Having a clean and sanitary kitchen is an important aspect of any home, but you can easily spend $50 in a year disinfecting your kitchen. Don’t fall for the product trap. Instead, let’s save some money and still have tables, counters and high chairs that you can literally eat off.
I remember back when a new disinfecting product became available. I was sitting in a Moms CLub meeting, and we had a guest speaker who handed out full-size spray bottles of this new cleaner. It came in a pretty blue plastic spray bottle. The solution claimed to disinfect non-porous surfaces and do it in a gentle way, so that no rinsing was necessary. There were no harsh chemicals to cause fumes or create an unsafe environment.
Well, needless to say, I was hooked on this new cleaner. It seemed to do what it needed to do, and I was confident that the product was gentle enough for my family. The only problem was that the cleaner cost a nice amount of money, and one bottle didn’t last very long, so the cost was starting to add up.
Did I have to give up my cleaner? The price wasn’t the only harsh reality involved. I found out that this gentle disinfecting cleaner was really nothing more than water with a small amount of regular bleach in it. Here I was, hooked on paying money for a tiny amount of bleach (.05 percent) and a lot of water. You don’t need a lot of bleach to disinfect. And in fact, a small amount is better, since it will kill germs without bleaching countertops or towels.
You know where this is going, don’t you. To make my own equally effective cleaner, I just took 1/2 teaspoon of chorine bleach in one quart of water. Then I refilled my spray bottles from that solution.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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