To refuse to buy bleach?

[Eastie77Returns]

First world problem alert.

Our cleaner has asked demanded that I add Domestos bleach to my cleaning products. There's been a bit of an ongoing issue for a while now as I have trialed various eco-friendly cleaning products over the last few months and she generally doesn't like them. I have changed a couple of times in the hope she will get on better with a new range but she has a preference for products that contain high levels of chemicals. I understand they are the go-too products that she trusts but I just don't want to use them.

At the moment she is begrudgingly using the Ecover products I most recently bought. Now she is insisting she needs bleach to clean properly because Ecover doesn't really cut it. I said no as I just can't have it in the house. The smell is one thing but it's so toxic and dangerous (I'm absolutely haunted by an acquaintance whose young child inhaled some). She is a really good cleaner and in high demand. I'm aware she's already given notice to two households on our street because they did not fall in line with her requests (not cleaning product related, something else).

Has anyone used any of the 'natural' bleach products currently out there and were they effective?

I'm surprised cleaners have insurance. When we used one (long time ago), we were told we needed to insure against accidents or any liability to her!

Do you have mold?

The cleaning company I use , do not allow bleach or limescale removal products to be used. The cleaners use other ready available products
its your home and she is paid to do what her cleaning request are. I'll tell you my cleaning company if she walks.

I have chronic asthma . I used to love using Cillit Bang ,it actually took a couple of asthma attacks for me to realise it was the chemicals in the cleaning products. I pay for a quarterly subscription of Purdy and Figg. It os my 'go to ' product for cleaning almost everything. It's a natural oil based product. It can even be used on wood. The only exception is under the loo seats.lids. I use Bar Keepers Friend ( sainsbury's) powder on a wet brush for those . Just say you have developed an allergy to bleach. Surely she can clean without bleach! 😳 Good luck!

Jif cream cleaner or pink stuff paste is excellent for Belfast sinks, I only use bleach to clean toilets

I will try it thank you! I really do hate my sink even though it looks nice! 🤣

So funny, sounds exactly like mine. She also asked for CIF and Flash which I don’t like but bought to keep her happy.

Similarly, she went through entire bottles of eco friendly stuff I bought in two visits but I don’t know if she was just making a point that’s it not very effective as I also can’t imagine what she did with it all. I trialled Purdey and Figg cleaning products with her. She used up the whole range in one visit and shook her head and said no, it’s not good.

Anyway. I will look into some of the alternative Bleach products mentioned but think we will end up parting ways as it seems to be Domestos or nothing. I would be gutted if she left. She leaves me with a very clean house every week and I wouldn’t be able to reproduce what she does.

Nope, not at all.

Fair enough😂

I worked as a cleaner for some years and never used bleach, and never have in my own home. There are plenty of good cleaning products out there that do a great job without all those nasty chemicals, including the fumes that you as either homeowner or cleaner inhale, these are very bad for the chest. There was a statistic of testing lungs of cleaners and was found that many of the non-smokers had lungs as if they were smoking 20 a day, all from using hard core chemicals to clean. It's your house, your lungs, so I'd politely desist using her and find a cleaner that's happier to work to your requirements, I mean, you are the client so she should follow what you want.

Sorry to be the naysayer here- but if someone else is doing the cleaning for you the least you can do is allow her the tiny bit of control that is choosing the cleaning products- all this" bleach doesn't clean" is pointless, what really doesn't clean well is an unhappy and disgruntled cleaner.

Nothing gets my loo clean like bleach does...sorry but im with the cleaner...bought some ecover dishwasher tablets once...absolute rubbish.

I’m a cleaner. One house I clean for has a very sensitive dog … I love bleach but the home owner (& her dog) don’t like it…. I use white wine vinegar on her floors and surfaces and it’s great!

Your house your money your choice .. I hate bleach.. I only use it in the toilets .

"Bleach causes the buildup of chloroform in the air. Elevated levels of chloroform have been found in some New Jersey child care centers due to the mixing of too much bleach with water. Chloroform is a known cancer-causing chemical.

Is there a safer alternative to
bleach?
Yes. Products that contain hydrogen peroxide (HP) as an active ingredient are available in ready to use formulas or concentrate (follow label for
proper dilution).
• HP is an effective disinfectant and sanitizer with a specified “contact time” designed to kill the microorganisms listed on the label.
• HP also rapidly breaks down to water and oxygen and does not leave harmful residues or introduce irritating vapors into the air."

www.nj.gov/health/ceohs/documents/ccc-toolkit/ccc_bleach.pdf

Seems a pretty easy choice to me. I've been using HP instead of sodium hypochlorite bleach for 40 years. Works like a dream. I don't understand why anyone would use SH when a safer and equally effective option is available. People put peroxide in their hair when they dye it and on their teeth to whiten them, yet for some reason they don't use it to disinfect their homes and get rid of stains. It's baffling to me. Cleaning strength acetic acid (vinegar) is also very effective.

That would be the only reason I could think of for requiring bleach in a home setting.

I'm surprised at a lot of the answers here.

Surely you have the ultimate say as it's your home? She's not there out of the goodness of her heart, you're paying her and she's clearly in demand and free to take or refuse the job. If you don't want bleach in your home surely that's kind of the end of it? In her view that would mean your house is a little less clean but she's still getting paid and it's not her who has to live there.

It would be absolutely fair enough if she couldn't feel satisfied leaving your house, in her view, not clean, and leave, but equally surely it's also fair enough for you to have your own rules about what products are ok in your home.

Smol stain gel is amazing

I think you’ll find it’s a lot more toxic than you think, a quick google can tell you that.

If every household uses it then it will obviously be far more harmful.

I am from a culture that loves bleach. It is used for absolutely everything.

You’re right, humans are toxic and one of the reasons we are is because we don’t respect our planet. We kill it, by using chemicals like bleach and not giving a care in the world.

I only use it in toilets as have found eco products don't clean stains v well. If someone can recommend something as effective as bleach I'd use it.

Bleach is awful for the environment as well as toxic. I'm with you.

Also as a responsible employer, I don't want my cleaner putting her own health at risk by using toxic products I'm providing. 😳

Cleaners have shorter life expectancies and health problems related to the toxicity of the products. 😔

Nancy Birtwhistle uses sodium percarbonate, which she calls 'green bleach'. I've used it to great effect, but its a powder, not a thick liquid, so I'm not sure whether its going to help you out.

I've dissolved it in boilingvwater and chucked it down the loo, which bleached out the brown stain while I then put citric acid in to dissolve the limescale. Its a bit more of a faff. But works and is kinder to humans and waterways.

Yes, in the south and other areas which have hard water you get limescale build up.

Aha, fair enough, im NW and the only place ive ever seen any limescale is inside ancient kettles 😂

I didn't try that one, it's not something I ever use. Their cleaning products were shite though, I chucked it all away.

I use mostly vinegar In cleaning but I find the only thing that gets poo off a toilet is bleach. I can ask people to scrub after a poo until I’m blue in the face, but they won’t do it so bleach it is. I find that ecover toilet cleaner crap and the other cleaners I physically feel sick with the smell