I have a confession: Every other week I clean a home for extra money.

And I despise it.

The only reason I do it is because it covers the cost of Andrew’s school. This gives me more uninterrupted time to work on building up Naturally Loriel and taking care of my Editor-in-Chief duties around here on Scratch Mommy. You have to do what you have to do, right?

Since we’re letting it all hang out, I have another confession. I mostly use toxic cleaners when I’m cleaning the house. Shame on me, I know. I just haven’t really found a non-toxic cleaner that works well enough to clean someone’s house with. Plus, I’m not a huge fan of cleaning my own house either, so…

But then I received a non-toxic cleaning product that actually got me excited about cleaning.

HA! Excited about cleaning? I know you’re probably thinking, “Yeah, right.” But I’m serious. I got really, really excited. Branch Basics claims you only need one product to clean everything you virtually would need to clean. Just reading the bottle and all the wonderful things about the product made me excited.

Trust me, when you get your hands on a bottle (if you haven’t already), then you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

There are so many reasons I think Branch Basics should make an appearance in your home, but for the sake of too long of a blog post, I’ve narrowed it down for you.

Below are 7 reasons why you need to switch to Branch Basics’ non-toxic cleaner…

1. It’s an Outlet for Non-DIYers, Like Me

I have no shame in saying that I do not consider myself a DIYer. I love the idea of do it yourself projects, making your own cleaners and skincare from scratch, but the reality is that it is just an idea for me. I have no desire to actually make my own products because I’d rather spend my time making food from scratch or anything else other than that.

Plus, it kind of overwhelms me when I have to get tons of ingredients to put together a finished product. What if the finished product doesn’t work? A non-toxic cleaner like Branch Basics is convenient and easy. Since I typically don’t take the convenient route with cooking, it’s nice to have a little bit of convenience in my life when it comes to cleaning.

2. No Words I Can’t Pronounce

Typically, your conventional, chemical-laced counterpart cleaners tend to have ingredients you need some sort of degree to pronounce.

I, for one, do not want to go through school to be able to read and understand the long list of ingredients found on cleaning products (and food!).

3. No Precautionary Statements

Have you ever taken a moment to look at the back of a bottle of 409… or better yet, your “green” cleaner? In bold letters it states:

PRECAUTIONARY STATEMENTS: HAZARDS TO HUMANS AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

Yep, even your green cleaner. Need I say more?

4. Multi-Purpose

By switching to a non-toxic cleaner like Branch Basics, it’s literally a one-stop shop! Need to clean candle wax off your mantle? No problem, use Branch Basics. Need to clean normal things like high chairs, appliances, bath tubs and countertops? No problem, use Branch Basics.

Okay, okay but what about if you need a makeup remover, fruit and veggie wash, and something to clean your toddler’s spaghetti sauce covered stuffed animal? Oh, you didn’t know? Branch Basics has that covered too.

I’m not kidding, take a look at all the things you can clean with just ONE solution. Talk about streamlining and minimalism!

5. No Artificial Smelly Stuff That Gives You a Headache

Did you know that 3,100 chemicals are allowed in the single word “fragrance?”1 Holy chemical batman! That is A LOT of unknown chemicals that could be possibly lurking in that smelly cleaner you have. I can’t guarantee that all non-toxic cleaners don’t contain the word “fragrance” in the ingredient list (hence the importance to always check the ingredients), but I know that Branch Basics cleaner does not have the word.

If you really want to make it smelly, you can add your favorite essential oils to it. Even the bottle says so.

6. It’s Beyond “Green.” It’s Human-Safe

Food and cleaning products have something in common: you can’t necessarily trust the labels on the product. Just like we can’t necessarily trust the words “cage-free,” “all-natural,” and “free-range” with food, we can’t really trust simple words like “green,” “eco-friendly,” and “non-toxic” when it comes to cleaners.

Branch Basics goes beyond claiming that their product is “green” and goes straight to say that it’s human-safe. You can’t really cut any corners behind that claim, and it gives me confidence that no matter what Branch Basics‘ cleaner is safe for myself and my loved ones.

Human-safe also refers to baby bump safe. If you’re pregnant or nursing, this product can be used without having to worry about exposing your baby (whether in the bump or in your arms) to unnecessary chemicals.

Learn more about Branch Basics here.

7. It Actually Works

A one-stop shop cleaner that does it all? If you’re a little skeptic, I understand. However, I’m happy to say that Branch Basics actually works.

The first thing cleaning job I put Branch Basics to the test was a stain on my white carpet. My husband keeps rubbing it in my face that we should have never put white carpets in the bedroom and now I have to hear about the stains that are popping up. So, I sprayed a few pumps out of the travel size bottle, let it sit on the stain (which was at least 3 months old), agitated it with a rag and voila — no more stain! Definitely impressive.

Next I tried my husband’s work shirt. He’s out in the field every day and is often covered in concrete dust when he gets home. Needless to say, his work shirts have accumulated a little bit of a dark ring around the collar. Lately I’ve been hearing that “no one else’s shirts have stains and that our natural detergent doesn’t work good enough.” So, to keep my husband happy I figured I’d give it a shot. I realized I might need a bit more of a concentrated solution, so I used the concentrate straight on the collar, let it sit, agitated and it came out!

It would probably be good if I used the concentrate twice on the collar to make sure I got all the stain out. Hubby was pretty impressed.

Happy husband = happy wife = happy life.

Wait… Isn’t it the other way around?

Now, if I could just get him to mop the floor as a trade off….

So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself a bottle!

If all of this isn’t exciting enough, Scratch Mommy has partnered with Branch Basics so you can receive 20% off of your Branch Basics order! Just click on the image below to take you to their shop page.

Scratch Mommy Readers – Save 20% Off Your Total!

Just use coupon code — SM20 — at checkout.

Come back and let us know how you are liking your new one-stop shop, natural cleaning, human-safe soap!