What/how much cleaning do you do daily?

[minieggsqueen]

Just curious as my boyfriend says I do way to much anti bac cleaning of surfaces! (I have diagnosed OCD & anxiety).

Daily I:
•Wash up at least twice
•Wipe down all kitchen surfaces & cupboard/fridge door handles with anti bac wipes.
•Wipe front door and other door handles/baby gates with anti bac wipes.
•Wipe remotes & tables down with either anti bac spray or wipes.
•Put at least 2 loads of washing in & out on the driers.
•Anti bac spray the sink before bed and clean it.

Weekly I:
•Bleach and anti bac wipe the toilet
•Clean the bath
•Anti bac spray the sink and rinse with hot water (usually do this sometimes 3x a week)
•Hoover twice (Boyfriend does this usually)

Am I crazy or to neurotic?
We ran out of anti bac wipes yesterday and I've been freaking out about not having them! He's just gone off to the shop to get an emergency supply before I go to Aldi tomorrow for a big stock up.

3 months?! Crikey.

But the thing is the wipes aren’t actually any ‘cleaner.’ I see that they are a safety mechanism and I do get that, but why not spend some time following up with some research as you’ll save yourself money and the environment.

PS - please don’t call everyone environment huggers when we are just trying to protect the planet. Pollution and associated issues are a far greater threat to you than these germs that you are endlessly trying to kill.

@longwayoff 3 months? What do you mean? I just woke up, sorry!

@Butteredghost Thank you, yes, struggling atm. That's true- I really need to look into challenging my behaviours and using a damp cloth. If anything it'll be cheaper. Maybe I could buy a bulk amount that I can wash then make sure I have enough for a week, then wash them all on a Sunday?

@Yabbers Not entirely sure why the problem is with my boyfriend? He's supportive, loves me & I love him.

"If you really do have ocd"
Ha. Why the hell would I go to all this trouble of making a thread and answering questions if I didn't?😂😫

Buy a load of cheap flannels use one a day. Then every week boil wash them in a pan on the stove. I use old face cloths they’re great and last for ages plus can be bleached or boiled.

Wipes are the devil

@tangledyarn The thing is, I've been under CAMHS and I've been under the adult mental health services. On both I've had 3 courses of CBT altogether. None involved exposure therapy and no more has been offered as my psychiatrist said other therapists will be reluctant to work with me as it looks like 'I'm not complying' with the previous CBT.

I've been to my GP a thousand times, they can only refer me to the mental health services I'm already under.

@Eatmycheese not quite sure wipes are the devil, I can think of ten things immediately that I associate as being evil. Wipes are not one.

@Snuffalo thank you. I take clean freak as a compliment tbh😂 rather be clean than dirty!

@minnie I was being a bit tongue in cheek

But they aren’t great and I don’t think they’re that good st cleaning plus they dry out very quickly if you don’t use them up ASAP...

@ShirleyPhallus

I don't know if anyone has said this but would it help that anti bacterial wipes can contribute to resistant bacteria? Hot water & soap or flash or something is actually better. Wash your cloths when you do a wash. Once a week here btw (we have a cleaner).

That's confusing as usually the only treatment would be offered is exposure and response prevention (erp) maybe you've had it and didn't know what it was called. Worth discussing again with the team you are under..but you will need to really invest and engage with it to work which can be hard and lots of people struggle to do that.

Sorry minnie, someone upthread changing bedding 3 monthly. Found that a bit startling.

@longwayoff ooh yeah you're right, that is a bit crazy

Yes you should cut down on the wipes and please say you don't flush them! The only time I use a disposable wipe is for the toilet rim etc, for everything else washable cloths. I'm curious as to how you can have a dog in the house if you're so germ phobic though...

@tangledyarn everything I've been offered has been called CBT. It has had elements I suppose of trying to encourage exposure therapy like 'this week you will put makeup on without washing your hands' for example, but never anything productive that's actually helped! I need the support in the moment. Not in a therapy session iyswim?

@TildaKauskumholm answered this further down thread, the dog helps my anxiety. He's great when I have panic attacks and gets me out the house for walks. We don't let the dog in the other areas of the flat so it's not dirty.

No I don't flush the wipes.

Too frequent? good luck, I hope things improve for you.

Your thread really got me thinking. Family of 5 here. 2 adults, 2 teenagers, 1 baby and two small dogs my daily routine is:-
*Wash up 2-3 times
*wipe down all fronts
*zoflora sink
*bleach table top
*wipe all window sills and open windows
*hoover and spray mop all down stairs
*hoover all upstairs
*wipe over cooker/hood
*clean all bathrooms and toilets (3 with bleachy cloth)

• dust top too bottom *brush patio and front path
• 2 loads of washing/drying & fold put away *clean and air dog bed

Weekly:-

• under sofa *windows inside and out *front door
• under washer/fridge/dryer/cooker *inside washer/dryer/fridge/cooker *mirrors *bedding *skirting *hand wash floors *table/furniture legs *hoover sofa *tidy inside all storage cupboards and wardrobe. *wipe inside of food cupboards *dush light shades *tidy garden/clean wheelie bins/brush drive *ironing

I might of missed somethings. I also have my own cleaning company which I work at 5 evenings a week plus paperwork monthly. I don’t have ocd I just consider myself “my normal”. It doesn’t interfere with my family life I take my ds out to park/groups weekly and he has toys he plays with out every day and we walk dog albeit not far because of age now. I don’t worry about visitors or their germs with teenagers I can’t they have to have friends home.
I personally don’t use wipes because of the environment and cost. I also don’t think they clean things properly. I have various cloths for different jobs. Eg red cloths for toilets, blue for bathroom and green for kitchen that get washed in the washing machine weekly. Hot soapy water is actually a much better cleaner OP there’s nothing that good old hot soapy water can’t clean and a spray bleach on a cloth for bathrooms kills the germs & cleans just fine. I felt that using kitchen towel for windows/mirrors weekly was wasteful so changed to a really good wash leather cloth. I also don’t have a inside bin. Every thing goes straight into recycling/rubbish/garden bins outside as I hate plastic bags.

Yeah reading that back^^ i sound a tad cleaning crazy.

I only specifically clean the downstairs loo when DS has had a poo and it's stuck on the sides. Otherwise, it gets cleaned maybe once a week with loo paper and a quick spray. I never use wipes.
I try not to clean the main bathroom loo as DH is meant to be responsible for that as he uses it the most but I cave if we've got visitors and it's looking obviously minging.
I have the opposite to OCD in that I can happily live with a certain degree of dust and clutter. We have a dog and 2 cats too.
I can't imagine how stressful it must be to suffer from genuine OCD. You have my sincere sympathy OP.

I do use an anti bac wipe in the kitchen about 5 times a day...but i will look into alternatives

Every day...

Wipe kitchen with wipe and sweep
Put 1/2 washes in and put them away/ leave them in children's bedrooms
Tidy living room and hoover if necessary (and hall)

Then every week day i have a room or two to dust and hoover or in the case of the kitchen give it a proper wipedown

So about 30 minutes a day during the week, i get very lazy at the weekend
Make bed

ere’s nothing that good old hot soapy water can’t clean

See its funny, big clean of the kitchen i use a cloth and hot soapy water, daily wipe i use an actual wipe

Will look at clothes a bit more

I don’t think people are attacking the wipes to be horrible - Op did in fact say that not having any in the house causes anxiety, so if you can find something else that works that you don’t ‘run out of’ aka cloths then you are managing many different elements of the situation. Wipes are convenience only really, and the types you buy in Aldi are just wasting OP money and a gimmick that fool you into buying more and more and more!

I work in the NHS and the proper disinfectant (not ‘anti-bac’) wipes are expensive but are only meant for wiping over equipment they are NOT used cleaning hospitals to prevent spread of infection. I am happy to share with you how this works.

CBT can work - I’ve had it. But you have to be ready and open to it, if you aren’t then it isn’t as effective. I suggested earlier finding new interests and you didn’t respond to me, this may be the key you need to take a risk on and push yourself. You know anxiety can be very irrational and part of living with it is challenging it - not letting it define or beat you

I fling the crimbs off the worktop onto the floor and then let the roomba hoover it and I just wipe down with a sponge and soapy water.

I use soapy water for just about everything, most cleaning sprays are really strong smelling and make me wheeze.

DH tackles the bathrooms with the industrial smelling cleaners.