Annie B. Bond

Author Annie B. Bond is an authoritative voice on health-friendly, eco-friendly living — as well as an energy healer with certification as a Reiki Master, One Light Healing Touch Master, and as a sound healer. She has an expert eye for hidden pollutants (honed by her own experience with chemical poisoning) and has become one of America's most trusted and insightful guides to making healthier, greener choices in everyday life. Annie’s first book Clean and Green was a bestseller and a sign that our world is hungry for healthy, nontoxic alternatives to household cleaners, furnishings, gardening products and remodeling materials made with synthetic chemicals. Her latest book Home Enlightenment is a comprehensive handbook to making your home a healthy, eco-friendly sanctuary. Visit homeenlightenment.com for more on Annie's work.

Painting is surely one of the easiest and most budget-friendly decorating tricks to brighten up your home. And if you use paint that’s safe for both for you and the environment, you can’t go wrong (except, of course, when the color looked so different on your wall than it did in the store … ).

Don’t think eco-friendly natural window cleaners really work? Gotten streaks when you’ve tried them in the past? Try these nontoxic cleaning formulas and tips. You’ll never go back to commercial, chemical-based cleaners again.

Most of the outdoor furniture you’ll see at your local big box stores is plastic or metal, but there is a wide array of outdoor furniture made with natural fibers or other eco-friendly materials. Here’s a guide to five types of materials to look for in eco-friendly patio or deck furniture:

I don’t make many mistakes when it comes to keeping toxic chemicals out of my house — and off my property. I have an eagle eye for such things because of my experiences with chemical sensitivity and my longtime work to help others avoid harmful chemicals. But now and then the wool gets pulled over my eyes, or I go into denial when I should know better. Case in point for me: pressure-treated chromated copper arsenate (CCA) treated wood.

Especially when there are flu and virus outbreaks in your community, added protection against germs is often warranted. Try these homemade essential oil mists — an easy way to add antiviral and antibacterial yet natural scent to your home. They are proven allies in the fight against germs, and they don’t pose the health dangers of many store-bought disinfectants.

If you could wave a magic wand over the world and turn a toxic product into a pure, eco-friendly version, what would you transform first? For me, my number one choice would be pesticides. Hands down. My reason does have a lot to do with the fact that I was severely poisoned by organophosphate pesticides in 1980 and was in the hospital for three months.

Honestly, I am not one to think that women need to have face-lifts and skin tighteners to be beautiful.But sometimes a girl just needs some help to feel good about her looks, and this simple mask does the trick. It comes from a Swedish woman I knew, a friend of my mothers who had the loveliest skin of any elderly woman I have seen. She used this mask every day.

I was surprised when some friends of mine recently installed cork floors in their bathrooms. I’d heard that chefs love cork floors for their kitchens because it is 50 percent air and very buoyant. It is also incredibly durable, as is noted in the New York Public Library, where the 50-year-old floors are as good as new despite heavy traffic. But bathrooms?

Using toxic chemicals is so last century. If you’re still doing your spring cleaning the same way you always have, this is the year to change it up — and save money in the process. Make these 5 updates and clean the house top to bottom without taking a toll on your health or your wallet.

Do you hang dry-cleaned clothes in your bedroom closet? If so, guess what you are breathing all night long: a probable carcinogen. Dry cleaning chemical fumes depress your central nervous system as they waft around the room. If this isn’t exactly your idea of a healthy sanctuary, try wet-washing as one alternative to conventional dry cleaning. Here’s how.