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?

TRUE - if you put bleach down a toilet often without flushing (as with a cleaner ''cleaning'' an unused WC) - the bleach will actually remove the porcelain from the bowl and you are left with what is underneath the porcelain i.e. the concrete base of toilet showing through in a grey rough patch where bleach put every day.!

Buy her a bottle. Why make her job harder?!

And yet that hasn’t happened after 15 years of cleaning the same bathroom.

Which part of the house does the claner say needs bleach?

We use it in the loo, alternated with other products, and for getting tea stains of the half sink. We drink a lot of tea but also let quite bit go cold in the pot and ditch it down the sink.

Seriously?

In 45 years of loo cleaning I've never seen bleach remove glaze.

It doesn't though remove limescale which looks like the pot that the pan is made of under the glaze.

I am talking about an unused WC which was not flushed- a second guest WC. . This happened to me .Cleaner put bleach down as part of her routine but never flushed. Did not realise myself till damage done. I presume your bleached WC was used and flushed.

I put it round the toilet overnight, fill up the bin every so often, use it in the washing machine when I di a monthly hot wash washing machine clean, I dilute with t and use it on the floor. And I squeeze it down the sinks every so frequently often.

the eco bleach just doesn’t work, so yeah, the build up will mean her place IS filthy.

I’ve tried vinegar on loads of stuff and so many people swear by it. Same with steam cleaners. I never find them effective. I can only assume that my level of “clean” is much cleaner than those who think vinegar is a magic potion. I can’t help but wonder if vinegar was a miracle potion, why are so few cleaning products vinegar based?

Had this conversation with my cleaner last week. She likes to use it to clean our kitchen sink and we have agreed to trial completely without it. We have Delphis toilet cleaner (have used other eco brands; like this one most) and Bower Collective limescale cleaner (cannot recommend it enough) and just straight citric acid (bought in bulk, crystal form) which gets most things. I have also just bought hydrogen peroxide to get tea stains off white granite which works well. The staining in my sink is a combo of tea and limescale, so using limescale cleaner does the job very well. We really really don't need to be using bleach. Delphis also does a really good stain remover for laundry, while I am here. :)

When I’ve been a cleaner and some of the eco friendly ones you may as well spray water as it just dampens dirt. I did clean a super eco holiday let and white vinegar was my go to product, bicarbonate of soda. I used to use lots of microfibre / eglass polishing cloths so microplastics galore though.

My personal favourite is dettol bathroom spray with oxi action. It would lift off all those copper stains that seem set into the enamel of buildings with interesting private water supplies. No bleach so might be a compromise ?

Useful to know. 👍

I'm a fan of not polluting the earth any more than we are already doing, and have switched to eco friendly products as much as I can. As a biologist with a special interest in history who volunteers in a living museum, I can confirm that carbolic soap and water really does do a good job of hygiene. Vinegar doesn't perform too badly either.

The trouble is that the non-eco friendly versions have been developed to act faster than the eco versions and with less elbow grease. Victorians scrubbed for hours on their hands and knees, whereas we want to mop and be done in less than 10 minutes. I can understand a cleaner not having the desire to take the extra physical work or the time that eco stuff takes (read the contact time needed on your products folks, yes including the non-eco stuff!). She probably also feel that if she doesn't get the finish that she wants in your home, it reflects badly on her.

As an aside - if anybody has found a non-bleach way of removing stains under the water line in the loo, please do share it! I've been using a limescale loo cleaner, thinking it was limescale, but it's not working.

Citric acid. I use it for the bathroom and kettle/sink. For shower/sink,/bath, put it in a spray bottle. For the toilet, I tip it in overnight with some hot water but some just sprinkle it in. And for the bleach fiends - yes it kills germs.

Yes I know natural products contain chemicals. There’s an odd fixation from some on this thread to teach me the errors of my ways. Thanks to those who’ve actually answered my question:)

What are people cleaning their toilet with if not bleach?

Have you got a link? It’s the one thing I haven’t tried.

Soap- washing up liquid.

What needs cleaning? What are you trying to achieve in cleaning it?

The thing is, it’s the place you eliminate waste. It’s literally the place for faeces and urine. How clean does it need to be? Soap is enough.

Soap and water cleans the outside. Soap (washing up liquid) and a brush cleans the inside. I swapped to a silicone brush and it’s useless. Ok for skids but useless for anything else. The old fashioned brush mechanically removes any mineral deposits, with the help of soap for any fatty deposits.

Build up of what though? If you're cleaning with other products, it's still clean! Hot soapy water is still sanitary.

It's very easily available but here's a link

The toilet looks relatively modern. I have no intention of scrubbing around at the bottom of the bowl when a squirt of bleach keeps it sparkling!

bleach triggers my asthma so I really try to avoid it. Not a problem for me as I don't have a cleaner, but if I did, I'd be wanting bleach free products to be useful for that reason.

She's no more difficult than the OP!

Toilet and sink mainly. There are some stains that other cleaning products don't make go away. Also, in the past to get rid of completely tea-stained mugs, a drop in water - they get washed afterwards of course.

"The thing is, it’s the place you eliminate waste. It’s literally the place for faeces and urine. How clean does it need to be? Soap is enough."

It needs to not smell and not have stains.