3 Easy Proven DIY Cleaning Solutions -following CDC Guidelines Disinfecting Even when the Store is out
Fight the pandemic virus effectively in our own homes even when the store is out of Lysol or Clorox
A site all too familiar to many of us! There’s no doubt with COVID-19 that we all need to have clean hands and clean home. It’s become almost a full time or at least a part-time job to stay on top of everything we need to do to stay clean in addition to our Day to Day responsibilities.
What do you do if you go to the store for two weeks or more and they remain out of cleaning supplies, rubbing alcohol, Lysol, or hand sanitizers? According to the CDC Center for disease control and prevention, you can use alcohol-based sanitizers to clean here is what they need to have in order to be effective.
CDC recommends the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers with greater than 60% ethanol or 70% isopropanol as the preferred form of hand hygiene in healthcare settings, based upon greater access to hand sanitizer. Health care providers who use alcohol-based hand sanitizers as part of their hand hygiene routine can inform patients that they are following CDC guidelines.
However, what do you do if the store is also out of rubbing alcohol, as has been my experience for the last few weeks. You can actually use alcohol that you find liquor store that is 70% alcohol, think vodka, or Everclear.
You might be wondering, What are the difference between the types of alcohol? This is a great question. Ethanol is the type of alcohol you drink and isopropyl is alcohol that is found in rubbing alcohol both are great for disinfecting and sanitizing. When you’re looking for an ethanol product to use be sure that it is 70% and 140 proof or higher to for drinking alcohol.
So look for Everclear or vodka that are 140 proof or better. This is one thing that stores have not run out of in the last few weeks, LOL. You can easily mix that with a little white vinegar peroxide and essential oil’s in a spray bottle for cleaning and sanitizing the house. I like these solutions for a few different reasons, one they are not full harsh chemicals or the smell of strong chemicals. Two they’re easy to make and very effective, and thirdly they don’t destroy good bacteria. Good bacteria is what helps our body fight viruses like COVID-19 and the flu.
The good news is that even using the cheapest brand works as long as it has the right alcohol content.
What is Disinfecting versus Sanitization?
Sanitization is reducing a contamination or bacteria to a safe level, while disinfection is killing everything on a particular surface, according to Travers Anderson, R&D Group Manager at Clorox. Think of sanitizing as lowering the level of germs on a surface, while disinfecting is killing all of them. Sanitizing is a little gentler than disinfecting, which can be powerful and often uses strong chemicals. (Cleaning, in the technical sense, is just wiping away debris or dirt, without necessarily killing or removing any bacteria.) So when should you sanitize, and when should you disinfect? Sanitizing is best for surfaces that don’t typically come into contact with seriously dangerous bacteria, or those that are best left without contact with powerful chemicals: Think cooking tools and food prep surfaces or toys that children come into close contact with (or even put into their mouths). Disinfecting is for the big messes, particularly those involving bodily fluids, blood, and the like. In household settings, you’d disinfect a toilet or sinks; disinfection is also used regularly in medical contexts.
Disinfectant Recipe:
1 1/4 cups of water
1/4 cup of white vinegar (vinegar on its own is a popular cleaning solution but on its own it will not disinfect. If you don’t like the stronger smell of Vinegar you can double the amount of alcohol you use)
1/4 cup of alcohol
15 drops of essential oil, anything like peppermint, lemon or lavender are great to use
1/2 teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide (according to a study published in the journal hospital infection suggested that viruses could be efficiently and activated with a disinfectant that contains alcohol and 5% hydrogen peroxide) Mix all these together in a spray bottle and use with a clean cloth or paper towel. To prevent cross-contamination use a separate cloth or paper towel for different services. The best idea would be to have two separate spray bottles in different colors for different areas of the house. For example, you’ll want to keep the kitchen one separate from the one that you want to use in the bathroom.
Note be careful using this on granite or marble because the acid may eat at the surface.
Hand sanitizer Recipe is very Similar
3/4 cup of alcohol1/4 cup of Aloe Vera gel
10 drops of essential oil
Mix all together and keep it in a dispenser and you know have a sanitizer even when the store runs out.
So how do you disinfect and clean stone or marble? You can easily use dish soap and water to clean stone or put it into a spray bottle with a bit of rubbing alcohol.
Stone Cleaning Recipe
2 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol or ethanol
1 1/2 cup of water
1/4 teaspoon of dish soap
Mix all of us together in a spray bottle and use to clean stone or marble.
The good news is most of us have these around the house or we can get to a store to pick up what we’re missing easily enough. Even when the store shelves are empty of cleaning supplies.
