Uses For Bleach?

[comissaryqueen]

Be careful using bleach to clean. Too much bleach will give you a more adverse reaction than too little. Cleaning solutions are 100 parts per million. To make it easy I take a spray btl. put a capful of bleach in swirl it around and spill it out. Then fill the btl. with cool water. Hot water makes bleach evaporate in the steam so you're left with too little. A little tip the Health Dept. taught me.

 

[Andy M.]

Actually, the label on the bleach bottle will also tell you the concentrations to mix for different uses.

 

[Constance]

If you have white painted woodwork, as I did for many years, pour a little splash of bleach on your wet, soapy rag, and wipe it down...looks freshly painted.
Use about a cup in a bucket of water, along with a bit of detergent, to scrub down your deck. It removes algae and stains very nicely.
Thoroughly wash and rinse empty gallon milk jugs and their lids, fill with tap water, and add a few drops of bleach. Fasten lids tightly and save for emergency drinking water.
If you run out of toilet bowl cleaner, dump in some Clorox... scrub, let it set, scrub again. .
Just DON'T EVER MIX CLOROX WITH AMMONIA! Mixing the two creates noxious fumes that can KILL YOU!

 

[middie]

as for colored clothes use clorox 2. i use bleach for cleaning countertops, the stove, the sinks, the toilet, my son's bath toys. pretty much everything but the floors.

 

[SierraCook]

I use bleach to clean my plastic water bottles from work. I put a half inch in the bottom of the bottle and fill the rest of the way with water. Soak and then wash as normal. Bleach is also great for getting iced tea stains out of plastic pitchers. Use the same method as for the plastic water bottles.

 

[Michael in FtW]

You don't need to soak cutting boards for a long time to sanatize them. When you step on a bug to kill it ... do you stand there with your foot on it for 30 minutes to make sure it's dead? How about when you wash your hands ... do you keep them soaped up for 30 minutes?

For a wood or plastic cutting board ... just wash them with hot soapy water ... after about 30-seconds rinse the soap off. One trick for a wood board, which might also work for a smooth plastic ... use a metal scraper to scrape food debris off the board before rinsing.

Sanatizing solutions are: 1 Teaspoon bleach in 1 Quart of water - OR - a 1:5 solution of Vinegar and Water (1 part vinegar to 5 parts water).

For my plastic boards ... I wash with Comet (yeah, the stuff you wash your sink and tub with), let them sit for a minute, then rinse and wash with dishwashing soap and let sit for a minute, and then rinse well. For my wood boards, I wash with dishwashing soap, wait a minute, rinse with water and dry with a paper towel, then wipe with straight vinegar.

Using vinegar will solve the problem of bleach fumes around the baby - and eliminates the problem of the child getting into a bottle of bleach later on.

 

[crewsk]

crewsk - is Thermos the word you're looking for?

Elf, that's another one I was thinking of but the main one was carafe.

 

[kitchenelf]

You don't need to soak cutting boards for a long time to sanatize them. When you step on a bug to kill it ... do you stand there with your foot on it for 30 minutes to make sure it's dead?

Well, ummmm, yes, I do

The rule of thumb we learned when sanitizing anything was 10 minutes. Squirt it, let it set for 10 minutes, rinse and wipe dry. There is no doubt in my mind that the 30 seconds isn't true - especially if the advice comes from you. As always, thanks for your input. (psssst - and when the 30 minutes is up I let someone else stand on the bug for another 30)

 

[middie]

elf you're susch a smart a$$... i love you lol

 

[amber]

I use bleach for my white clothes, about 1/2 cup, I dont notice any difference between using hot or cold water(I've always heard that hot water tends to set stains). I also use bleach in my porcelain sink and throw in my plastic cutting board, kills two birds with one stone. For my wooden cutting board I use hot water, some bleach, and a sponge, then rinse with hot water.

GB, I would definately take care not to have the baby around when your using bleach, the fumes are very strong! Not to mention the fact that you might have some dripping on the floor so if your baby is at the crawling stage, and sticks hands in the mouth, be very careful.

 

[Michael in FtW]

Thanks, elf - you made me realize I didn't complete my thought!

"For a wood or plastic cutting board ... just wash them with hot soapy water ... after about 30-seconds rinse the soap off. One trick for a wood board, which might also work for a smooth plastic ... use a metal scraper to scrape food debris off the board before rinsing." should have been followed by: Then use a sanatizing solution.

Sometimes I think faster than I type!

 

[kitchenelf]

Somewhere I also heard/read - it might have been here when we discussed cutting boards waaaay back when - but a vinegar/water solution was good to spritz on the boards and leave overnight. Does that sound familiar to anyone?

 

[Barbara L]

My friend's doctor told her that for athelete's foot, use 1/4 cup bleach for each gallon of water in a small tub and soak your feet. She was too scared to try it, but she told me about it. It works. Make sure you keep something like a white towel or paper towels nearby to dry your feet well, then rinse them with clear water. In fact, if you have 2 small tubs, you can keep one with fresh water next to the one with bleach, then you can just rinse and dry.

Barbara

P.S. Don't do this on carpet, just in case you spill.

 

[kitchenelf]

That's good to know Barbara - thanks.

 

[choclatechef]

My friend's doctor told her that for athelete's foot, use 1/4 cup bleach for each gallon of water in a small tub and soak your feet. She was too scared to try it, but she told me about it. It works. Make sure you keep something like a white towel or paper towels nearby to dry your feet well, then rinse them with clear water. In fact, if you have 2 small tubs, you can keep one with fresh water next to the one with bleach, then you can just rinse and dry.

Barbara

P.S. Don't do this on carpet, just in case you spill.

This works because athlete's foot is a fungus that bleach destroys.

Ladies, it also works on other fungus issues...

 

[Constance]

Here's another one...if you have to get out in the snow and ice, keep a bottle of bleach in your trunk in case you get stuck. Just pour some behind each rear wheel...it melts right through the ice, and you can get traction.

And if you happen to be into street rods...a little bleach poured under the tires will facilitate "peeling out and smokin' those tires!"

 

[BlueCat]

Here's another one...if you have to get out in the snow and ice, keep a bottle of bleach in your trunk in case you get stuck. Just pour some behind each rear wheel...it melts right through the ice, and you can get traction.

And if you happen to be into street rods...a little bleach poured under the tires will facilitate "peeling out and smokin' those tires!"

That sounds like a great idea. With my luck however, I'd get stuck all right, but when I would go for the bleach I'd find that it spilled in the trunk of the car and I'd have a bleached trunk and no bleach to get me out of the fix I was in.

BC

 

[middie]

Here's another one...if you have to get out in the snow and ice, keep a bottle of bleach in your trunk in case you get stuck. Just pour some behind each rear wheel...it melts right through the ice, and you can get traction.

And if you happen to be into street rods...a little bleach poured under the tires will facilitate "peeling out and smokin' those tires!"

aw man.. wish i'd known that dec 23rd !!!!!!

 

[Constance]

Put the bleach bottle in a heavy cardboard box or plastic milk crate along with your jumper cables and a roll of paper towels.

 

[jpmcgrew]

I just use Clorox Clean-up in the spray bottle it claims to kill all the bacteria in 30 seconds up to 99.9% thats what I use on my boards its quick and easy it also works on coffee and tea stains on cups,glasses my ice tea container.Just be sure to rinse really well afterwards.Its good for cleaning up the inside of fridge when your doing one of those major cleanouts.