I can’t believe the school year is already here! It has been some 11 years since I last had to take Munchkin to school every day and it’s already wearing me out! I have to wake up early, bring her to school, pick her up four hours later (she only goes until 12:00 pm), see if she needs to get anything from the store for projects, drive home so she can do homework, get dinner ready, eat, clean up, then prepare for the next day. Where did all our time to play go?!
Oh well. I guess it’s time to hang up our summer entertaining equipment and store it away for next year. We also have to do a good back to school cleaning both inside and outside our place. Yuckies have been building up with summertime play and entertaining. So, this is a perfect time to sanitize everything and get a nice start as the school season gets underway.
Back to School Cleaning Tips to Sanitize Items & Surfaces
I recently found a bunch of back to school cleaning tips from Clorox® that were really helpful. Now, we already use Clorox® Regular-Bleach to sanitize hard nonporous surfaces in our home. But, there were several suggested surfaces and methods of cleaning that I hadn’t thought of. I especially love the tips on how to use Clorox® Regular-Bleach to sanitize plastic chopping boards. You can also use it to clean the washing machine (which probably cleaned its fair share of food, mud, and dirt). Clorox® Regular-Bleach can even extend the life of fresh-cut flowers!
Here are some practical uses of Clorox® Regular-Bleach to clean, disinfect, and sanitize around your house.
For general jobs (sinks, countertops, plastic cutting boards, outside of the toilet, painted cabinets, stainless steel, sealed cement garage flooring, tile floors, siding, plastic patio furniture, sealed wood deck, flower containers, flower vases, etc.):
- Wipe the area with a wet sponge.
- Dilute 1/2 cup of Clorox® Regular-Bleach in 1 gallon of water.
- Using a sponge, wipe the surface with bleach solution and let sit for 5 minutes. (Flooring or house siding may require a large brush and extra scrubbing for horizontal surfaces.)
- Rinse or wipe with warm water.
- Allow to air dry.
For areas that need extra TLC (i.e. areas with mildew or mold, patio moss, etc.):
- Follow the steps above but use 3/4 cup of Clorox® Regular-Bleach in one gallon of water and let sit for 10 minutes.
For delicate jobs (i.e. colorfast plastic kids’ toys):
- Follow the steps above but use 2 teaspoons of Clorox® Regular-Bleach in one gallon of water and let soak for 2 minutes or scrub.
For extending life of fresh cut flowers:
- Add 1/4 teaspoon of Clorox® Regular-Bleach to a quart of cold water.
For the inside the toilet bowl:
- Flush before you begin.
- Pour 3/4 cup of Clorox® Regular-Bleach directly into the bowl.
- Scrub surface with a brush and make sure you get under the rim.
- Wait 10 minutes.
- Flush to rinse bleach away. (It is safe for the septic system if used as directed.)
For the washing machine:
- Select white or hot water cycle.
- Fill bleach dispenser to maximum level (HE machines) or 1/2 cup of Clorox® Regular-Bleach directly into the machine (standard).
- Run wash cycle with extra rinse.
For the shower curtain liner:
- Pour 1/2 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in the washing machine.
- Add regular amount laundry detergent.
- Put in shower curtain liner and wash on normal cycle.
- Hang to dry.
See what I mean?! Clorox® Regular-Bleach is super versatile and can clean up so many household and outdoor items, killing 99.9% of germs and bacteria! Go to Clorox’s “How-To” videos for more cleaning instructions that show how to clean multiple surfaces with bleach around the house. It might take me a while to get through my to-do list now but at least I can use these simple tips to get my back to school cleaning done in a jiffy. Then, we can concentrate on more important things like how to make room for a fresh fall wardrobe. 😉
This post is being compensated by The Clorox Company as a part of the Clorox Influencer program and as part of my participation of being a Clorox CLXChampion.
