was embarrassing. You just didn't tell people when you were on your period. So I have been hesitating about talking about this for a while, but I'm just getting it all out there. I am a Gen Xer and I feel like the millennials and maybe the younger generations felt a little bit more confident talking about this stuff. 

So let’s just state the obvious. I mean, come on, we're talking about our beautiful female sexual organs here, right? It is super super important to have our feminine care products be as safe as possible. You may not know this, but many typical conventional pads and tampons often contain some nasty chemicals:

•  Dioxins which are released through the chlorine bleaching process that is used to make cotton. These dioxins are known to cause cancer and they're often found in conventional tampons and pads.

• Fragrances which can contain a slew of hormone disruptors, so we definitely don’t want that near our sexual organs. I have lots of episodes about hormone disruption and why we need to pay attention to that if you want to learn more.

• Rayon which is a synthetic, non-natural, textile that’s manufactured in a way that’s not good for the environment.

It may seem crazy that companies can have these chemicals in tampons, which we put inside our body. But again, regulations aren’t protecting us. We have to be vigilant consumers ourselves, and choose other options that are better for us and better for the environment.

We want to be looking for organic cotton and alternative options when we are looking for more natural and toxin-free feminine care products.

I feel like nowadays, we are so lucky to have so many options when it comes to organic and healthier products in the feminine care aisle. It wasn't too long ago that really there were two brands on the marketplace, maybe three.

Now, we're finding that there are so many more options and there are so many more brands that are prioritizing organic and sustainable materials in the creation of feminine care products.

• Washable Pads I remember when I first started getting a little bit more crunchy and hippie in my lifestyle, and I started shopping at the co-op and I saw washable pads. That was probably the first time I'd ever seen something like that. I’ll be totally honest, I was shocked at the idea of having to wash out and reuse a pad. And you still might think that is not so appealing, but it shows a trend toward healthier and more sustainable feminie care, which is a great thing.

• Organic tampons and pads are going to be better for the earth, both in how they grow the  organic cotton or other organic materials used, like bamboo. It's just better for the environment, it's better for wildlife, it's better for the farmers, it's just better overall.

• Cups When I was thought about trying a cup, I did an online quiz that told me what kind of cup I should try first. I started using a cup right away and I felt like my life had changed. I did not have to buy tampons all the time. I did not have to worry about running out of tampons. I basically feel like I'm not even on my period because I am not seeing what comes out of my body when I change a tampon multiple times a day. The cup holds so much more than a tampon does too. Once I found the cup and found out how awesome it was, I haven't switched back. And guess what? you can reuse the cup over and over and over again. I think I've had mine for over a year and I only had to buy one. It is so convenient. If you happen to be traveling and you think you're going to maybe get on your period, you just throw the cup in your bag. If you need it, you need it. If you don't, you don't, you're not having to bring an entire package of tampons or pads with you. 

• Disk I've also heard really good things about the disk. They can be a little more tricky to use, but with some practice they offer great coverage during your period.

• Underwear  There are several brands of menstrual underwear on the market. The underwear is absorbent and worn like regular underwear. It’s great for young teens just getting their period who maybe feel unsure about trying to mess with pads or tampons. You just want to make sure that the period underwear fabric is as toxin-free and eco-friendly as possible. That it’s made of organic material, or bamboo or is free of some of the nasty chemicals that might be lurking in there like PFAS. 

So that’s it, the nitty gritty on toxin free feminine care products. I shared it all here. Kind of embarrassed. (Just kidding.) I will share anything. I'm an open book. And I hope that this info was really helpful for you. If you have been scared about trying organic toxin free tampons, pads, cups, discs, period underwear, I encourage you to try something new. Get out of your comfort zone and prioritize your health with your feminine care.

121 What are the Typical Stages of Going Toxin-Free - Where are you on your non-toxic and green living journey and what should you detox next?

People often ask me, “where do I start with going toxin-free”. And if you've listened to the podcast for a while, you know I have my favorite place to start. But there are usually typical stages of going toxin-free and choosing more eco-friendly products for your home. 

What are those stages? 

Why do people tend to go towards them and is there a better way ?

What are some hesitations and things that might hold you back while going toxin-free? 

What are the Typical Stages of Going Toxin-Free - Where are you on your non-toxic and green living journey and what should you detox next?

I didn't grow up in a toxin-free home or a crunchy home.We grew up very typical American. My mom did most of the cooking and cleaning at home. Both my parents worked outside the home. And while my mom was a bit more green growing up in the 60s and, and trying to pay attention to the earth, she did the best that she could with the time and the money that we had. She really had no idea that there were so many harmful ingredients in our products.

And let's be honest. Due to manufacturing changes, and corporations becoming these mega corporations and buying up smaller brands, the ingredients and products are worse than they used to be. The products I grew up with didn't have GMOs and other harmful ingredients. Plus there are thousands of new chemicals created every single year. As we know we live in a capitalist society and making more money often ends up becoming the primary goal of most companies, leading them to choosing cheaper ways to do things. And that unfortunately impacts our health. 

I started learning about harmful chemicals and toxin-free living when I had my daughters. I had a friend who started opening up my eyes to the fact that we really need to pay attention to what we're bringing into our homes and reading ingredient labels and becoming informed consumers so we can make good choices for our families. When I went through this journey, first I started with plastics, getting the plastics out, because I had recently learned about BPA in plastics. At the time, I had a young daughter and everything was plastic, I mean, everything that she ate a snack out of was plastic, every glass of milk she had was in plastic. They didn't have as many baby safe glass options as they do now. 

Then I moved into cleaning products. I started buying cleaning products from the natural section, products I thought were safe. Like Mrs. Myers, for example. Little did I know that it still had chemicals in it that I would not want to have around my children.You’d think I would have seen the red flag, when I would spray the geranium spray on my countertops, and start coughing. There's no way that that could have been good for me. I mean, my body was reacting to it almost immediately afterwards. But I trusted the company marketing and got greenwashed. Eventually I switched  laundry detergent. I still hadn't even thought about the products that I personally used on a daily basis. I had switched out cookware and plastics and cleaning and laundry. Then I went into my daughter's products and detoxed all of the products we used for her, soap, lotion, still not considering the products that I was using on my body every single day.

These are often the typical stages of going toxin-freel. A lot of people don't just automatically switch to toxin-free in everything in their entire life. They may have already switched out their plastics, or maybe have switched out their cookware, but they haven't necessarily done their cleaning products or their laundry products.

I also think that a lot of people probably switch out their cleaning products before their laundry products. I talk about a lot here on the podcast, that laundry is more important, simply because you're wearing your clothes all day long. You're smelling any fragrances that are embedded in those detergents and that's not good for you. You're also absorbing some of the chemicals that are left in your clothing through your skin. They're touching your skin all day and they're in your sheets that you're sleeping with, your head on your pillow. However, with cleaning products, often the amount of time you’re exposed to them is brief and you only use them every week or so. With cleaning products, the amount of time that you are exposed to them is just less. 

That's why I think it's important to think about the products that you use every day and consider detoxing those first. Start with those products you use every day, the products you're putting on your body, instead of starting with cleaning products. 

Instead of doing cleaning products because you feel like they're harsher. Typically they do tend to be harsher, but you're using them so much less frequently. And they're maybe only touching your hands while you're washing something. It's not something that you're putting on your body every single day, repeatedly, and it's not covering a large portion of your body. 

If someone were to ask me, “I'm going toxin-free. I just started this journey. My eyes have just been opened.Where should I start?”

My recommended stages of going toxin-free: 

1. Laundry: First, I would say laundry still, I still think laundry is important. Also it's the easiest. It's fewer products, so just a swap or two will make a big impact on your body burden.

2. Personal Care Products You Use Every Day: Then I would say move into the products you use every day on your body. Your lotions, your soaps, your skincare, your makeup, and do that for the whole family. Wemoms often prioritize our kids but it's still very, very important for us to take care of our health too. And it's important for our husbands, dads, and our partners to take care of their health as well. 

3. Cleaning Products: Then I would put cleaning as number three. And I know that probably some people will think that that's a little backwards. But I just think it's more important to prioritize exposure and the amount of exposure you're getting. And it's going to be higher for those personal care products, over your cleaning products.

4. More Expensive Swaps for Your Home: After that, I would move into starting to think about the larger items in your home. Like, if you're buying a new couch, have you thought about the quality of the materials in that couch? Is it made in a facility or manufactured in some way that it's going to have chemicals off gassing - VOCs off gassing in your home for a long period of time? Those large items are a lot more difficult and expensive to swap out, so starting with the small stuff can make it easier so that your everyday life is becoming increasingly toxin-free. 

I think there are so many different reasons why people are held back from going toxin-free, but just to name a few. One of them is that I think people are overwhelmed. We are constantly just bombarded by information in all places. And especially when it gets to a level of knowing science and health and that sort of thing. It can just get really overwhelming, right? I have a master's degree in public health. So I know this information.I know how to read journal articles that are related to health and the impacts of materials and chemicals and products on our health. But not everybody comes with that sort of knowledge. 

It also can be really hard to know who to trust. You know, I talk about that all the time, about investigating the brands that you're supporting. Making sure that you're reading the ingredient labels and figuring out, what brands can you trust? And what products can you trust? And which ones should you buy? It’s overwhelming and there's also a lack of trust there and often that just stops people, they just can't handle it, and they just don't know where to go. 

I also think what stops people or what holds people back going toxin-free is cost. A lot of people might get this information and think they have to switch every single product they’ve ever used before. And I get that they would think that. And yes, that would cost a lot of money. Now, that's not how I do things. I know how expensive it can be. And I also know that if you suggest that a lot of people are going to say, “Whoa, I can't afford that right now.” And that's why I don't suggest that. I suggest that you finish up using what you already have and replace the products you love with something that's toxin-free when it's time to replace the product.

I also know that as Americans, we typically buy a lot of things that we don't actually use. We buy something new because our friend liked it, or we saw it on a commercial or an influencer spoke about it. And we try it a couple times but we don't really love it, we hold on to it, we keep it under our sink, and we don't throw it away because we don’t want to be wasteful.

I think that's one of the biggest steps here in this toxin free journey is to think about what products you truly use and love. I bet if you can just pare it down to those most important products, that you can find toxin-free versions of the products you love, and you will be happier and healthier by doing that quick ditch and switch.

So that’s just my basic download of the typical stages that people go through.  

I'm so curious to know what stage you are in? Have you just learned about toxin-free or are you in the middle of it or you are in the middle of switching all your cleaning products and realizing that maybe you should do your personal care products first? Maybe you learned this information and you got so overwhelmed, you just stopped and decided to go back on your old conventional favorites. So I would love to hear where you are and what you think and you can hit me up and my DMs and Instagram @themeganmikkelsen or you can email me because I love to help on that format as well. And my email is megan@detox.design. Or you can connect with an entire toxin-free community on my Facebook group Toxin-Free Talk. If you want to keep it really simple, check out my list of favorite products on my Safe Swap Guide or shop my online store where I only stock products that I have thoroughly researched and love to use in my own home.

Thanks for helping to  make this planet happier and healthier one step at a time.

120 4 Simple Steps for Analyzing Brands to Ensure You're Making Informed Product Choices

I just got off of a meeting with a green construction company that is having me come and talk to their staff, and share about toxin-free living and why it's important. It's one of their wellness events that they do for their staff. I am just so honored to be able to chat with them and teach them. 

As a green building and construction company, they are very aware of green building practices, but they might not be that aware of how to reduce the amount of toxins in your home in the products that you bring into your home. 

So this topic of today came out of really thinking about how do I pick brands that I use in my home? Where do I start and how do I analyze those brands? 

4 Simple Steps for Analyzing Brands to Ensure You're Making Informed Product Choices 

How do I decide if I trust a brand and if I really want to support the company by buying from them? It's not that difficult, really. You just have to set your own personal standards of what you choose to spend your money on. I just follow these 4 simple steps.

1.  Find out if there is a parent company. Do a general Google search - “who owns Mrs. Meyers”, for example, or “who owns Method” or “who owns Seventh Generation”. The reason why I think it's important to know who the parent company is, is because you might be getting tricked by thinking that the brand that you are buying is from a small maker that is US based that has really good practices for their employees, for their manufacturing and for the packaging. But they're actually owned by a super large mega corporation. You may not have the same beliefs as that mega corporation, or the kinds of choices that that company makes in their production, or their treatment of employees, or their production practices. So that is the number one thing I do is really try and find out if I am buying from a small brand, not a brand owned by a large corporation. Once I know that the brand is independently owned, I move on to the next step.

2. Look into who the founders are. If it's a super small company, often you'll just find it on their website, and you can read a little bit more about their story. Understand why they created the company and what their mission is. And again, a lot of the time when you do this, you're going to find and learn something new. And maybe you'll feel even more confident that you're supporting a company that you really think is truly doing the right thing and that they have similar values as you and that you want to be supporting them as owners of this company. You can often come up with different information just by Googling the brand and trying to figure out just a little bit about the brand, where it's made and how it's made and that sort of thing. 

3. Investigate the kind of packaging that they're using. The kind of packaging and how things are shipped is really important to me, because waste is a huge problem. I always want to look into how much plastic the company is using. Plastic is really hard to eliminate 100%. But if the predominant packaging is something other than plastic that comes from a source that can be recycled and it is not going to be in our environment till the end of time, something like plant based packaging or paperboard packaging, those are the kinds of things that I like to check out. I will prioritize a company that uses better packaging over a company that just puts everything in plastic because it's cheaper, and it's easier for them. A lot of companies are becoming more aware of the plastics problem and they're trying to do a better job. Sometimes they'll say that they package in recycled plastic, which is better for sure, but it doesn't mean that we can recycle it after it's been used. Often, that plastic can't actually be recycled again. I like to support companies that are using packaging other than plastic, something that is recyclable, new and different, and is minimizing the use of plastics as much as possible. 

4. Read the ingredients. You might think that I do that first. Well, yes, I do often scan the ingredient label first. And if it doesn't even pass that first scan, I don't even go into the rest of the steps. But sometimes I might pick something up, look at it and think, Oh, this looks pretty good. Then I'll go through the other steps. Making sure that the company’s not a very small part of a large corporation. Making sure that the owners are truly independent owners and that they have values similar to mine, that their packaging is up to snuff, that they're doing the best they can when it comes to packaging. Then I will dive deeper into the ingredients and make sure that it truly is as toxin-free as I originally thought it was.

119 Earth Day is Every Day - Vote with Your Dollar and Support the Brands that are Doing the Right Thing

Earth Day is truly every day.

I have been sharing on my Instagram stories and in my Facebook group Toxin-Free Talk,  different ways to save money on Earth Day, because a lot of brands who are earth friendly and focus on Earth Day, they like to celebrate Earth Day with discounts. Who doesn't love a discount? But the other thing that's really great about taking advantage of discounts for Earth Day is that it actually gives you the opportunity to try new brands that you may not have tried before.

Earth Day is Every Day - Vote with Your Dollar and Support the Brands that are Doing the Right Thing

It's a lot easier if there's some sort of incentive there for you to try something new and put yourself out there a little bit. And getting a discount  kind of gives you that little extra motivation to purchase and buy a new product or support a new brand. 

But really the great thing about these Earth Day promotions is that you're actually supporting brands that are doing the right thing with better, more eco-friendly business practices. Instead of using the brand that you've been using for so long, that is probably owned by a large corporation that may have practices you aren't familiar with; or if you were familiar with their business practices, you wouldn't support them. 

Switching because of an Earth Day deal to a smaller brand that really puts more effort into choosing more environmentally friendly practices, they treat their employees better, they use green energy in their manufacturing, they use green packaging, all of those things. Those are the types of things that I look into when I investigate brands I want to have in my online store.

This may be something you don't know, but when I ship out boxes full of toxin-free products and eco-friendly products, brands that I've hand picked, 99% of the time I send my shipments in reused boxes. 

Also, when a company says they're eco-friendly and have clean ingredients in them, but they ship me product wrapped in bubble wrap - I'm not gonna buy from them again. They’re not fully walking the talk when it comes to being eco-friendly. They should be shipping out their products in packaging that aligns with the ingredients and packaging of their products. If they are using glass packaging in their products, but then wrapping it all in bubble wrap, well, that kind of defeats the purpose. 

Every day is Earth Day, and I want you to start thinking about how you vote with your dollar, and where you're spending your money. It's the simplest thing you can do when you go to purchase something new. 

If you're curious about learning more about how you can vote with your dollar and that right companies to support, I'm here to help you!  You can DM me on Instagram or you can send me an email at megan@detox.design. You also can just check out my website and learn more there. I have a few other podcast episodes about this topic. 

And of course, there's always Google, which is so helpful for digging a little bit and finding a little more information, especially about some of these big corporations and what kind of practices they have in their manufacturing, shipping, and in how they treat their employees.

Happy Earth Day!