Cleaning with bleach

[FindMeInTheSunshine]

I see people talking about bleaching their bathroom/kitchen/entire house to clean it, but I don't understand how! I'm very wary of bleach as I've ruined too many clothes in years gone past, so now I only use it in the loo, and we have a bleach spray we use on white chopping boards. So, what do you do to use it on work surfaces or cleaning generally? Presumably dilute it a lot? What cloth do you use, and doesn't that just get full of bleach so would have to be equally treated with suspicion and thrown away or straight into the washing machine before it touches anything else!

PS, I do clean the bathroom, just not with bleach...

Bleach isn't for cleaning, it's for whitening and disinfecting.

I put a little round the inside of the loo when I clean it and occasionally down plugholes. A little goes a long way. Every so often I might use it to clean the inside of badly stained mugs.

I remember maybe a year ago when I got accused of chucking it down the loo. How times have changed.

A bottle lasts ages.

Same here. I just use a tiny bit in the kitchen sink/plug hole for disinfecting after I have cleaned the sink.

Hi I am trying to find whose who have experienced cleaning with only white distilled vinegar, as I no longer trust all the cleaners out there because I read in a national newspaper that bleach (contained in some cleaners)
is suspected of contributing to cancer and so using it neat maybe not a good idea and searching on internet keeps me coming back to distilled white vinegar. I had always used bleach for toilets but
gave up when reading this.
I also think that many cleaning products can affect our ability
to breathe better if we are asthmatic and even more so if a baby/child with or without asthma.
So is there anyone here who can please pass onto us the good/bad
of using white distilled vinegar as a cleaner for the environment
containing a baby/child.
As we want to get a clean, disinfected home but a safe one too.

I personally do not understand why bleach needs to be used around the house. I only use it down the loo once in a while to shift stains (use Ecover rest of the time) and I use Astonish cream cleaner with bleach in my kitchen sink, again to shift stains.

It is seriously strong stuff and can't be good for our lungs or for our skin, and definitely isn't good for aquatic life, so in my opinion needs to be used sparingly!

I prefer bleach to bleach spray, because you only need a little and it is preferable to filling the air with spray.

Washing up liquid in water is good for most cleaning jobs.

I would never use bleach for cleaning... down the loo and plug hole every so often for stain removal and disinfection only.

You really don’t need to bleach your home, not even with Covid around. Just as with your hands, good old fashioned soap does the job just fine.

We use it regularly on the toilets. And down the plug holes. Are we not supposed to?

Bleach goes down the toilet or for clean ups if anyone has D&V, nothing else. The smell gives me a headache.

I hate bleach, I tend to use bicarbonate of sofa and white vinegar for most things.

I love the smell of bleach and disinfectant

I pop it down the loo and sink plug hole. I also use it to give the sink (stainless steel) a wash then rinse.

I use mostly hot soapy water for cleaning, but do have a vinegar/washing up liquid spray (half and half) for spraying on stubborn dirt before cleaning. I always have a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and another of bleach for occasional use.

I hate bleach. I have some for the loo but rarely use it. To many people seem to think that bleaching is the same as cleaning but it really isn’t. Pouring bleach in dirt might whiten it and kill any germs on it but it doesn’t remove the dirt.

Nah that’s not true cobwebs!
It has a horrendous environmental impact and terrible health consequences but bleach is an AWESOME cleaner. Neat bleach on a minging sink followed by a wet microfiber cloth and it will be immaculately clean. Like new!

I agree that neat bleach followed by scrubbing with a wet ecloth will clean a sink. So would just scrubbing with a wet ecloth (although it might not remove stains the way bleach does). My point was that a lot of people miss out the scrubbing part and think just pouring bleach onto things and not scrubbing/wiping will get them clean.

No scrubbing!
Just a quick rinse and it will be spotless

This you may find interesting to read about this subject:

www.nhs.uk/news/cancer/household-cleaners-and-cancer-risk/

I put soda crystals down loo....bleach doesn't get rid of limescale which is the main problem with loo stains.works a treat

Yes I use a great deal of soda crystals for its many uses.
I use it as an aid to laundry in wash machine when added to detergent as it cut through the oils in the clothing and in helping to cut
through greasy dishes that also at same time aids the drains in both of these uses.
Occasional use dried along garden paths and driveway in winter when slippery frost/ice about also helps in cleaning same when it is then
dissolved and also helps to get rid of moss.
Washing floors, tiles, and general cleaning added to soapy water
and a little disinfectant.

Do you know where online in UK one can purchase real cheap with not paying anything or little amount for delivery of 5 liters of white vinegar
please?

I use bleach for cleaning stained mugs (?about a teaspoonful per week) and painted onto the cut stalks of very stubborn weeds like brambles in the garden. A bottle lasts me at least a year. Never use it for cleaning ... the smell makes me gip.

I buy white vinegar in 5l containers that is delivered (ebay and amazon offer sellers of this). I do this as I have many pets and I find it is amazing for urine smells in their litter trays. I had a tumour cut out of my hand last year. Fortunately it was benign, but a nasty rapidly growing blighter all the same. It is now growing back sadly as the surgical team did not get all of it. The operation and subsequent scar are not fun as I have fresh tumour growing under old stitching. I have blamed this on my own stupid life-time use of bleach. I used it for years to clean our holiday rentals and as I am allergic to latex, I often didn't wear gloves if I ran out of the non-latex variety. My surgeon agreed that bleach use may have been the trigger for the tumour, as it turned out to be a rare connective tissue lesion associated with abnormal allergic reactions to chemicals. Lesson learned for me!

I keep trying to tell DH that bleach is not for regular cleaning. As his cleaning is irregular it isn't too much of a problem. I use it now and then in toilets and plug holes and sometimes when we get yellow stains round shower base and plug

Can't stand the stuff. I only use it if there's illness like vomiting etc in the house.

Soapy water with a slug of Epsom salts does just a good a job for cleaning.

Hi there scoobydoo1971, thank you for your post sorry could not get back sooner, I am so sorry for all that you have been through and still am with this continuing, hope things improve. I appreciate you speaking about this I really do, it is only when people come forward like you have that others can greatly appreciate where we ALL might be there.
I remember visiting Australia many years ago and saw so many
people with skin problems, that was caused by over exposure to
the sun. This put me right off of sun bathing, but looking around
at people this summer doing the same here in UK having a
higher than normal temperatures and plenty of sun, this no doubt
is happening big time here too. Thanking you once more.

Mum bleaches everything, not clothes tho. Brother and I have crazy allergies because of this.... Its painful.