21 Day Challenge to the Keep It Simple Cleaning Habit

***Thank you to Clorox^® for sponsoring this post so I could share the scoop about this keep it simple cleaning habit with Clorox^® Regular-Bleach_1***

There’s oodles of chatter about resolutions this time of the year, and while I’m tackling my own one or two (or ten zillion) big goals, let’s take a pause to chat about a simple new habit. A habit that will make your life both easier AND healthier. And the new year is the perfect time to kick it off!

What’s this Keep It Simple cleaning habit?

Clean your kitchen and bathroom with ONLY Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁. Wait, what? NO other products? Yup, that’s right. Toss them. For 21 days, the time it takes to establish a new habit, commit to booting the other cleaning products in your home and use only Clorox^® Regular-Bleach_1.

What is the motivation for this Keep It Simple cleaning habit?

• Cost. By using only one economical product versus a whole bevy of cleaners, your budget will thank you.
• Storage space. Anyone else have an entire under-the-sink cabinet filled with cleaning products? Yeah, me too. No more!
• Easiness. No more hauling around and switching between different products as you clean. With this new habit, you need ONE product.
• Double-duty. Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ is both a cleaner and a disinfectant. By using bleach, your home stays cleaner longer because you are also killing those nasty germs.

How did my 21 days of forming this Keep it Simple cleaning habit go?

I actually started my cleaning challenge over the holidays, which might seem a tad overwhelming, but we had loads of people in and out over the holidays, and I’m SO weary of being sick during these winter months, so taking an active stance against germs in our home during this high traffic time made sense. But the holidays were a VERY busy time, so while I didn’t tackle any major deep cleaning products, I did use Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ to regularly wipe down the frequently touched surfaces over the past three weeks. I especially focused on surfaces guests were likely to touch–doorknobs, light switches, faucets, and the bathrooms.

While I don’t love cleaning by any stretch, making it a daily practice to use the Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ solution (described below) to quickly wipe down surfaces was pretty darn easy–something even I could handle. It was really nice to grab only ONE product for all of my cleaning and know that I was effectively disinfecting against those germs while cleaning! Most importantly (knock endlessly on wood), no of us have gotten sick yet! Wa-hoo!

Where can you use this Keep It Simple cleaning habit in your home?

Heavily focus on your kitchen and bathrooms, hot-spots for germs and bacteria. There are all super areas to clean with Clorox^® Regular-Bleach_1:

• toilet
• bathtub
• tile floors
• sink
• countertops
• kids’ toys
• cutting boards
• stainless steel
• cabinets

How do you actually clean with this Keep It Simple cleaning habit?

Clorox makes it super easy with a series of “How-To” videos for cleaning multiple surfaces with bleach such as your bathtub in the bathroom, your sink in the kitchen and other areas around the house. Watch them for a demonstration and follow the steps below to get your home sparkling fresh in no time!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUf9s1yU3h-UnEzReN8k3yMVTVJ8TIs0s

• You can use Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ at home to clean and disinfect frequently touched hard surfaces, such as the bathtub, bathroom sinks, kitchen countertops and cutting boards, by doing the following:
  • Use 1/2 cup of Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ in 1 gallon of water.
  • Thoroughly wet surface with the solution and allow it to remain on the surface for 5 minutes.
  • Rinse with clean water and dry.

• To remove mold and mildew at home, you can use Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ on hard non porous surfaces and items.
  • Disinfect all cleaned surfaces with a solution of 1/2 cup of Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ diluted in 1 gallon of water.
  • Let the solution stay on the surface for at least 10 minutes before rinsing with clear water or allowing to dry.
  • Routinely check potential problem spots (e.g. Bathroom, laundry, mechanical room, etc.) for moldy odors, and disinfect often with a solution of 1/2 cup of Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ diluted in 1 gallon of water.

• If you have young children, you can use Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ at home to sanitize sippy cups, teething rings and rubber duckies[1]:
  • Make sure to select nonporous toys that are washable.
  • Clean toys weekly according to instructions, keeping in mind that many toys can simply join your dishes in the dishwasher.
  • Disinfect washable colorfast plastic toys with a solution of ½ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ per gallon of water. Soak for 5 minutes, rinse and air dry.
  • Baby bottles, nipples, dishes, teething rings, sippy cups and high chairs can be easily sanitized using Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁. Soak washed items for 2 minutes in a solution of 2 tsp of Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ per gallon of water. Pour solution through nipples. Drain dry.

• If you have pets, you can use Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ at home to sanitize their crates, pet bowls and toys.[2] Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ kills Parvovirus, a highly contagious doggy disease.
  • Disinfect hard non-porous surfaces and accessories with a solution of 1/2 cup product in 1 gallon of water. Pre-wash surfaces, soak or wipe with bleach solution. Allow solution to contact surface for at least 10 minutes to kill parvovirus. Rinse well and air dry.
  • To sanitize pet food containers, wash bowls with detergent and rinse. Fill bowls with a solution of 2 tsp of Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ per gallon of water. Let stand 2 minutes, drain and air dry

Now that you have the whole scoop on how you can use Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ for all your house cleaning, it’s time to grab a jug and get to work on creating a fab new habit for the new year. Kick all those other products to the curb, give Clorox^® Regular-Bleach₁ 21 days and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

[1] https://www.clorox.com/cleaning-and-laundry-tips/cleaning/nursery/how-to-clean-baby-toys/#7yehWjWsxu982PL1.99

[2] Clorox Master Label

First image credit: depositphotos.com, image ID:21564919, copyright:Ariwasab

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Meredith

Meredith blogs at The Mom of the Year, where she dedicatedly earns her title one epic parenting fail at a time, offering quick, relatable laughs for fellow parents and all their empathizers. She has been part of several best-selling anthologies, featured on prominent sites such as Huffington Post, In the Powder Room and BlogHer, and loves her role as the Executive VP/Operations Manager of The BlogU Conference. When she's not breaking up fights over Legos and juice boxes, she remains fully committed to sharing a less serious look at the world of parenting.

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