Bleaching LIFE

I have never known life without bleach.  My Granny Mae always had a distinct smell on her hands and I LOVED that smell.  As I got older and started cleaning myself, I realized she always smelled like bleach, lol.  Now I have a love hate relationship with bleach as my mother also has always cleaned with bleach (love you mom) but I would go to get my "cool" shirt out of the dryer....and you guessed it there would be a bleach mark on it.  Of course I would say, "Moooommmmm," Every mom knows this tone, the kids can lengthen the word mom to be like a 10 syllable word.  She would just look at me with that mom look (and every mother knows how to give one of these).  Now as I am "Mooooommmmm"  I am following in the footsteps of the amazing women who raised me, my answer for everything....bleach.  I was mopping my floors this morning, with bleach water of course, and thought this would be a great topic for my blog.  I have set out this morning to tell you how great this cheap cleaner is for many uses.  I will tell you a little about how I use bleach and then I did some reading to get more ideas for you.

1. Bleach Toys-Fill sink with warm water add two caps full of bleach to the water (caps make great measuring cups).  Did you know bleach disinfects in 30 seconds...great tip for us busy moms.  Take out and let air dry....simple enough!
2. Bleach fights mildew-Yep use warm water with 4 caps full of bleach and it will get rid of mildew...make sure not to saturate the area with the water but wet the area with the water and bleach combination and work small circles...GONE
3. Clean butcher block-No explanation needed...clean with bleach.
4. Toilet Bowl and Bleach together....not a good Idea....definetly a chemical reaction and this is a whole other story...BUT DON'T DO IT, lol.
5. Clean your laundry basket.....does anyone do this?  Honestly I hardly ever do this, but it makes since as when you put dirty clothes in there are germs in there too!!  I usually only put dirty clothes in ours because once the load is done either we get it out of the dryer to wear or a pile is started on the couch! (My mother in law loves laundry so every time she comes over to our house she probably has a heart attack) I personally would rather clean all the grout in a 5,000 sq foot tiled home with a tooth brush than do LAUNDRY...I hate it.  I guess it's because it is a job that is never done!
6. Now I am no doctor so please consult your physician, BUT a bad cut....put bleach on it, it does burn but no infection....my mom does this all the time, I know this is harsh but it will help with preventing infection, in our circumstances anyway.
7. Bug bites---Bleach bath, fill up tub put a couple of caps of bleach, WaaaLAAA it will dry them chigger bites right up---also might speak with a physician on this.
8.  My youngest daughter suffers with eczema and as I was researching anything to help this poor baby guess what I found?  Yes you guessed it, bleach baths (as described above, just a cap, which really dilutes the bleach but it is enough I guess to do the job....again ask physician before you try this) So I give my girls a bleach bath when skin issues appear, it does work!
9. Want to make your fresh cut flowers last longer.....one quarter tea spoon of bleach per one quart of water (I have never tried this, but I have heard that it works....if you try it let me know!)
10. Remove coffee or tea stains-Soak glasses in water bleach mixture, wipe with soft cloth.
11. As I was looking for alternative ways to use bleach I ran across this one and I thought is was creative and funny...It says to put sand into two bleach bottles and you have homemade dumbbells.
12. Use bleach instead of jet dry, it supposedly cleans glass and china and makes them sparkle.
13. For the kids....after jug of bleach is empty clean thourghly take cap off, cut off bottom and make into a mega phone (probably a good idea for summer time so you can send them outside to shout out at the world instead of your ear!)  This is a cute idea for any container, the kids could decorate it, serves two purposes for keeping their little minds and hands busy.
14. Cut the bottle in half after complete and make a scoop out of it, like for dog food etc.

It is also important to remember never to mix bleach and ammonia together as this creates a very toxic chemical.  Did you know bleach only has a shelf life of about 6 months...I had no idea. 

I know much of this is common since but thought I would share my life experience with BLEACHing  in my life!