Laundry
1. 1/2 C
2. Yes
3. Directly

Cleaning
5. I would never use on hardwood floors
6. Don't use

Bleach is a very harsh product, and I use it sparingly. Sometimes rinse the kit sink with it after preparing chicken, bleaching DH's t-shirts. Be careful when pouring because one tiny splatter can damage colored clothing you are wearing or already in washing machine.

I first would recommend being verrrry careful with bleach.

You can't or shouldn't use it on "just any" laundry. White cottons: yes, they might have stains removed by bleach, as well as overall become whiter from dingy gray/yellow. I would use the dispenser on the washing machine so that it is added at the "correct" time in the cycle.

Synthetic & blends of fabric, & cottons that are other than white shouldn't be bleached because it will alter their color (unless that IS what you desire ... as in "faded jeans").

Floors, especially hardwood, I would say no bleach. What are you thinking.... that they would be "disinfected by the bleach"? There is no need to routinely bleach floors... which by nature have germs. Not all germs are bad. Hospital operating rooms of course would be the exception.

Thanks, socks! I love how you covered each question; very easy to follow. For disinfecting wood floors, what would you use?

Use about 3/4 a cup. Added it to the dispenser if you have one - or add it when the washer is full.

Only use with white bleach safe items.

I would not use bleach on a hard wood floor! I only use it in the kitchen and bathroom for sanitizing.

Make sure you are in a ventilated area. NEVER EVER mix bleach with other household cleaners - especially ammonia. Those two chemicals in combination will form chlorine gas and it WILL KILL YOU!

Beeohio, you were posting while I was typing. Thank you for your detailed response. Very helpful. I'll be careful with laundry and make sure I read labels and sort.

For the floors, yes, I'm wanting to disinfect the floors. Mind you, I'm hardly a germophobe - haha! However, I had a couple of stray cats and took them inside (after several days outside and knowing that they were starving) and kept them in a spare room. I don't know what, if anything, they brought in on them or if they had anything to spread, so I want to disinfect just in case.

They're now at the vet being checked out.

"For disinfecting wood floors, what would you use?"

You don't need to disinfect a floor....

Oops - I was slow on the posting - all great answers!!

One bleach product that I use for laundry and disinfecting is Clorox Cleanup. It comes in a spray bottle.

It is fantastic for cleaning up in the kitchen. I spray my sink, cutting boards and counter top with it to disinfect. I let it set for a few minutes, then rinse off. I spray it on my dish cloth to disinfect that also. It is also great to spray in glasses or pitchers to remove coffee/tea stains.

I use it in the laundry for spot treatment of stains and also works great on arm pit stains - but ONLY on bleach safe white clothing.

The Clorox Cleanup must also have something else in it, because I have tried refilling the spray bottle with just bleach and it does not work as well.

Thanks, all.

I know that, in general, floors don't need to be disinfected. But I want to, in order to protect my own pets (see post above).

I appreciate all of the input! I'm going to go do some laundry now ..... with bleach, using it as suggested.

I seldom use bleach for anything anymore... I use a "whitener" for my whites and for dish towels etc... and don't use bleach as a sanitizer at all .... since my doctor told me that peroxide is a much safer and more effective sanitizer than bleach...

I keep a spray bottle of peroxide handy and use it several times each day to clean my counter tops... and I use it daily in the bathrooms..

Carolyn

I too don't use bleach much, but do use the Oxi-clean products more. There are cleaners for a wood floor, check the cleaning section of a store, or even a place like Menards. It will state on the bottle if it is for floors. I also use the spray cleaners marked for Kitchen use, by Clorex/Purex etc. I have used them on my wood floor for spot cleaning without a problem.

I keep a spray bottle with diluted bleach in the kitchen to quickly disenfect the sink if I'm messing with a chicken, and to spray on my white plastic cutting board when it discolours.

I add it to my white laundry sometimes, when the washer is filling and swoosh it in the water. Then the soap, (swooshing) then the clothes.

Peroxide IS a bleaching agent as well as a disinfectant, just not as strong. And it is probably safer than "bleach". What we call "bleach" is sodium hypoclorite. "Clorox" is sometimes used synonymously with bleach. But it is a brand of sodium hypoclorite.

Interestingly those "Clorox wipes"..... NO "bleach" (sodium hypoclorite) in the ingredients.

Often people are misguided about "disinfecting". Simple soap/water clean up is usually enough most of the time. Example: some people think spraying "Lysol" all around is going to protect them from colds, viruses, bacteria, germs, etc. It is very effective marketing, tho. I don't think spraying a dishcloth with a dilute solution of Clorox Cleanup is going to "disinfect" it. And on the website FAQs it says not to use Clorox Cleanup in the laundry.

I mostly use bleach to remove stains from my china tea cups/saucers and tea pots. Fill the sink with a little warm water and some bleach, set the dishes down inside and stains come off in a sec. Rinse very thoroughly afterwards. Also, my white sink gets clean at the same time. Yes, be careful of any splashing onto clothing or other fabric items nearby - or wood floors.

You can sanitize hardwood floors, by using cold water, and a small amount of lysol cleaner. Believe Pinesol also has a disinfectent. Best to do it on your hands and knees, and use a soft cloth, wrung almost dry. Do not saturate a hardwood floor. Good Luck, and I do understand why you are wanting to do this, since I brought parvo into our house on a dog one time. My own had been vacinated and were protected, but, I just felt much better sanitizing everything.

my one kitty is confined these day to the laundry room, so i use a splash of bleach to the cleaning water when i mop the floor...i do wait to put him back in until dry...

Bleach is a harsh, toxic product.

You can almost always use vinegar instead to sanitize or de-germ, & it won't kill your pets if they happen to ingest it.

check Heloise for more ideas for using vinegar.
(I love Heloise!)

Thanks for understanding the desire to sanitize to protect my pets. Ugh - parvo. You "get it"; I can tell. I hate having any pets limited to specific areas, but sometimes it's best for them. Thank you.

Regarding laundry, I have a load in now :-)

Ok, vinegar. White vinegar or cider vinegar?

White.
I use it instead of fabric softener. It has MANY uses.

Thank you! I'd rather bulk up on white vinegar than bleach. I appreciate everyone's input.

It makes our hard water "wetter" (excellent for mop water).

Vinegar water also helps balance the Ph in our alkaline soil, so it's good for garden plants, & if you spray it full-strength on weeds on a hot sunny day, the little buggers will shrivel up & die.

A friend uses vinegar water with a little rubbing alcohol for her ceramic & vinyl floors, & occasionally on the pergo-type floors to freshen them.

You can run a pot of vinegar water through your coffeemaker to cut through built-up "coffee gunk".

I have a KT 'recipe' for laminate floors I've been meaning to try

1/2 cup vinegar
1-2 squirts of dish soap
bucket of warm water

another thought-spray the floor area and walls with Lysol.

Ask the vet when you pick up the kitties. Are you keeping them???

I use plain white vinegar (diluted) for all household cleaning. I don't buy any other cleaners anymore. It stinks until it's dry, but then no smell.

I use it undiluted for mold/mildew. It's cheap and safe for humans and pets.

I got hyper-sensitive to bleach about a 10 years ago. Can't even be near a heavily chlorinated pool. When the bathtub grout gets mildewey and there's nothing else to kill it, DH bleaches with the door closed and the exhaust fan on high and I'm outta the house for 12 hours! I've found that a lot of the Oxy products work well. We had recurring mold on the patio and I found an (expensive!) Oxy product that actually kept it from returning longer than bleaching did.

I appreciate everyone continuing to contribute to this thread. I bought some vinegar today (actually, a couple of BIG bottles) and will try that, and will also try the Oxy products.

Lisa asked if I'm keeping the cats - oh my; I have a houseful as it is. I have friends coming over tomorrow to see them; hopefully it'll be a match made in heaven!

By the way, the cats checked out well, have no fleas or obvious issues (and blood tests are good).

I used clorox clean up on my sinks, but not anymore. Read the instructions about ventilation. It's as bad a varnish removers. It took the chrome off of the drain cover in the sink.

In laundry
1) How much do you add to a full load?
This will vary on the machine size and capacity. Check the bleach bottle for guidelines.
2) Do you add it and the detergent while the washer is filling, then make sure it agitates and mixes, and then add the clothes?
Absolutely not! Most machines have a bleach dispenser. Some will dilute the bleach before adding it. But if you put the bleach in immediately, you might as well not add detergent because bleach will effectively "kill" the detergent. Normally you add the bleach about 5-10 min after it starts, depending on the cycle. Let the detergent do *its* job, *then* add the bleach to do its job. Again this is probably on the bottle.

If you're using bleach to sanitize a load you could use it in the rinse cycle(s).
3) Do you add it directly to the water or use a dispenser?
As above, most machines have a dispenser, but I usually just add it to the water. And I occasionally run a hot cycle with just bleach to sanitize the machine and kill mold.
Cleaning surfaces:
4) Do you wash hardwood floors with it, diluted with hot water?
I don't but you can. With hot water, have a fan moving air or have a window open. I personally don't mind the smell of bleach but some are sensitive to it.
5) Do you rinse, or just let the floors (and other surfaces) dry?
Using the proper amount there's no need to rinse.

Any other tips?
As mentioned, vinegar is a good option for floors. Some people use peroxide in laundry but bleach is cheaper. I don't like "oxi" products. I don't find them very effective but some love them.

Occasionally empty the littler box and bleach it. Bleach is also a great weed killer.

Had some snakes nesting under my front steps. Some bleach and ammonia took care of them! LOL

The Corox ad on TV says to add three-quareters of a cup to a load. I don't use bleach in laundry-I've had too many "accidents' where bleach removed the color. I used to spray a bleach and water solution on my kitchen counters to clean them-leaned against one when it was wet and ruined a pair of black slacks I wore for work. And why would one use bleach to "sanitize" laundry? I thought hot water will kill germs. And the Clorox clean-up works just fine. Personally, I use Lysol products for cleaning. They leave things smelling fresh. The nose knows.

At what temperature is your hot water tank set? You need water that's between 140 and 150 degrees to kill germs, that's why the bleach - my own hot water tank is set that high (intentionally) but many aren't.

And as cycnic said, the correct way to use it in the laundry is to begin to wash, let the detergent do its job for a few minutes, then add the bleach. Read your Clorox bottle...

When we wash the cups at the church after coffee hour, usually there are a number left over from previous use, and several have residue that was left unrinsed in the bottom, which has dried and left a stain, that sometimes can be easily removed, but sometimes not.

I'm thinking of hanging a sign over the sink,

"SHOOTING is too good for someone who leaves a coffee cup unrinsed. Have you tried rermoving the stain from the bottom of your unrinsed cup?"

Sometimes a nylon scratcher, baking soda and elbow grease will do it - but a bit of bleach is quicker ... and easier.

ole joyful