Nice article Jody! Certainly hit on a lot of things. I never would have thought to use a turkey baster for my nose! Here is some of the things we have found/learned over the years to help with MCS:
One really nice product I have found is Soap Nuts!
I've been experimenting with them this summer and if you can get them from a clean source, they are really nice to use. They leave laundry much softer. On their own they are just a reasonable cleaner - but add in some baking soda to the laundry with them and WOW! Not just for laundry either. They can be used anywhere you need a soap if you make your own soap nut concentrate by boiling them for 15 min in water. Stored in the frige it should last 2 weeks (its what all the info on them says) but left at room temp it will last about 2-3 days before spoiling.
Castile soaps are really good. The true castile ones with only olive oil, pot ash, and water are hard to find for a reasonable price or with reasonable shipping. Unscented if you are really sensitive, otherwise a lot of them use steam extracted essential oils instead of the often solvent extracted ones. Can be used for every sort of washing needed.
***Neither soap nuts or pure castile soaps will produce the same type of suds in commercial products because they lack the foaming agents. They work very well by causing the water tension to change which then pulls the dirt/oil off - same principle as commercial soaps.
Sodium Laurel Sulfate should be avoided as much as possible. In toothpastes it can be nearly impossible to avoid so we also go with Tom's of Maine as Jody does. Steer clear of fluoride, it is a byproduct of chemical fertilizer manufacturing.
Dental floss we like is Desert Essence, none of the odd chemicals commercial products seem to think need to be in dental floss.
I have not tried borax, been a bit afraid to actually. Though I read all the time that it is pretty safe, I just remember using it to kill ants and fleas with many years ago and at this point stay away from anything that can kill as a general rule.
If you use paper towels, try to go with unbleached ones if you can find them. We use seventh generation and they are fairly low toxic. A lot of the unbleached varieties we tried smelled/felt really bad - as bad or worse than the bleached ones.
Go ORGANIC! Seems really obvious but just in case thought it should be mentioned.
Food is reasonably easy but don't forget organic spices too! They are so much tastier! If purchased in 1lb bulk are normally about $10-15 and last a really good amount of time. A place I just discovered this summer is
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/ and I have been pleased with the quality of herbs/teas I ordered and their packaging.
Organic clothing is very important if you are highly sensitive. It is astounding the amount of formaldehyde and chemical dyes, dye fasteners, and preservatives found in a commercial brand of jeans.
Keep some sort of disposable glove handy for those situations you need to use something that you know is toxic. This will keep it from absorbing through the skin and also keep possible cross contamination down. We buy a roll of grocery type clear plastic produce bags from the co-op and use these as gloves for things like this. We have a sunny spot we let a roll sit in for 6-9 months while they off gas and then don't have too much problem using them. Much cheaper than an actual glove, no worry about latex or power, and after use can be used as a bag to dispose of any toxic trash that was generated.
Have back ups for everything if the object will need time to off gas should it die. This can be expensive and requires a stable location so you can have some storage but is very handy. We have a back up hot plate for instance. Should ours die one day it would have taken at least 2 months before we could purchase a new one, have it delivered, and then burn it in. For us, this could then be compounded by the season this occurred in since we have to off gas things outside - a lot of rain or snow would really slow down the process. If something is vital to surviving - have a back up.
Ok! That is all the easy ones I can think of. I'll post more if they I think of them.
Lisa
