Bleach use in your home

[Pink Elephant]

In lieu of coming down with a bug of some kind over the past several days (sore throat, tired, no energy), I thought of how I use bleach in my home, and what an insightful topic it would make.

Do you restrict the use of bleach to laundry only?

If you use bleach when laundering, how often do you use it? Every wash-load? Once weekly? Once monthly? When needed?

Do you use bleach for disinfecting? If so, for what (and how)?

Do you wash floors using a mild bleach and water mix?

How about bleach use in the kitchen?

What about the bathroom?

How about outdoors?

 

[Pink Elephant]

Do you restrict the use of bleach to laundry only? Absolutely not. When my kids were babies I used to prepare a mild bleach mix solution weekly and wash-down the crib railings, the lids of the diaper pails (the handle part) - and when cleaning the pails themselves, the vinyl changing pads, the rubber sheets I used to protect the mattresses of the cribs (at time I was changing the cribs), the baby potties, and hard plastic toys and things the kids were always using and playing with.

If you use bleach when laundering, how often do you use it? Every wash-load? Once weekly? Once monthly? When needed? Towels, bed linens, and unmentionables get a dash of bleach with every laundering, and when my kids were at the baby stage, diapers were laundered with bleach every washing, though I was always careful to keep it mild. Bleach and detergent residue can lead to diaper rash and irritation. Rubber pants got a bleaching, too, when they started to smell, and diaper pins used to get an occasional bleach treatment also.

Do you use bleach for disinfecting? If so, for what (and how)? Sure do. Every now and then, particularly over the course of the winter season, I go through the home and wipe-down the likes of doorknobs, handles, etc.

Do you wash floors using a mild bleach and water mix? I have in the past, and used to on a regular basis when my kids were babies and at the crawling stage.

How about bleach use in the kitchen? Oh, yes. Once a week I soak the dishcloth in one of the sinks (overnight) to freshen, whiten, and disinfect. Been doing that for decades.

What about the bathroom? Occasionally, yes, like after company visits... also remember when my boys were first learning to pee in the toilet. They always missed and dribbled on the floor and bowl.

How about outdoors? I have in the past to clean our hard plastic chairs, and to whiten and remove stains from concrete.

 

[BusynMember]

My husband really hates bleach so I dont use it around him. He is retired now....so you get the picture.

I never used it all that much because of the watery eyes and coughing. In the winter I didnt use Occupational Therapist (OT) at all because I needed my windows and doors opened to clear it out of the house. Never laundered with it.
My kids were out of cribs very young so cant remember how I washed them.

I mostly used bleach for my bathroom.

 

[Pink Elephant]

SOT. I'm actually not a fan of the smell of bleach either, nor vinegar, which my mom used to wash floors with, but just knowing bleach works, well now, that's enough for me to put up with a little bleach smell from time to time.

 

[BusynMember]

Its not the smell. Its how it bothered my eyes and made me cough. It cant be good for us and Im sure i wouldnt have used it around my kids or on their things.

Vinegar is harmless but it smells so bad that I only use it to clean out my coffee pot.

I prefer nice smelling cleaners.

 

[Pink Elephant]

I'm a nice smelling, store-bought cleaner girl myself, but sometimes mixing a batch of good old-fashioned bleach cleaner wins-over.

The scent of bleach doesn't affect me adversely when I'm using it. In fact, I love the fresh scent of bleach in towels and bedding and things after washing.

I've used vinegar in the electric water kettle and it got rid of all of the calcium and hard-water buildup.

 

[BusynMember]

The smell of bleach isnt the problem for me. I think that it isnt healthy or we wouldnt have strong reactions to the chemicals. Having said that, I did use things like Tilex for kitchen but feel it was quite watered down. I still opened the windows. But I wont use it at all if it bothers my hubby. He does a lot of the cleaning too and he buys Simple Green. I am more apt to use a generic Comet type cleaner but I will hereafter make sure I dont breathe it in lol.

For floors I like generic Pine Sol. I like the smell. There is one that smells like lavandar and that is my favorite.

 

[Pink Elephant]

We tried Simple Green one year and loved the scent, and it's action. A great cleaner.

As for powdered cleaners, they're cancer causing, not that all chemicals aren't, just that powdered cleaners are the worst, so those are 100% out as an option for me.

When Pine-Sol changed it's original scent and quit using real pine nuts, I quit buying it. The current scent is off-putting to me. I now use Lysol, Power Fresh (Spring Waterfall).

One of the must haves I won't budge on related to store-bought cleaners, is they have to be 99.9% disinfecting effective against germs. A lot of the special scented cleaners aren't.

 

[BusynMember]

Lol you think about it more than me.

I once read that its better not to buy all disinfectants or else kids dont build up immunity to germs. I never thought of it...my kids were never sickly. Now its just hub and me. I am not that picky and I dont really like Simple Green but I use it sometimes because its there lol. Often I just buy whats on sale

For the laundry I especially buy whats on sale and dont really seperate colors nor does hubby when he does it. We usually wash cold with whatever we have. It works. Clothes get clean. A dryer sheet makes everything smell great!

Also we buy mostly black socks instead of white and i dont wear socks in tje summer. Easy peasy

 

[Pink Elephant]

I've read the same related to young children and them building their immune systems through exposure to germs, dirt, etc.

SOT. Shame on you! LOL! Not separating your darks, from the whites, and the whites from colours, and so on and so forth, means you'll never enjoy true honest-to-goodness whites. Even lighter colours will be effected by washing with darker colours.

I know, I know... not everyone is as staunch about separating as me.

 

[BusynMember]

Pink....we dont buy white clothes lol.

I have other things that bring me pleasure. They are not related to cleaning anything...lol.
..

 

[Pink Elephant]

Oh, I know, I know, SOT, I'm partially being a nanny to you AND teasing you.

I've learned your style and can only dream of being as relaxed as you.

 

[BusynMember]

Haha. I am NOT a relaxed person in general. I am very high strung. Just not about things like housework.

 

[Pink Elephant]

Haha. I am NOT a relaxed person in general. I am very high strung. Just not about things like housework.

You're such a silly-willy, SOT! LOL!

 

[BusynMember]

You are too, pinky winky.

 

[Pink Elephant]

I happen to be using bleach right now. It's laundry day today.

Towels, panties, underwear, bedding, and a few of dear husbands sports shirts.

 

[GoingNorth]

I use a cleaners that contain bleach for things that need disinfecting such as the toilet, and some kitchen stuff.

I used to use a bleach solution to wash the litter pans, but discovered over the years that some cats find it very irritating even if the pans are well-rinsed afterwards.

Back in the horse days, bleach solutions were commonly used around the barns as a disinfectant, and even used directly on the soles of horses' hooves for certain fungal/bacterial infections, so long as there were no open wounds. (We now have better, safer stuff.)

Bleach works by turning by releasing hydrochloric acid. That's why it's so irritating to the eyes and respiratory tract, and also why if used full strength it can burn holes in clothing.

 

[Pink Elephant]

So nice to see you on the boards, GN!

I've been missing you lately. Seems you haven't been visiting as much these days, and I can feel your absence. Hope all is well.

I've been known to wash the hummingbird feeders using a mild bleach and detergent solution every so often, and to date there hasn't been so much as an issue, contrary to what I have read and been told. I do think thorough and proper rinsing is paramount when using bleach.

Very interesting about bleach being used in barns for horses back in the day.

 

[Lil]

I do keep bleach around the house, but very seldom use it. In fact, I can barely remember the last time I used it for anything. When we finally put down carpeting in the basement - that is to say after my cat dies because she's the reason we can't put down carpeting in the basement - I will probably clean the cement floors with a pretty strong bleach solution. Since I'm waiting for the cat to die, you can probably imagine why. Bleach mixed with dish soap (dawn) in one of those dish-washing scrubber wands makes a really good quick-clean tool for the shower. I used to keep a spray bottle of bleach water, but right now I can't remember why! I think probably the shower again.

We always take bleach when we camp, for doing dishes. A tiny bit in the dish-rinsing water and I don't worry about the fact that I'm probably doing dishes in water that's far too cold to do the job of disinfecting.

 

[Pink Elephant]

Lil. Excellent point about camping and cold dishwater and using a little bleach.

As for carpeting, no more carpeting for us when we can afford to get rid of the carpeting that we have. I've disliked carpeting for as long as I can remember. I liken carpeting to clothing that never get's laundered.