Clean living on a budget
Most people think clean living is for the wealthy and that making clean swaps are too expensive. That is just simply false. I have found that it’s completely possible it just takes some extra work to find budget friendly options. My general approach is to find brands that I trust and vet them accordingly. However, most budget friendly clean brands are not 100% clean so you have to look at them product by product vs. the entire brand/company. What I mean by this is that there is a lot of greenwashing out there! If there’s anything you take from this blog post it’s to buy fragrance/parfum free. If a product does not have “fragrance” or “parfum” on the ingredients list, then it’s most likely a clean option. There are rare occasions where you will see “fragrance**” in this case, it may specify that the fragrance is from essential oils or some other safer form of fragrance.
In a recent survey, most of you told me you’re buying products online so I’ll share budget friendly options you can order online as well as fantastic tools to use to ensure your choosing a cleaner product.
First and foremost, when I started this journey, I loved using the app provided by the environmental working group (EWG) called Healthy Living. It has a search feature and scan feature so you can scan items in the store from your phone. I use the desktop version at https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ Their skin deep database has amazing recommendations and makes it very easy to make clean swaps. For example, you can search “shampoo”, click on the item to learn more and it even provides the website or shopping link.
Another great resource is: The Never List from Beautycounter. This list includes all of the ingredients we promise to never use in any of our products. Our safety standards are above the US, Canadian and EU standards.
When I first started trying clean products, I was a member of Thrive Market. Thrive Market is a great membership and resource for affordable clean options. No monthly requirements, just a yearly membership fee and you can order as needed. Everything is online and you can order anything from soap, cleaning products, chips & salsa, sauces and personal care products. It was a HUGE help to me in the beginning and could be a great start for you. Now let’s dig in!
Shampoo + Conditioner: There are a tremendous amount of options for clean shampoos. Beautycounter, Avalon, Thrive Market, Herbal Essence, Alaffia, Attitude, Shea Moisture and Puracy. Herbal essence has 3-4 options that are cleaner, look up “herbal essence” in the EWG database to see which ones are EWG verified. Just remember, if the product does not have “fragrance” or “parfum'“ in the ingredients, than it’s most likely a safe option.
Baby Products: Pipette, Primally Pure, Beautycounter, Earth Mama, Tubby Tod, California Baby and Puracy. Thankfully there are a lot of cleaner brands out there for baby products that are pretty easy to find in the store too.
Body Wash: Beautycounter, Kosmatology, Rocky Mountain Soap Co., Dr. Bronner’s, and many of the brands in the Shampoo + Conditioner category also sell body wash. Body wash is very easy to find clean, you can always use just a bar of soap as well. There are lots of non-toxic bars of soap!
Body Lotion/Balm: Beautycounter, Primally Pure, Pipette, Dr Bronner’s, Everyone, Attitude, Avalon and Badger Balm. Many of the brands in the above categories also sell body lotion.
Face Wash: Beautycounter, Burt’s Bees, Cocokind, Avalon and Nourish Organic. Skincare was the first category where I stretched my budget because upgrading my skincare was a huge game-changer! The main reason why I stretched my budget here first is because this category is where I was the most wasteful. I would try a product and get a rash, it would dry out my skin or cause some sort of irritation; so in the trash it went.
Face Lotion: Beautycounter, Burt’s Bees and Nourish Organic.
Toothpaste: Tom, Davids, Hello, Bite and Dr. Bronner’s.
Hair Products: Innersense, Ecoslay, Thrive Market and Giovanni. This was the second category I stretched my budget. Because of my curly hair, I needed to find something that worked for me and I wasted a lot of products in the beginning because I didn’t like most of them. Ecoslay makes incredible products and Giovanni was my budget friendly cleaner option. Now I solely use Innersense products, I purchase them once or twice a year and I use all of it!
Soap: Dr. Bronner’s, Puracy, Seventh Generation, Kosmatalogy, Branch Basics and Everyone. Hand soap is another category that’s easy and affordable to find cleaner options. We use Puracy hand soap in reusable glass bottles. I will need to expand more on Branch Basics as it’s the cleaning concentrate we use in our home, although we don’t use it for hand soap as we are personally not fans of foaming hand soap. If you do like foaming hand soap, Kosmatalogy is another great option.
Shave Cream: Kiss my Face, Dr. Bronner’s, Badger Balm and any Soap Bar. Really shave cream is all about your preference in texture. I’m a fan of using a bar of soap to shave my legs, I use the Beautycounter bar of soap because it lasts forever. My husband uses the shave kit from Badger Balm with a brush and he loves it!
Deodorant: Primally Pure, Beautycounter, Type A, Ursa Major and Native (fragrance free). There are an increasing number of cleaner deodorants. Even Suave is hopping on board! I’ve tried almost all of the deodorants I’ve listed and more. Deodorant is a tough product to recommend because some people have reactions to deodorant. Here is my best advice for healthy pits. I use the Beautycounter charcoal bar in the shower to encourage healthy detox and now I use the Beautycounter deodorant. I’m so impressed with it! I used Primally Pure for the longest time until Beautycounter released theirs. If you haven’t made the switch to an aluminum free and more non toxic option, you SHOULD do a detox before you switch. You can also use Bentonite Clay and Apple Cider Vinegar to detox, but I find the charcoal bar much easier.
Perfume: Skylar and Essential Oils. I don’t wear perfume, but I know some people love it. Obviously perfume is a major perpetrator of using “fragrance” so I just stopped using it all together. If you haven’t watched the documentary “STINK” you should go watch it!
Makeup: Well People, Honest, 100% Pure, Juice Beauty, Beautycounter, Pacifica and Thrive Market.
Sunscreen: All Good, Think Baby, Badger Balm and Beautycounter. There are so many good options for clean sunscreens and the key is to get a mineral or physical sunscreen. Avoid oxybenzone, octinoxate, avobenzone and other chemical sunscreen ingredients. You’ll see these in the “active ingredients.” Beautycounter is certainly not the cheapest sunscreen option, but I was so tired of using sunscreens that didn’t blend into my skin well and the Beautycounter sunscreen is so lotiony and silky smooth. The EWG also has an incredible sunscreen guide if you’re looking for other options.
Lip Balm: Badger Balm, All Good, Mongo Kiss, and Beautycounter. These are my three favorite chapsticks/lip balms and some have spf present.
Now here is my disclaimer, I’ve tried most of these brands and products. I don’t usually recommend a product I haven’t tried, but I wanted there to be enough budget friendly options so you know that it’s possible to make clean swaps on a budget.
Early on, I threw away a lot of products because I would buy something and I didn’t like it, my skin didn’t like it, my hair didn’t like it, etc. By increasing my budget, I was able to find brands that I now love and use until they are completely empty and I purchase way less frequently throughout the year. Mostly I raised my budget for skincare, makeup and hair care. I have very curly hair and sensitive skin so I wanted to find products that met my safety and performance standards. Once you decide what you value, the decisions become easier. I spend less money on clothes, so I have more freedom to buy premium personal care products. I rarely buy shoes, I stopped dying my hair, I rarely go to nail salons and I deeply care about the safety of my products. By prioritizing what I value, it makes it easier to spend the money and there’s a budget for it.
I hope this post encourages you to start making clean swaps. Clean living on a budget IS possible. If you’re curious about the products I use, check out the “Brands I Love” page and learn which products are worth splurging on. I spent years trying out clean products and I gotta say, IF it’s about convincing your husband to spend the money on cleaner products, my husband cringed every time I threw away products that weren’t used in order to just find a new one. It was wasteful and more expensive. Now that we have brands we love, he is absolutely on board with our new lifestyle. Not to mention, after getting my hashimoto diagnosis and struggling with fertility, he understands the value of using cleaner products.
If you’re still not quite convinced, stick around. There is a lot more to share in regards to why clean living matters and how it can be sneaky and negatively affect the health of your family.
