Complacency can feel comfortable. The thought that one person truly can’t make a difference is often believed. That is, until we have a wake up call. Cancer, motherhood, questioning life’s choices and my desire for freedom, have brought me to where I am today.
In 2000, my Dad was diagnosed with cancer and passed away six weeks later. I had a 13 month old and was 7 months pregnant with our second child. I had been born and raised on our family farm. We had all been blessed with perfect health, so my Dad’s sudden passing was a shock. We had grown our own vegetables, raised our own meat and eggs, drank fresh milk from the dairy cows and our homes water source was directly off a local glacier. Our lifestyle perfectly described “Clean Eating.” However, we would also stain our fences and wash up with farm gas, mix fertilizer with our bare hands, and inhale/absorb all sorts of chemicals inside and outside of our home… I like how Sir Tom Blundell says, “Given our understanding of the way chemicals interact with the environment, we are running a gigantic experiment with humans and all other things living.”
It is often a tragedy in our lives that cause us to want to live healthier; it tends to evoke change. Whose life has not been affected by cancer, allergy or disease? The stats are unprecedentedly higher than in the generations before us. To quote the Consumer Protection Agency, “150 chemicals found in the home are connected to allergies, birth defect, cancer and psychological disorders.” Parents can relate to the heightened awareness to chemicals and our instinct to protect the innocent. After four years of marriage, while I was pregnant, my husband offered to clean the shower for the first time. He didn’t want me inhaling the strong fumes while in the enclosed space of our shower stall. As I looked around, I had an awakening and saw harmful chemicals everywhere. I cleaned regularly with the typical products: Windex, Fantastic, Swiffer for dusting and floors, Pledge, Lysol and Mr. Clean to name a few. I had an arsenal of cleaning products… I am Dutch and I was raised to clean! That said, I also have a free spirit… I like to clean quickly so I can head off and have fun!
When I was first introduced to Norwex, I was both skeptical and excited. I was intrigued that my cleaning time could be reduced by 75%, that all surfaces could be streak-free, shiny, and totally clean just by using water and a microfiber cloth. Norwex offered the highest grade of Microfiber, sized at just 1/200th the diameter of a human hair. Their products had been extensively tested and the EnviroCloth had been used in Norwegian hospitals since 1994. They were tested by the IOS (International Organization for Standardization), which sets the global standard for textiles. Their cloths were also embedded with silver, inhibiting bacteria from growing within the cloth. I determined that if these cloths were effective and approved for cleaning hospitals, they certainly were good enough for our home.
To this day I have never heard a parent claim that they would love to expose their children to a greater number of chemicals. Yet, we smile and take pictures when our little babies kiss the mirror, lick the window and blow bubbles in the tub water. I often paused to ask, how did I clean that surface? I would never allow my child to touch or ingest such harmful products, yet here I was washing, wiping, and spraying them all over surfaces that my children touched, licked, breathed, and smelled. Health Canada says, “Household chemicals are among the top products responsible for injuries and deaths in children under the age of five years.”
My greatest mental hurdle in transitioning to Norwex was that I had connected the smell of cleaning products with overall cleanliness. I truly liked how they made my home smell clean. It took time to realize that a clean home was not a perfumed home. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, cancer affected 1:87,000; now we are facing 1:3. We are human guinea pigs; how will the products we use today effect us in the years to come?
Once you have learned something great, it is impossible to keep it to yourself! To this day, I love teaching anyone who will listen that they can clean without the use of harmful chemicals. I love a clean home, but I don’t like to spend a lot of time working to achieve it and I love sharing that with other home owners.
Whether you purchase your cleaning products from the local store with its aisles filled with chemical-laden product, or from a company like Norwex, we all choose for ourselves how to maintain our homes. Every person chooses how to moisturize and clean his or her skin. Choose wisely as our skin is our largest organ. We are all exposed to a myriad of chemicals daily; the only environment you can truly control is within your own home. Choose Norwex to radically reduce your exposure, these products need not be considered a luxury! We can’t prevent illnesses from occurring but we can certainly be conscientious about the choices we make for ourselves and for our loved ones.
My journey as a Norwex Independent Sales Consultant began in 2006. I am now honored to be the leader of the highest producing Norwex team nationally. With a team of over 4,000 Norwex consultants located across North America, I am humbled to think it all started with my desire to educate my friends and family. I found a great product and felt it was my responsibility to share what I found with others. I don’t sell a product; I educate consumers about a product and let them choose.
Another one of my driving forces is the protection of the environment. We can make a difference, one home at a time. On average, 54 Kilotons of cleaning chemicals are dumped down the drain each year. How great of a cascade effect is that having on the environment? I am on a mission to radically reduce the consumption of disposable products and harmful chemicals, both in my community and across North America. I believe we can affect positive change in the health of our environment. Join my team and share the message in your community.
As we strive to educate our communities across North America, my amazing group of consultants share and empower each other daily. We offer an array of healthy products for cleaning items such as: your kitchen, bathroom, gym clothes, vehicles, boats, and of course your skin.
The Norwex product collection is sourced from more than 12 countries; everything from the raw material to the distribution of finished goods is all certified as Fair-Trade. They are one of only 300 companies operating a factory within China who adhere to the UN Global Compact for employee standards. Norwex has set the bar and they have set it high. A Norwex customer who lives in my area visited the Norwex China factory in 2011; she was absolutely blown away by the incredible working conditions! This is a company I can align myself with wholeheartedly.
Norwex has given me a career with a purpose, flexibility so life can have balance, and self-employment with an excellent income. I am thankful for how my team of consultants impact our society and the homes we can reach. A life will be changed whether we share the product or the business opportunity. We choose to first start in our own home, but as we step into our community we are creating a movement to promote a healthier lifestyle. The growth I have both experienced personally as well as witnessed in my fellow consultants has been an amazing gift. Norwex’s exemplary morals allow me to represent this company with pride.
Chemicals have replaced bacteria as the main threat to health. The diseases we are beginning to see as the major causes of death in the latter part of (the 1900’s) and into the 21st century are diseases of chemical origin. ~ Dr. Dick Irwin, Toxicologist, Texas
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Delores VandenBoogaard is an Independent Norwex Sales Consultant from Edmonton, Alberta Canada with customers and consultants throughout Canada and the United States including; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, North West Territories and Ontario. She also has customers and team members in; Michigan, Texas, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Arizona, Missouri, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, Idaho, Washington, New Hampshire, Iowa and Maine.
