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?

stains are usually due to rough surface from limescale build up.
vinegar based lime scale removers work for that.
old house had very bad build up so we used washing machine descaler over night.

and scrubbing with a toilet brush.

A “quick google” will tell you that the worst environmental impact comes from laundry- detergents, fabric softeners, tumble dryer sheets etc, plus dishwasher tablets.

dishwasher tablets are far more of a problem than bleach. It’s far more harmful, if you accidentally ingest or get some in your eye bleach will generally not cause any harm, dishwasher tablets will.

i did a project on household products at uni. Bleach is surprisingly low down the list of problematic chemicals.

Really good cleaners are hard to come by believe me. If she only comes in weekly, buy the bleach, (the smell dosen't last forever.) See if you can reach an agreement over quantities etc. I have tried eco stuff and am not impressed. Don't lose a really good cleaner over one product.

This isn’t a criticism but a genuine question - I use bleach to thoroughly kill (99.9% of) germs and viruses (and also for restoring white to things that have become stained, like white chopping boards and cloths). How does a bit of scrubbing remove ingrained stains (not surface stains - eg tomato or carrot juice soaked into something white) or, even, and more importantly, remove bacteria and viruses?

What on earth is she doing with them? Drinking them???!
We do use a little bit of bleach here (predominantly on things that could have viruses on them, as well as getting white cloths and the annoying white plastic chopping board’s I’d rather not have but struggling to find an acceptable alternative stained by eg fruit juice back to white) but mostly all my cleaning products are Method which I believe is a generally non toxic more environmentally friendly product - they last ages, things look and smell clean, my intense phobia of things not being clean enough is kept at bay and no one has got food poisoning or similar.

FWIW, no I don’t think you ABU. Whilst I entirely understand the cleaner’s preferences for certain products for whatever reasons and she may struggle with what SHE considers ‘inferior’ products, but it’s your HOME. You shouldn’t have to have your home filled with toxic chemicals just to keep the cleaner - that you are paying to clean YOUR home - happy.

That said, it does seem that it’s going to be a decision between toxic chemicals and the cleaner who does a good job, or looking for a new cleaner that is willing to consider your needs.

This was meant to be in response to the lady on page 1 (sorrynotathome) that said she’s over 60 and you don’t need bleach if you’re prepared to use a bit of elbow grease.
for some reason neither of my quotes quoted and I’ve no idea how to edit or remove my posts to do it again!

That's interesting, thanks

That's interesting, thanks

She got through all your Purdy & Figg in ONE visit??

Not a 3 bottle set, surely?

In my house, toilet daily, sinks weekly, bathroom floor weekly, unless I do a spot clean then it's that in addition.

People, please, consider using hypochlorous acid instead of bleach!

The synthetic form of hypochlorous acid destroys a broad spectrum of harmful microbes—including highly resistant spores and viruses such as norovirus. Like most disinfectants, it kills pathogens by penetrating their cell walls.

But compared with bleach, hypochlorous acid has been shown to be more than 100 times more effective at much lower concentrations, and it works much faster.

Hypochlorous acid isn’t new. It’s listed as one of the World Health Organization’s essential medicines and is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use on food products and in certain clinical applications. It’s increasingly used in industrial and commercial settings, such as water-treatment plants, hospitals and nursing homes. It doesn’t irritate the skin, eyes or lungs. In fact, optometrists use it to clean eyes before procedures, and people have been treating wounds with it for more than a century. It breaks down quickly, doesn’t produce toxic waste, and isn’t harmful to animals or the environment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists it as a surface disinfectant for the COVID-causing virus SARS-CoV-2.

This stuff is potent, but it’s also safe and ‘natural’. It’s produced by the body when white blood cells detect something they need to kill.

It’s in some cosmetics and skincare products and it’s used to clean wounds and eyes before surgery.

Why insist on using bleach when there’s something much more effective available - and it isn’t toxic to humans or animals??

Read whole article in Scientific American. The writer makes the limitations clear but also describes how powerful hypochlorous acid is.

Me too xx

You shouldn’t be using bleach to clean things - it’s a disinfectant.

Clean the surface first with soap and water, THEN use bleach as a disinfectant. You need to leave it in place for a few minutes - the surface needs to be visibly wet for this.

Once you’ve left the bleach in place for the correct amount of contact time then you can wipe it away.

If you’re only wiping a bleach-dampened cloth across a surface which dries out quickly you’re not actually doing anything very useful!

Has everyone forgotten we use bleach to sterilise babies bottles?

milton is bleach.

it’s not as toxic as you think.

I use bleach, but only a tiny amount.

Which you have to leave in place for 15 minutes. You can’t just swish a little bit around the inside of a bottle and then pour it out, it wouldn’t be sterilised.

Milton is much weaker than household bleach which is why it’s safer for bottles and it takes longer to disinfect.

From what people have written in comments it looks like they wipe surfaces over with a bit of bleach on a cloth that quickly dries and somehow believe that’s cleaner than using a non-bleach product - even though bleach needs to be left in place WET for 5-10 minutes! 🤦‍♀️

I have 2 large breed, hairy dogs and three of us live here. My spend on cleaning products is minimal - for example, I just use a very hot cloth to wash the floor, no chemicals. We haven't died yet! I read the Mrs Hinch cleaning book and was astonished by the amount of chemicals she uses. And watching tv last week, I was struck by the number of cleaning product ads for products I don't use, like fabric conditioner and dryer sheets, plug in air fresheners etc. I use a steamer a lot and avoid chemicals where I can.

It's annoying when people say, "I don't want a load of chemicals". Chemicals like air, water, vegetable matter, and all food and drink, presumably? Literally everything on the planet is composed of chemicals.

Not that this is what the OP is saying, of course.

Im not disputing that.

You can make your own dishwasher tablets.

If we all continue a mentality that there is always something worse then we will never improve.
Bleach is something quite easily removed from your household products with low impact.

It was across two visits. She used up two of the 3 bottle set. The glass/mirror bottle was not used at all but the other ones were quickly emptied.

I think she was making the point they are just not effective. She has limited English and said something like “smells nice, but no good”😭

i choose to use bleach though as there are worse things.

quick squirt of bleach down sinks and toilets once a week is more effective and uses fewer harmful chemicals than other products.

everything else I use is plant based for floors and surfaces.

it’s a compromise. I could ditch the bleach but then I’d have to find stronger detergents, acid or alkali based products, or oxygen based bleach. And use more of it.

If you want complete control over cleaning products used you have to suck it up and clean your own house- no one who does this for a living is going to fart about with unfamiliar ineffective products because of YOUR commitment to the planet, nor should they- just look at Victorian ladies magazines or even Roman letters and see this fight has been fought and lost by owners since time immemorial. Shut up, or do it yourself.

Hopefully this hasn’t been mentioned (I’ve skimmed the thread!) but I’m also not a big fan of the eco brands nor bleach. I struggled with the overly chemical smells in 2nd pregnancy so started looking at less noxious options then so have tried a lot over the last 7 years! I follow Nancy Birtwhistle and have bought her books. I make up her Pure magic/toilet magic (it’s citric acid) and it’s great on limescale. I buy 5l of the miniml orange general purpose cleaner and the method glass cleaner - only because it smells nicer than vinegar. I make up toilet bombs from citric acid and bicarb and add tea tree and eucalyptus oils to all the bathroom stuff. It’s ball ache making it up, but worth it as it works and my cleaner even got me to make her some of the citric acid spray as it’s so effective in our hard water area, and Viakal was affecting her breathing at home. Purdy and figg smelled great but only the cloth was particularly useful so I’m with her on that! KOH is another brand that’s ok, but again their cloths are brilliant.

Why don't people who want to avoid chemicals use e cloths and a steamer? That's what I do.

As a cleaner sometimes bleach is the only thing which will clean a shitty toilet.