I May Permanently Strap A Bottle Of Bleach To My Hand
I have never been germaphobic. I will share forks with my children. I won’t do the hover thing over a public toilet unless there is something visibly nasty on the seat. My house is usually fairly clean, but I certainly wouldn’t advise doing anything rash like eating off of the bathroom floor or licking the windowsills. I wash my hands when the occasion calls for it, but I keep hand sanitizer in my purse primarily to entertain my kids during church services (They have clean hands and pure hearts). I believe that the general level of germiness surrounding me will probably help my children to grow up good and healthy since their immune system will have so many opportunities to experience things like cat hair and sneezed on toys. Or at least I did, before Thursday night.
I attended a little lecture on cleanliness, fully expecting the usual “wash your fruits and vegetables, wash your hands, avoid sick people” shtick that is the basis of good hygiene. It was so, so much more. I shall hit the highlights.
I arrived a few minutes late (funny how in the simple trip from the dinner table to the car I can get so distracted that I forget I’m actually leaving the house) and sat down just in time to hear about how disgusting movie theaters are, which I agreed with. After all, sticky floors are kind of icky. People, sticky floors are the least of your worries. Studies of average theaters have found that the theater seats have everything from mucous to hepatitis to vaginal secretions on them. Did you just say ew? Yeah, me too. So, always wear long pants and sleeves to the theater. You never know whose juices you might be sitting in.
Hand washing is the single most beneficial thing a person can do to keep from getting sick or passing on germs. What do I find totally irritating to do? WASH MY HANDS. Oh, I do it, I’m not gross, but I hate having wet hands. I hate the way most soaps make my hands smell, and I hate the time it takes to do it right. I have no idea why I loathe doing this so much. I had a friend once suggest that hand washing was just a moment of me time to focus on giving myself a little hand massage and a quiet moment. When I get the chance, I do try to do this, however, my children have figured out that if Mommy is in the loo the house is theirs for the taking, so I admit that I really rush through this step, and when you rush you don’t do yourself a lot of good. You should be able to sing Happy Birthday TWICE in the time it takes you to properly scrub up.
Another bathroom tip: Always put the lid down to flush because water droplets can splash as far as twenty feet away. Upon hearing this I thought, “Boy am I glad I keep my toothbrush in a drawer!” However, the next thing we covered was toothbrushes and how they really need to air dry and not be stuffed away or they will grow gunk. So you can have fecal flecked toothbrushes or oldie moldy toothbrushes. You cannot win. And now I know why Listerine is so popular.
The one thing that I kept hearing, through all of the talk on cleaning bathrooms and kitchens was that bleach kills all. I know a lot of people don’t like to clean with bleach, and to be sure, there were many other cleaning supply recommendations, but really, when it comes right down to it- you just can’t beat bleach. I went through an odd clean freak phase when I was expecting Jonas and I scrubbed my kitchen daily with straight bleach. I scrubbed my house until my hands cracked and bled, but I was not sick once during those nine months. Kind of makes you think, doesn’t it?
I have now gone on a cleaning spree, disinfecting everything in the house, running the dishwasher and washing machine on empty loads with bleach, scrubbing counter tops, and planning full on attacks on my refrigerator in the near future. Everything must be cleansed.
So talk to me, are you germaphobic? What skeeves you out and gives you the germ willies? Do you have a favorite clenaing product or routine?
funny you mention that, I am at most times a clean a phobic but I just got out of the shower thinking boy that toilet is gross (rusty well water, can’t beat that!) anyway it’s still dirty but after I’m done w/this I will surely go clean it! so my favorite cleaner is Clorox anywhere because it is safe to use around food. I use it on my counters atleast 3 times a day and in the fridge when there is an empty spot that looks grungy!
happy cleaning!
joni
Comment by Joni Kuehl — October 16, 2007 @ 5:50 pm
Ugh, I hear you on the toilet seat thing. My toilet seat is always down when not in use!
As for the bleach thing, I dunno. I’ve been really careful to eliminate all toxic cleaning things from my house, so I do all my cleaning with vinegar and baking soda. It actually works! Sure, bleach will always kill germs, but it’s just SO toxic. I worry about being around that stuff—fumes, bleeding skin, everything. You have to work a little bit harder with the vinegar/baking soda thing, but I think it’s worth it. Just be careful around that bleach!
Comment by Mome-rath — October 17, 2007 @ 4:55 am
I dilute bleach with purified water in a spray bottle and spray my tub/shower enclosure with this. I open a window when I do. Even diluted, it can make dangerous fumes. I find those “bleach pens” are great for whitening/de-molding grout and tiles and such in the tub surround.
For my countertops, I use Mrs. Meyers Clean day in Geranium or Lemon-Verbena. And I clean my kitchen sink and bottom of tub with old fashioned Bon Ami.
Comment by brandy101 — October 17, 2007 @ 9:02 am
Leah, there’s a programme here in the UK called “How clean is your house?” It’s alternately brilliant and disgusting, do you have it in the states? These two ladies called Kim and Aggie visit self confessed filthy families and clean the houses, returning after two weeks to see if they have returned to their filthy habits!! Anyhoo, thanks to this programme we all know about the loo seat thing and the toothbrush thing etc etc. However, the point of all this it to tell you that although the families featured are truly living in filth, (swabs are taken before the big clean up and lab reports invariably show all kinds of nasties, e-coli etc etc!) they have THE most robust immune systems and never seem to fall prey to anything!!! Amazing…still, it’s not worth the risk hey! x
Comment by Lisa the librarian — October 17, 2007 @ 11:14 am
eewww! I can’t believe there is someone else in the world who finds washing thier hands annoying. Like you I do it, because it’s just gross not to, but I take no pleasure in it. Lately my favorite cleaner has been PINE SOL (not sure if I spelled it right, is it just sol?)but I do use bleach alot.
BTW I really enjoy reading your blog.
Comment by Angie — October 17, 2007 @ 2:40 pm
Despite the fact that I’m a nurse and now way too much about stuff like germs, my main thing is to wash my hands often. I change dishtowels daily. I love paper towels ‘cause they’re disposable (even though they fill up landfills). I try to buy the tissues with anti-germ gunk. I do use Lysol cleaner with bleach, I like the smell. Other than that, that’s it. No need to go crazy. Esp. with antibacterials- all they do is make super-bugs.
PS- what ever happened with Gus?
Comment by Lee W — October 18, 2007 @ 3:54 am
I can’t stand washing my hands. Yeah, I do it because it’s really disgusting not to. But I hate the old lady smell of the soaps that are provided. I hate how it drys out my hands. I hate that my hands get cold after washing them. I have to keep lotion handy to override the smell and the dried out skin. I don’t like cleaning with bleach because I’m afraid I’ll get it on my clothes/towels/carpet. So I only use it in the toilet, or on a white load of laundry. I do not use sponges, they are sess-pools (spelling?) for germs and grossness. I use dishtowels that get changed at least once a day. We use a lot of simple green. It’s organic, you can drink a gallon and be ok. It smells good, it can do anything from degrease engines to wash windows (if diluted with water). That way you don’t have to worry about fumes, kids/pets getting into the bottles. We even cleaned the siding of our house last year with it and it didn’t kill our plants/grass.
Comment by cb — October 18, 2007 @ 6:31 am
Hey Leah
I love reading your blogs! You are so funny and entertaining! But this one grossed me out! Daniel would say I’m germaphobic…he thinks I wash my hands way too much, but I also wish he’d wash his more! Anyway, my biggest creepy germs are from mice!!! Eeeeeeewwwwwwwww! They make me cringe! That is one of the things that I dislike about living in the country. I have to keep all foods in plastic containers and clean often. My favorite thing to keep on hand these days is Lysol wipes! I hate washclothes! If I can use disposables for nasty jobs I will! Anyway, happy cleaning!
Mica
Comment by Mica — October 24, 2007 @ 8:55 pm
My doctor’s waiting room had medical programs/videos playing everytime I’d go wait for an appointment. One of them suggested soaking your toothbrush in hydrogen peroxide just to sanitize it regularly. Just a thought!
P.S. I don’t like germs, either.
Comment by Mom2Six — October 30, 2007 @ 10:27 pm
hi all…i really like a clean home…it is very easy to want to be a clean NUT…but so you don’t loose your sanity…i clean well on saturday and every day i clean up well…i do read alot about alot of things…my kids call me geeves…i have learned of a cleaning product that is soooooo wonderful!!!…it says it kills all viruses known to man and it is not harmful to us humans…i buy it out of canada…it is called virkon….they use it on the sicken cruise ships……….go on the internet and type in…virkon…i really love the fact that when i clean…it is really clean…just thought you would want to know….bless you all…kim
Comment by kim — March 15, 2008 @ 7:17 am