Too many chemicals are used in cleaning

[Oldermum84]

I love watching cleaning accounts on Instagram. It gives me motivation to clean my home, though the reality is often difficult with a young child and baby. But.... It gets me thinking about how many chemicals are used in some homes and whether this is actually worse for us...?

For example, the main lady I watch does a normal clean daily involving:

-A foam spray on bathroom sink and bath
-A different spray on the mirrors
-Chemical wipes on the blinds
-Toilet cleaner
-Chemicals used to mop
-Stuff on the carpet before vacuuming
-Fabric spray on sofas and bed
-A different spray on the sink and dish rack
-A different spray on the worktops
-A different spray on all table tops
-Etc etc etc etc

Do most people use lots of chemicals in their homes?!

I must admit I am very slovenly compared to this..I use toilet cleaner and a spray for the bathroom... I have wipes in the bathroom to be used for the loo seat etc as and when needed. But I hardly use anything apart from that. In my kitchen I mainly just use a sponge and washing up liquid. I have antibac spray but dislike the thought of it getting into foods we're eating. I use a steam mop without chemicals unless there's a bad spill when I use a spray too.

I grew up in a house with an old school lone dad who hardly cleaned at all so was never taught to use so many products.

YABU: that many chemicals is normal, you are gross.

YANBU: too many chemicals is bad for you.

It totally depends on the chemicals. If
you clean with white vinegar and bicarbonate of soda, both of those are chemicals. You need to be more
precise about your concern.

Those cleaning accounts are absolute lunacy. Most people don’t use masses of stinky products like those obsessed weirdos.

Aside from those pedantic types going on about the definition of "chemical", I absolutely agree that there are too many dodgy ones used in cleaning products. I use white vinegar, that's about it.

We don't know the dangers of long term use of some of the stronger ones. Pointless and also leads to more allergies and so on in kids.

I bought myself Nancy Birtwhistle's green cleaning book and now make some of my own. Totally agree there's way too many uses by lots of people. I have a loo cleaner and one home made spray in the bathrooms. A multi surface M&S cleaner in the kitchen that does most other things, white vinegar based one for glass, and one floor cleaner liquid. I do own disinfectant but a bottle lasts me years as I know how toxic it is to aquatic life. My house is clean and cleaned regularly, and we are rarely ill.

Some of the mad cocktails people make mixing cleaners is downright dangerous. Yes even bicarb etc is a chemical but it's not quite in the league of mixing bleach and disinfectant.

Everybody is slovenly compared to this description!

Those insta accounts are ridiculous. But that's why they're noticed. But also think the whole "Purdy & Fig" advert train of thought is also daft.

I use cleaning products in a way that I think of as proportionately. Ie daily wipe down of kitchen surfaces with a light antibac spray. But when I'm doing a "deep clean" the bleach kitchen spray comes out

I use a diluted soap spray and a diluted white vinegar spray. Occasionally bicarbonate. That's it. They're chemicals but pretty straight forward ones that are known not to impact human health.

I would love to use less harsh chemicals and have reduced in certain areas but when it comes to the bathroom and kitchen, we live in a really hard water area and some things just don’t cut it

I’m on the fence here. I don’t think it matters that there is a different product for different areas (presumably this just means each product bottle lasts longer individually). However some of the areas are bonkers. I don’t think carpets and sofa/beds routinely need spraying with anything. I use washing up liquid for my worktops, method kitchen spray for my sink and glass cleaner for my taps. That is 3 different products/chemicals. Would just using one of those be better?

Vinegar should work? Spray on, leave a few minutes, then wipe clean.

The papers are full of stories about sewage going into rivers and seas - but not about people basically tipping toxic chemicals down the drain, where they stay in the water that goes into rivers and seas (or require similarly toxic, energy intensive treatment processes to remove them).

All those cleaning products tend to be multi surface cleaner with different scents then they whack on another pound or two calling it bathroom spray or whatever.

You can't make your home sterile and if you could, it would be bad for your health. Plus life is too short to scrub your sink daily.

Basic cleaning products work fine. Hot soapy water and elbow grease work fine.

PS op I hope you're not flushing those toilet wipes...

Next time you use a lemon, sprinkle salt on the empty skin and scrub taps. Natural abrasive and acid. Rinse off.

Well you're going to get a smart alec popping up and saying that everything is a "chemical", even water.

But I agree. It's all marketing nonsense, we don't need all the antibac and plastic disposable wipes, and endless plastic bottles and microfibre cloths which release micro plastics into water and all the rest of it.

We have Stardrops all purpose cleaner - orange stuff - which I dilute and use in a spray bottle for everything. No carpet sprays, fabric sprays, and I actively avoid anti-bac anything.

I'm a fill up the sink with washing up liquid or a washing pod, wipe down surfaces, bathroom I have one spray and a toilet cleaner.

I used a damp cloth for dusting.

So I also watch those Instagram accounts and shocked by the amount of products they seem to need.

White vinegar / isopropyl alcohol / water mix for me. This cleans pretty much everything. Periodic bleach down the loo and that's about it.

my kitchen I mainly just use a sponge and washing up liquid. I have antibac spray but dislike the thought of it getting into foods we're eating

In terms of actual chemistry, can you tell me why it’s OK to eat traces of washing up liquid but not antibac spray?

You need to swap to watching Nancy Birtwistle's Insta - she is at the other extreme where everything can be sorted with some lemon and bicarb.

I have absolutely no idea! I guess it's just in my head that I wash up plates and cutlery with it so it must be ok to ingest some. Whereas I wouldn't wash up with antibac spray. I would assume there are harsher chemicals in the antibac. But as I say I really don't know!

Thanks I will definitely look this up 😃

I think most of us have been brought up to spray sprays everywhere and think of that as cleaning. When I had a cancer scare I suddenly thought "why?". Do I need this "kitchen spray"? Do I need this "bathroom spray"? Have they given me cancer? Some of them are absolutely noxious, they give you thumping headaches and pollute the water.

Like someone else I now just wipe down my kitchen surfaces with a blob of washing up liquid. Far less toxic and works fine! The bathroom I mainly clean with liquid soap and descale with vinegar. I do sometimes use toilet cleaner due to hard water, but I'm not spraying it everywhere. I also have a steam cleaner for non-toxic sanitising.

Citric acid is descaler. I use it in my bathroom down the loo with hot water to descaler. Vinegar also works.

Nancy is the queen! I now use lemons to soak in the white vinegar to get rid of the vinegary smell and my cleaners use more lemon essential oil + orange and herbal ones like thyme and rosemary and the house smells absolutely gorgeous.

Making your own bicarb based carpet/rug/mattress powder is cheap and easy. Bicarb, plus scent of your choice. Use soap crafting sites to find essential oils or perfume oils.

And it's cheaper than all the fake perfumed stuff, and way better for the environment and probably us too. Youngest kids old school polos get cut up into cleaning cloths, old socks for dusters. It's not hard to save money and still have a clean fresh home.

I find it hard to understand why anyone with 2 young children would find time or motivation to watch someone else cleaning.

Madness.

Insta is no essential!

I don't use it.

You need a few very basic products.

I'm old enough to be your Mum and my house is clean.
In my house I have-

washing up liquid (use on worktops and kitchen surfaces)

bleach - for toilets and wiping some surfaces (diluted) if there's been contact with raw chicken.

Spray white vinegar- for cleaning windows

Cif- for an extra clean of wash basins

Flash or Cif or Method floor cleaner for hard floors

Shower/bath cleaner with limescale remover (but washing up liquid doubles up as a bath cleaner.)

Several microcloths
Dusters

Antibac is harmful.
You can remove bacteria simply with hot water and soap/ liquid detergent on any surface.

I use hot water and washing up liquid for most things, especially in the kitchen so cupboards, fridge freezer, microwave etc. and I also use it for things like cleaning the sofa. I have an antibacterial spray for the counter tops.

For other general surfaces around the house I'm currently using the purdy & fig cleaner which I was given. It smells lovely but the smell doesn't last unfortunately. I like wood silk for my wooden furniture.

Bathroom I use the flash liquid bathroom cleaner, it is the best thing I have ever tried it just cleans everything wonderfully including the glass and mirrors. It's quite hard to find in the shops now so I stock up where I can. I also use a Harpic pine toilet cleaner.

White vinegar spray for other mirrors.
Hard Floors & windows are soap and hot water again.

That is quite a few different products when added up and I could probably do with just hot water and washing up liquid for most of it but with things like the bathroom cleaner, it just does a better job/ less work.

I don’t get sucked into the commercials advertising all those sprays. I only buy a de-greaser for the gas hob, wash up liquid and bleach. Sometimes an all purpose cleanser for the floors.

My mother never had them apart from bleach and washing up liquid and none of us died. It’s all a con. We don’t need them but the adverts play on our insecurities.

I think it's more than clear what OP is trying to say.