Ep 054 - How to Detox Your Home for Better Health
In this episode of the Be a Smarter Homeowner Podcast, hosts John Bodrozic and Beth Dodson interview home‑system strategist Nicole Jacques, the creator of the House CEO philosophy. Nicole explains how personal health events—a pregnancy dietary restriction and a diagnosis of eosinophilic esophagitis—sparked her deep dive into the hidden toxins in the home. She defines the difference between “low‑tox” (products that have a handful of major toxins removed) and “lowest‑tox” (small, transparent brands that disclose full ingredient lists and avoid synthetic additives). Nicole offers concrete, low‑effort swaps: start with three core cleaning categories (all‑purpose cleaner, dish soap, laundry detergent), either purchase vetted low‑tox brands (e.g., Koala Eco, Branch Basics) or make simple DIY formulas using five‑or‑fewer ingredients. She warns about synthetic fragrances and phthalates as endocrine disruptors, describing how they infiltrate air, fabrics, and even affect fertility. Air quality is tackled through portable air scrubbers (e.g., Jasper) and HEPA filtration, plus basic ventilation practices. Recognizing that many homeowners feel overwhelmed, Nicole advocates simplifying routines, labeling rooms, reducing product clutter, and using a mindset of incremental progress rather than perfection. She stresses community support—buddy systems, product‑swapping circles, and online resources—to sustain low‑tox habits. Safety beyond chemicals is highlighted with a focus on dryer lint‑trap cleaning to prevent fires. Throughout, Nicole emphasizes that low‑tox living is about reducing overall toxin load, not achieving an impossible “perfect” home, and she shares ways listeners can find her (website, social media, upcoming non‑toxic cleaning cookbook).
Chapters
Welcome to Be a Smarter Homeowner Podcast, where you'll discover strategies to save money, save time, and be better organized in managing your largest financial asset and biggest expense, your home. Your hosts, John Bodrozic and Beth Dodson, who are co-founders of HomeZada, have been supporting homeowners for over 20 years. They are here to share with you their tips and suggestions, as well as interviews with industry experts, with the goal of helping you become a smarter homeowner. Now here's your hosts, Jon and Beth.
Hi everyone. Thank you for being here for another episode of Be a Smarter Homeowner Podcast. I've got the best guest for you today. Like, I'm so excited to interview her. And one of my questions that I have for all of you is, what if the biggest thing affecting your health isn't your diet or workouts, but what's happening inside your home? So with me today is Nicole Jacques, who is a home system strategist and the voice behind the House CEO philosophy, redefining what it means to run a home in today's world. Blending low-tox living, wellness, and operational simplicity, she helps people move from overwhelm to clarity through systems that support their home and their health. Her work is deeply personal, which we're going to talk about, and she wants to create solutions that are not just aspirational but sustainable. Nicole's message is simple yet powerful: your home should work for you, not exhaust you. And we are aligned, Nicole. I reached out to you and your team when I saw you on the Sarah Jane Ho podcast, and I was like, this woman is speaking my language. I'm so excited. We're coming at it with— from slightly different areas. But we're speaking our language. And for those of you who are on the video, by the way, you just missed Mabel. That's Mabel, the little dachshund. And so, um, here she is again, in case you need to see a little puppy love, because I'm all about puppy love. But one of the things I wanted to get into, Nicole, is you start talking about detoxing your home and what have you after a personal situation that happened to you. Can you explain a little bit about that? Because What most people don't know is most companies and initiatives are started out of personal need.
Absolutely. Thank you, Beth, for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Mabel's excited to be in my lap chatting too. So, do you hear her? She's just saying hi. She's a little 16-week-old mini dachshund, which is actually part of my wellness journey too, because dogs are just the best. I just—
Totally.
Honestly, such an energy changer for the house. So you're right, it wasn't one single lightbulb moment that was like, haha, I'm gonna low-tox my entire life. It started when I got pregnant with my son, and I thought it was really weird that I couldn't eat sushi or deli meat when I was pregnant, but I could eat sushi or deli meat when I was not pregnant.
Totally.
And I thought, huh, that's weird, why? And yes, you can go into the science of all of it, but I realized that there were so many other things behind these restrictions during a very sensitive, vulnerable time in life, And I thought, well, pregnancy is not just the only single vulnerable time in our lives. So that kind of started me looking into things. I wouldn't say it was my deep dive. My deep dive came when I got diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder called eosinophilic esophagitis. I choked. I was on vacation with my husband post-COVID, so it should have been relaxing, no stress.
Totally.
You know, lots of good sleep. So I probably shouldn't have been having an autoimmune flare. But it was indicative of something deeper in my body needing attention. And so anytime anything happens to me medically, anything, I think, well, what in my environment may be affecting that?
Totally.
An environment is more than just your diet, what you're eating, and your exercise, which is always what they ask. Do you smoke? Do you drink? Do you exercise? How many cups of coffee are you having? And I'm always like, please get off my coffee intake. But everything else I can tell you, all those pieces they ask you at intake are really a larger picture. I wish that they would write, you know, what dishwashing detergent do you use?
Yes.
Because those are major factors in any health journey when you're looking to lower inflammation. And so that's when it started and it kicked off. And I really haven't been the same since. I just went, you know, lower tox to the lowest tox to as clean as no tox as I can be.
Now, um, so one of the things that you talk about is low tox. What do you define as low tox and lowest tox?
It's a really good question. So the problem here is the industry does not make this easy to identify, right? So, the problem lies in the marketing and the advertisement and the propaganda of how we bring a product to market and then exactly that, market it to you.
Yes.
What I always consider to be lower tox is that you have, you know, 5 major toxins taken out of it. So, it depends what we're looking at, but for example, let's just take a soap. Well, gosh, I could take a lot of things.
Yes, I know. I'm in the same boat.
That help you degrade them. But, you know, you want to make sure any sort of cleaning supply doesn't have a VOC effect, which is basically that when it's in the air and it gets in your lungs, it can be an irritant. This is as easy as looking for the warning label on the bottle that says do not inhale, even though it's a spray product, right? Um, there are a multitude of other ingredients that we really like to call out. I actually have a book coming to market come January 27th that's a cleaning cookbook, and it takes you through a longer list. This is lower tox, this is lowest tox. Lowest tox is when you're looking at really the ingredients plus who's making the formula.
Right.
So if you're going mom and pop and small, check, that's lowest tox typically. And you're looking at the ingredients and making sure it's simplified, small, easy to understand, and you don't have those major toxin load contributors in it, that's how you know it's lowest tox. Because unfortunately, we have all these great products that have come to market and then been bought out of there by— bought up by larger conglomerates. And now what we're finding is they're adding in more sustainable or copolymers, things that end up making the product last longer on the shelf.
Yeah.
And those synthetics are not low tox. So there's a lot of confusion in the market. You know, I always say visit my website. I have lists there so you can kind of get a gauge on what you're really looking for. But the best thing you can do truly in a lot of things is make your own.
There we go. For people who are out there, it's the lowest is to make your own formulas for anything, whether it's cleaning supplies, Even sometimes skincare products and what have you, because that's another one. Um, but let's get back to, um, running the homes. If, if people don't have the time and they feel overwhelmed— because I'm excited for your book to come out in, uh, '27— but until then, if they feel really overwhelmed— and I've had this with many of my friends— they're like, But wait a second. First of all, I've gotta, to your point, deep dive and understand more of what I'm actually bringing into my house and what their— the effects of it are on me personally, my family, etc. But I don't have time. I'm working, I've got kids, I've got to make dinner, I've got to do this. I don't have time to make my own products right now. What are some key tips that you think can help people like slow roll it? Because I've even said to my friends who do this, they're like, I don't want to throw everything out, I just spent all this money. I'm like, okay, little by little, little by little.
So that's actually where I start. I say when you have a toxic ingredient and it runs out, replace it with something lower toxin. And maybe you're not up for making your own, although most ingredients in anything you make at home require 5 or less ingredients and you can whip them up in under 5 to 7 minutes. Most take me less than a minute to make.
Totally.
So once you get in the swing of it, you'll realize, actually, I can save cost, time, and toxins. That sounds great. By just mixing it up myself. Plus, it's fresh. So fresh is always gonna be better, right? Would you rather have the loaf of bread right out of the oven, or would you like the loaf that sat there for 4 days in the grocery store? That's your choice. Pick your poison, right? Um, I want the loaf fresh out of the oven, you know? So that's the difference is when you make it fresh at home and you do it yourself, you're actually saving yourself a lot of time. You gotta think you're going to the store, you're buying it, you're standing in the checkout, you're checking out, you're driving home. All time is currency, baby, right?
That's true.
So I always say, I think it's intimidating to feel, I don't have time to DIY. DIY sounds daunting, and that's okay. But know as you get into it, it's much easier than you think. It's less time and less intensive. I will say I would start with 3, an all-purpose cleaner that you know is really clean that you can buy. There's some great brands right now that I love that are small, like Koala Eco is one of them.
Mm-hmm.
They do an excellent line. It actually smells delicious and there's no synthetic synthetic fragrances in it.
Yes.
There's Branch Basics, which I kind of consider like an OG to the market.
Yep.
Which I really truly appreciate. One that's just stuck it out and continued to be true to their brand. Very rare nowadays. Dish soap. So all-purpose cleaner, dish soap, and laundry detergent, I think are my 3. If you can start there and really hone your processes in those, you're really basically going to realize this is easier. Quicker, faster, and cheaper when you start making them yourself.
Yeah, and I agree with you, like, because I use some— a lot of those brands. But also, once you start making it, it's— you don't realize how cost-effective it is and how easy it is, you know, something as simple. And I know this isn't a beauty podcast, but for the ladies out there and men out there, I recently just made my own, um, dry shampoo, and it was so easy. I'm like, what? And it smells good? I'm like, you can't make this up. So no, that leads us into smells.
Yes.
So a lot of people think they can mask some of the problems in their house with fragrances— candles, plugins, what have you, whatever the case may be. Now let's talk about fragrances because I've heard my own Concepts on this, but they're in the air and they affect not only our bodies but also even the air quality in our homes. And it can get into our walls and it can get into our fabrics, our carpets, etc.
Why?
What is your take on fragrances? And what can we do to avoid certain fragrances, but then bring in other things that could be healthier for us.
Yeah, I'll give you the low-tox swaps at the end. I will give you my bit on fragrance. So fragrance on a label is legally protected, a trade secret. So they cannot technically share what makes that synthetic fragrance what exactly it is because it's trademarked for the majority of fragrance. Big fragrance out there. Big fragrance is like 1 to 2 companies, by the way. That's it. And they control every fragrance from Tide all the way down to the perfume you put on in the morning.
Yes.
Okay.
So many fragrances are endocrine disruptors, right? They're affecting your hormones. And typically we think like, ah, hormones, like I'm in my 20s, I'm fine. No, actually this is a really delicate time for you to pay attention to your hormones. Excuse me. I see this a lot in teens. Teens want to smell good. This is a highly vulnerable time for them to have an endocrine disruptor on very sensitive areas of their bodies, right by their thyroid, which for male, very important.
Yes.
Female, vastly important. They mimic and interfere with these hormones. And then phthalates are the biggest ones that you've heard if you're in a low-tox deep dive. They commonly are used to make the scent last longer, right? Everyone is like, have you seen the hack where you put Vaseline in your perfume and then it stays longer because it, you know, has the moisture and it stays on your skin and you smell good all day? I'm gonna tell you right now, no. Like, that is one of— no is a complete sentence on that one.
Totally.
So for me, I think yes, there are the volatile organic compounds, the VOCs within perfumes and fragrance, which off-gas and get in your, you know, not only your lungs, but like it affects the rest of your body. But I think for me, people don't really truly understand what it's doing. They think like, how can a little spritz of something really cause havoc on my entire body? But if we look at fertility rates right now, specifically in the United States, they're at a staggering number, um, you know, of decline and fertility issues. And throwing the kitchen sink at it with other Yeah. Medications that effectively, you know, dysregulate your hormones even further.
Yeah.
When really, if you just start low-toxing some of these things out there that are been— it's not like it's a conspiracy. They are known endocrine disruptors. The science is out there for you to look at. They know this.
Yes.
If you can eliminate those within your home, specifically your nest, you'll see other things improve, not only in your health, your fertility, and your overall wellness, but in your mood and even in your neurological senses. So synthetic fragrance does not clean the air. You said it perfectly.
Yeah.
It masks it.
Masks it.
And then what happens is you're basically still living in that scent. It's just you're nose blind to it. This is what I always say. People love, like, people are like, oh, tell me about like scent. How, you know, when I go away on vacation and I come back, my house smells awful. And I'm like, yeah, that's the Febreze wearing off. Like, that's actually what your house smells like because it's not clean. Clean smells like nothing.
Correct.
Clean smells like nothing. So if I do want a fragrance, a scent in the home, I'm having friends over and I just want someone to walk in and be like, it smells good in here. I have 3 tips. One, you can get a summer pot, just a regular pot. You can buy a glass pot and make it look really pretty, and you can add Cinnamon sticks, apple slices, oranges.
Perfect.
This basically slow simmers on your stove. And if you've ever made bacon on the stove, you know how potent it is, right? You're like, oh my gosh, my stove makes a lot of scent in my home. Well, it does the same when you put pretty yummy organic things in water. It does the same thing. The steam off-lifts and it goes into the air and it's totally endocrine disruptive free. Another one is I like to take a baking dish and put vanilla extract and water in it and just run the oven low, let it heat up, and it'll make it smell like you're baking cookies. People are always like, what are you baking? I'm like, water and vanilla. So, you know, these are 2 great tips. The best tip beyond deep cleaning whatever is causing the smell is open your windows and doors for 10 minutes. Let the air come in. Stagnant air doesn't smell good. It is actually known to cause other airborne illnesses.
Yes.
When you have stagnant air, it's like dead air, okay? When you have circulating air, whether it be through an air scrubber, air filter in your home that's really taking out all the gross, icky things you don't want in your lungs, the windows and the doors are a great substitute. And these are 3 ways you can instantly make a low-tox swap to make your home smell good. for when you really need it without causing hormone havoc.
Yes. And what most people don't know is our hormones, not only for fertility, they also affect us as we age as well. So for everybody that's doing this, hormones are important for every organ in our body. So, and no, neither one of us are doctors. So we're gonna preface that right now. Neither one of us are doctors, but There's enough studies out there to prove all this now. A lot of people, they come into their homes and they become overwhelmed because there's a lot of tasks they have to do. And of course, our company Homesava is also telling them, you know, you got to make sure you take care of it because you want to make sure it is healthy and safe for you. One of the things that you may see with some of your customers and the people you talk to is they feel overwhelmed. How do we come together and reduce that overwhelming feeling so that they can still enjoy their home?
So outside of low-toxing it?
Yeah.
You're just talking about overall house overwhelm?
Yeah.
Okay. Well, I'm gonna give you the reason we have house overwhelm in a few sentences.
Perfect.
We were never taught this. There was no home ec growing up.
Correct.
There was no, let me teach you how to take care of your home. There was no class even on how to balance your checkbook. I mean, that's how I'm dating myself now, but like, let's really talk about it. So unfortunately, we learned a lot of this education, public education, even private education, and they failed to teach us things that were important via trade. How to change your oil, how to change your tires.
Yes.
How to change your air filter in your home. How often you do need to deep clean the filters that are on your gas range. Or in your microwave, or the filter in the dishwasher. And they expect that humans all have infinite amount of time to read a handbook that is the size of the dictionary.
Mm-hmm.
And it's almost like they know, huh, maybe if they don't read the dictionary, it'll break sooner and they'll need to replace it. I'm just saying. So what ends up happening here is we have a lack— we have a huge knowledge gap. Huge knowledge gap.
Agreed.
And no one's out there saying, I, I got you, I can help you, I've created the class you've always wanted to take. Um, because, you know, it sounds daunting. No one's like, oh yeah, I need to learn how to do my air filter clip. They're like, who can I call? Is there an Uber of filters, uh, to come on over and fix it for me? Right? We're the generations now that are like, who do I call? Right? It's not, oh, let me call my dad, let me call the neighbor. Um, some are very gifted with husbands who know this, but I don't like that. I want to switch. I want to hear that there are women that are like, oh no, my wife does all that and she knows how to do it. Like, where's the switch? Just saying. So I think for me, your home is supposed to be your safe place. It shouldn't feel like a second job. You really shouldn't, and it should be treated holistically. Unfortunately, they don't have like a timer on the iPhone— if you're listening, please make this— that says, hey, it's time for your medical checkup on your home, right?
Yeah.
They do it really well for me. They tell me you need gynecology, you need this, that, uh, time to get another pap smear. Like, I know that, and I have random messages that pop up that tell me I need to do that. They also want me to go and get my teeth cleaned every 6 months, and they're really good about following up there. But who was following up to say, this is how we make our home healthy? Nobody. So I share a lot of these tips on my social media platform because I feel like people don't know. They're like, how do you spring clean? I'm like, well, you're spring cleaning because you were not winter cleaning. Like, now we're just like, throw out everything and, or rearrange furniture and hope it, like, that's not the solution. You're creating the overwhelm.
Correct.
So what I like to do is practicality is what actually helps. You know, shrink the surface area of things, fewer products, fewer things, fewer decisions. These are all A step in the right direction. Simplifying your cleaning lineup or your home lineup of what needs to be done isn't lazy, it's just smart.
Totally.
No one comes in every day and says, wow, Nicole, you did 17 things for your house, high five. I would also like a reward system for taking care of my home. You know, if anyone would like to create this or co-partner on it, I'd like to talk because I would like someone to send me flowers. after I do the major overhaul of my tall ceiling, you know?
Yep, oh totally.
Some of us like praise. So, you know, the home is just this monotonous thing that we view as the second job. But when we put routines into it, which is something I'm very big on, routines over motivation, it becomes simpler, right? Like you write down everything that you're mentally tracking and all of it and seeing it on paper is very validating, right? Which is something we are lacking in taking care of your home. It makes it shareable, delegatable. Is that a word? I think it is. And that helps lessen the load, right? My 10-year-old can help me take care of the house. My 8-year-old can too. And there was a study done that said the most successful children come out of families where they were given not a chore, okay, but responsibility within their home.
Yep.
So in our home, to give an example, 'cause some people are like, I don't know how to do that. We have rooms that are labeled colors. Blue room, green room, red room, yellow room. It's not mommy and daddy's room, sister's room, brother's room, living room. So I, I wanted to quiet the, well, that's not mine.
Yes, it's smart.
Right? And I just thought, well, if we're all living here, then it's not just mommy's job, right? It's all of our jobs to take care of all of our kids. are home. So lowering the standard in the right places is my last tip. Lower your standards. Martha Stewart, love you for a lot of reasons. Perfectionism was not one of them. I think it's very hard to grasp that, right?
Oh yeah.
Like I would follow Martha for so many things, but for the idea that my house needs to look like it's on the market tomorrow, Like the stress of that in my body is too much. So—
It's not healthy.
My biggest thing is lower the standard. Not everything needs to be deep cleaned right away, believe it or not. Not everything needs to be perfect. You're not perfect, you're human. Your house can't be perfect. There's humans living in the house.
Correct.
You know, that's just logic. And pick what actually matters to you and let go of the rest. So I did a 90-day challenge where I never did my dishes at night. To see if I would resent making dinner less. And guess what? I did.
I did.
I did. It worked. I did the test. I was like, let's go. Let's just put this to bed. You can be Type A and do a Type B thing. Do you know what I mean? Totally.
Totally.
And I'm gonna tell you, I mean, I was adventurous. I would cook with things I never cooked before. My family was like, what is this, a restaurant? And I was like, yes. Now, who's gonna be my dishwasher? But I'm not doing it. And honestly, the majority of the time with homework and busy schedules like America has right now, the dishes would sit there overnight and guess what? No one died. Nothing happened.
That's correct.
Mold didn't grow overnight. Like, it was okay. We did it in the morning. We went on with our day. And guess what changed? Me and my attitude and my well-being. And that's important to acknowledge.
Yes, I agree with you. I— a lot of people need to acknowledge. So, because where I live, I live in California, and it's springtime, and we want to cut some of the trees back and stuff. And so out of nowhere, I was like, oh, I'm gonna cut my trees this weekend. Well, we had a massive stormy weekend unexpectedly the entire weekend. I'm like, well, you can't get upset about it. You just have to do it the next weekend because you can't do it this weekend. You don't want to be using electric anything with gas or anything else in when it's wet. It's just gonna hurt it more for anyone who's out there. But the— and the trees will tell you, like, yeah, no, I don't want you to do this to me. But, um, it's like you just have to let go and go, okay, we're gonna redirect and regroup on another day. So where do you think people waste their time and money doing everything in their homes?
I would think the majority of people waste their time on— yes, okay, so I think you're right. I think buying products to fix the solution is not the solution.
No.
I would agree with you. That Windex can only be used for the window, but not in any other parts, you need to buy another cleaner, and that's really not gonna get off the dirt and grime, so we need to buy one more cleaner. That is out of control. We've been sold that cleaning every little detail in the home requires a different product. That is not true. I clean an over 4,000 square foot home myself with steam and 7 different products that I buy from the store.
Oh my God.
Baking soda, like Castile soap. It's completely non-toxic, pet and kid safe, and I probably have a cleaner home than most Americans do, period. And I would like someone to come in and test that because I, I stand on ceremony when I say it.
Absolutely.
The overwhelm of thinking that cleaning needs a different product, a spray and wipe solution, is not— it's just not reasonable. That's just great marketing and you've fallen victim to it. So I would say people are buying too many things to fix problems they just don't— back to the education gap— they just don't know what to do with, right? Um, I would also say they waste time and money on trying to make it look pretty. Hear me out. There is a time and place.
I'm listening.
My coffee table is gorgeous. It is slate and it's wood and my husband loves it. It is not practical. I ding my shin on it almost 5 times a day. The dog now runs under it and hits her head and she's a dachshund. So this is saying a lot about this coffee table. Okay guys. And he loves it and it sparks joy for him, but it is not functioning. And every time people walk in, they're, oh, that's beautiful. I do not care, my shin. Begs to differ, right? Make your home functional. Make your home functional.
Yes.
The more you have out on your counters to make it decorative, the more dust, the more bacteria, the more grime, the more pollen spores accumulate in that area. So be very picky choosy about what decorative actually looks like and what it really does for you and your family. Versus making it look pretty.
No, couldn't agree with you more. I mean, this is a big deal. We're also telling people, keep it simple. It's— the house is already a comp— I refer to the house as a comprehensive building of all these materials, some of which you never see because they're behind walls. And you've already got this comprehensive system that I think is like a family member. Because I love my home so much, is— but, and you, do you want to add more complexity to your life and/or to the process of maintaining this glorious thing that you've just invested in?
That's exactly right. So if it sparks enough joy for you to think, well, I'm gonna clean it every 3 days, that's how much I love looking at that on my counter, then by all means do. But that's what it requires to upkeep.
Yes. So you bring up dust, you know, pollen spores, etc. And, you know, I think I have 2 questions around this, but what other— what are the most important health risks you think the home can create if people aren't caring for it?
Fire. Fire. Totally. Totally. So lint traps, your lint trap and duct are supposed to be cleaned every 18 months.
Mm-hmm.
Raise of hands right now on who has cleaned out their lint trap. Not just like, oh, the little filter needs to be thrown in the— no, I'm talking about gets down in your dryer and then pushes all of the dust and grime outside through the duct every 18 months. The number one reason there are home fires is that dryer vent. Yes. Number one way a home burns to the ground. So, I mean, I could just stop there because I think that is pretty— I think the majority of people aren't doing that, to be honest.
That is huge, and that is Safety 101. And we've talked about that a lot on, uh, this podcast because people— we've had this— this is the second guest, including, like, excluding John and I, who are the original hosts of this podcast, who've said Fires are critical, and part of maintaining your home requires these fire prevention. So yeah, no, that's a big deal. Now you've brought up too, like, air and air quality, and that's why we brought up fragrances. And I think I heard you once before talk about, um, air filters and what have you.
Yes.
Can air filters really help in our homes?
100%.
Okay.
So I will— there are tiers. You can do a whole house HEPA filter, carbon filter, you know, clean air filtration. You can do little portable ones. They're larger. The ones that really work, I use a Jasper, J-A-S-P-R. It's an air scrubber. It's not an air filter. So it's even picking out mold spores at the same time. there in the house. It's down to the most microscopic pollen. Um, I— you can do, you know, 4 or 5 of those. By that time, you're probably at the same amount as a whole house filtration system. I like the portable aspect because they can go anywhere with me, in the sense of if I'm going away for a month to an Airbnb, I can take them with me. Does that make sense?
That's a brilliant idea.
Yeah, I know. I was like, whole house filtration air, and then I was like, I cannot travel with that. We travel so much. So, um, I would, you know, I think when we look at this, if you are unwilling to give up some toxic products, this is going to be a critical step in— I still want to use hairspray, I still want to use, um, fragrance, I really love my perfume, I cannot— I would rather die than give this thing up. You need to be cleaning your air appropriately. So the difference between having an air scrubber in your home for all the things you cannot see, smell, or even, you know, touch in your home is vital to the lungs of the home and your lungs as well. And so I view the air as the lungs of the home. And I always think about it like people say, Nicole, where do you start low-toxing? It's so overwhelming.
Yeah.
And besides one product at a time, I say, Look at the things that you use every day. And they're like, oh, okay, like, like coffee and like my sandwiches. And I'm like, no, not quite. Why don't we take a look at air? They're like, oh, air? I'm like, yeah, air and water.
Yes.
And things that you are using so many times in a day, you don't even think to think about. Start there. Because that's where you're gonna have the largest impact the quickest. And air is one of those to me. So people don't know though that like nonstick cookware or when you burn something on a stove, it is very toxic.
Yes.
Even if what you're cooking is clean and organic and from the local butcher, doesn't matter. So my air filter filtration systems, when I do burn something, will go off into red, clean out the air as fast as it can.
That's great.
Retract any smoke that's come off of my Gas stove, because I'm unwilling to change my gas stove now that we know what we know about gas stoves and the gas that they put into your home. But I have an air scrubber that's then going to remove it. And I think this is functional low-tox living, right? I'm not like, oh, well, crap, I got to get rid of my gas stove that I just paid a lot of money for in my remodel.
Which is a—
Because big deal, right? So now, oh, and now I need to go get a new one. No, I'm not that extreme. I think extremist instills fear and restriction.
Yes.
And when we look at low tox living like that, we give up. Okay, so—
That's a good point.
There are ways around it. There are ways around it to still make it work for you. Air filters, air scrubbers are one of them. So unless you're gonna buy an Air Doctor 5500, it has to be that one. Otherwise it's just not as compatible. Or the Jasper air scrubber, I think it's one of the best on the market. These are my recommendations. They're an investment, but for good reason.
So, this is fabulous. And so, we're talking here low-tox, simple ways to make all this work for every type of homeowner. And if you had 3 simple things that people could take away right now, what could they do?
To low tox?
Yeah, just 3 simple things. Get them started, because most people aren't even doing anything.
That's so true. Um, and for some people it just doesn't work. The idea of doing it is so overwhelming, which is really what they want, by the way. Yes, they— very general statement— but they want you to feel so overwhelmed that you'd rather just go grab it at Target, right? And then they've made Target a huge joy spot. Let's put in a Starbucks and let's make it a happy thing. So then you come back and you just buy the spray and wipe. The problem with the spray and wipe is I think if they put on the bottle like, we'll wreck your hormones, you'll be infertile for 5 years by using this— just might happen, might not happen, but it could happen— people wouldn't pick it up, right? So if we were just honest in our marketing, I think that would be a big thing. So let's just wipe all that clean. The 3 things I would want people to take away is one, low-tox living is not about perfectionism. It is not about being perfect, nor should you feel you need to be perfect in order to live low-tox. That is unattainable. And the number one thing I would like people to take away is simplify it, do the best that you can.
Yep.
And praise yourself when you make a better choice for yourself in the process, because the mindset is the hardest thing. It's the hardest thing to think, oh, but I can just run to the store and grab this, or I can Amazon it. Click, buy, done, done. Oh, it showed up. Okay, look, done. The problem is, is what's in the bottle is not the best thing for you. So I would say mindset. The second thing I would say is start in things that you use every day. Air, water, your pots and pans. I am a ridiculous coffee addict. Ridic. Coffee was like number one. I was like, there's mycotoxins in coffee, mold in coffee. I drink coffee like it's water. We better make a change here. So coffee was a big one for me.
Yes.
You know, other people are like, look, I live low tox, I love Diet Coke. That's okay. Don't shame yourself for that. Go back to number one and change your mindset. Because if you are doing even 50% of it right, the other 50% allows your body to reregulate itself and detox it normally.
Sure.
And that's really what low-tox living is about. It's being able to let your body have a low toxin load in order for it to function and detox you properly, which is why a lot of people say, oh, I low-tox and I like never get sick. Well, you may be getting sick, but your body's now able to fight it. better, easier, and more efficiently. And number 3 is probably, um, find a buddy. It can be a social media buddy. There's buddies everywhere nowadays that's doing it too.
Yes.
Because that will make it easier. So there was a mom that was like, her daughter was sick and she was like, I really need to low-tox. And I was like, well, why don't I make these 5 products, you make these 5 products, and then we'll swap? And she was like, That makes that so much easier. Like, if— are you willing to do that? I'm brilliant. I was like, absolutely. And so we just swap those bottles every 2 weeks, and then we have what we need, and it made it less— lessen the load where you came, you know?
Brilliant. Yeah, you're bringing community together.
Yeah, man, imagine that.
Oh my gosh, we're gonna build better communities around all of this. That is fantastic. So, um, This has been amazing. I am so excited. I mean, like, I could sit here and talk to you for like 5 hours, but really, that's just not going to make it happen. So how can people find you? I already know, but please tell everybody how they can find you because I'm so excited that they actually connect with you.
Yes. So, um, I have a website. It's www.nicolejaques.com. You can find me on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, You can find me at @itsnicolejakes. And those are probably the best 2 avenues to find me at currently. There's a book, it's a non-toxic cleaning cookbook that's coming out January 27th. That is exactly what I've talked about, filling the knowledge gap, making it easy, attainable, and giving you all the tools in your toolkit to feel empowered to do it yourself and make it easy and fun.
Oh, that's so fantastic. Thank you so much, Nicole, for being here. I was so excited for this call. And, uh, for everyone else that's watching, thank you for being with us on Be a Smarter Homeowner podcast. And stay tuned for our next podcast that will be out shortly. And if you like this, if you think anyone could use low toxing, please share this and please like this. And we look forward to seeing you the next time. Have a great day.
Thank you for listening to the Be a Smarter Homeowner Podcast. Visit BeASmarterHomeowner.com to sign up for our newsletter and find out more about software to help you save time, save money, and manage your home.
