Clean Nest Homes co-owners Katie Lother and Angela Ducklinsky. Photos: Skylar Rae
Plymouth sisters create an all-purpose, nontoxic cleaning spray.
After years of owning and managing Clean Nest Homes, an all-natural cleaning service, co-owner Katie Lother began noticing a worrying trend. “I loved cleaning, but by the end of the day, I would have a headache because I was using bleach and commercial cleaning products. I started realizing how it was affecting my body,” she says.
“You research these products, there are so many known carcinogens. It’s on our floors, in our air, our kids and pets are being affected,” Lother says. “Some are so strong, they are ruining the surfaces of our home and changing the air quality, too.” Lother notes that these products may make cleaning easier because of those harsh chemicals, but they leave behind films and introduce toxins into the home.
Luckily, Lother and her co-owner sister, Angela Ducklinsky, have already begun bottling a solution.
The idea for their brand of all-purpose cleaning sprays, The Clean Nest, originated from the way they thanked their clients at Christmastime. “We were using pure essential oils in a base soap that left people’s homes with a really fresh scent.” Lother says. “So we bottled an all-purpose spray for my friends to try and left it as a gift for our clients.”
The duo works with a local company to create essential oils to mix into a castile soap base. Since their original rosemary-mint blend, they’ve branched into other natural, plant-derived scents like juniper-clove, fresh basil and lemon-mandarin. “Sometimes, we want to smell it to prove it’s cleaning,” Lother says. But, for the scent-sensitive, there’s also the unscented pure blend.
The Clean Nest brings more to the table (and chairs and countertops) than just an effective surface cleaner. Its concentrate serves as a refill for the surface cleaner, which can also be added to a bucket of water for larger cleaning projects; its essential oil blend can be used in home diffusers, wool dryer balls and added as a freshener to sink drains. The company is also developing a non-abrasive, essential oil-based cleaner for showers, bathtubs and toilets to help make those cleaning projects a little easier, too.
Natural Solutions
The Clean Nest aside, Lother says there are other natural methods
of cleaning to explore.
“Once in a great while, you’ll come across something that’s moldy, and you will need a little bleach. A lot of times tea tree oil, baking soda and some lemon juice does the trick,” Lother says.
She also suggests opening your shades and letting light into your home, getting your carpets and air ducts cleaned and adding some house plants to help purify your air.
The Clean Nest
Facebook: The Clean Nest
Instagram: @cleannestliving
