Non-Toxic Swaps I Made in 2024 That I'm Bringing to 2025
While I'm sure everyone wants to start filtering out the toxic products in our households, this is quite the process in my experience! It takes time to research which products are actually non-toxic, and which have a great greenwashing marketing campaign to get us thinking they are. Not to mention, it's difficult to choose a place to start and even can be costly and unrealistic when it comes to swapping some products out there.
I've been slowly making the non-toxic swaps throughout 2024, and let's just say, some of them have stuck and some haven't. But I want to share what's working for me, and what's not so far so you can get inspiration on where to start or take that next step with your non-toxic journey! Check out my top swaps and flops:
In the Kitchen
Cookware
Swap
Previously, I had a Teflon Walmart-brand cooking set that I carried with me from college. After doing some research, I wanted to lean more into ceramic and cast iron. I purchased from GreenPan and also thrifted castiron pans. I LOVE my GreenPan - they are a bit more affordable than a few of the ceramic products but the reviews all seem positive for the big ceramic brands on the market. The switch to cast iron was a bit more tricky for me, as the cleaning process is a bit more extensive with no soap, and 'seasoning' the pan, but it is worth it for those (like myself) with low iron! Overall, I love the shift away from Teflon pans.
Wood vs Plastic
Flop
We are going to get REAL with this one folks. There has been a lot of conversation about swapping out plastics in the kitchen — Tupperware, dishes, utensils, cutting boards, etc. The swap with dishes and tupperware was easy for us, especially with not having kiddos in our home, yet. However, it wasn't super sustainable for me beyond that! I tried to filter in wooden cutting boards and spoons, but the sanitizing process on this is not it for me and I found it time-consuming. This was a 50/50 for me!
Farmers Markets
Swap
I've always been a fan of farmer's markets, but this year I really started embracing them in our meal planning! Usually, I just strolled through the farmer's markets for flowers and goodies, but I started favoring more of the local produce in our diet. I shifted from Friday meal planning and shopping, to post farmer's market planning, i.e. I see what speaks to us at the farmer's market in terms of fruits and veggies and plan our meals around it from there!
Little Secrets Chocolate
Swap
I am a chocolate and sweets girl, so finding a 'clean' chocolate brand that wasn't just straight-up dark chocolate was essential to me. I found this brand at Whole Foods, but they also carry it at a lot of retailers across the country and it's a new staple in my kitchen, always!
My Cleaning Closet
Dish, Laundry, and Hand Soap
Swap
I switched from Meyers dish soap and hand soap and generic brand of laundry soap to Molly's Suds. I tried out a few different brands, but overall I like the quality and price point of Molly's Suds. I also love that this line has unscented and scent options and that it's super convenient with it being available on Amazon.
Microfiber Rags
Swap
This was more of a sustainable swap, but I love using these vs paper towels (except for the bathroom cleaning!).
Beauty
Deodorant
Swap
This started out as another flop swap for me, but turned out okay in the long run! I spent the past year trying just about every deodorant on the market and I found a few that were working for a while, but then over time turned into an allergic reaction. This was super frustrating and led me back to my OG, Secret. I tried again and actually found that works well for me and decided to keep this swap!
Makeup
Flop
This was the biggest challenge for me! I tried a few brands, but overall I always go back to my go-to's and drugstore products due to cost. This is a category of my life I have always felt a bit cheap on, so this was not a swap I could stick with but I could see myself revisiting in the future!
Tampons + Body Wash
Swap
After the study on metals in tampons came out, I started researching a bit more on this. I switched to The Honey Pot for both tampons and body wash and love this brand so far! This was the first brand I tried and it fit well with what I was looking for, so I stuck with this one!
As always, I think everyone will have a different experience so it doesn't hurt to experiment where you can. The Yuka app has been helpful for scanning products over this process, so I'd recommend downloading or finding something similar to help you make decisions on what to try!
This is what has worked, and did not work for me so far but I'm excited to keep trying and seeing what other swaps I can make in the new year! Did you have a similar experience on any of these? Chat us up in the DMs about it!
