Why clean?

dingdongavoncalling

I like to clean and disinfect fairly often due to immunosuppressive medication that has to be taken in our home. Anyway, a friend told me that germs only survive a maximum of 24 hours on hard surfaces so if toys are not being used for a day the germs have died anyway...same as cleaning inside the car etc. I've looked in NHS and sure enough it's true....so does that mean items that are used less often don't need disinfecting? if so, why do we clean so often?

Shrimply

You are confusing cleaning with disinfecting.

I clean because things get dirty if you don't. I only use disinfectant if an area genuinely needs disinfected (e.g. after preparing raw meat).

I'm a bit OCD about cleaning but I'm not a germophobe and believe that in general far too much disinfectant is being used when it shouldn't be and the result is super bugs and weak immune systems (that is not a dig at you as obviously there are extenuating circumstances).

Although - I've always used oxygen bleach or high temperatures when washing bedding and towels and you've got me thinking that this is also probably completely unnecessary.

Biggles

Reminds me of Quentin Crisp's quote: "There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse"

JP08

Before the civilising influence of the missus I used to vacuum when visitors were due, wash up once a week - (rinse off and stack it neatly), and applied a Quentin Crisp philosophy to dust. I replaced the windows in that house one more time than I cleaned them ...

Illness was for other people (and no, not those who had visited).

As a kid, we always had pets around the house, cats used to eat at one end of the kitchen counter otherwise the dogs would get their food. 3 dogs, 2 cats, 4 kids - cleanliness was a relative thing.

rach_k

I clean to make it look/smell better. I only disinfect anything (using the least aggressive/chemical method I can) if something is particularly nasty or disgusting e.g. I disinfected the kitchen every day when I realised we had mice and it freaked me out! When the kids are sick, I settle for 'disinfecting' them rather than their stuff e.g. clean hands regularly (and properly) rather than trying to disinfect anything they might have touched. That approach worked well enough for me during chemo, but I do know people who went crazy with the disinfecting wipes, cleaning everything before they touched it.

I think when you have a special reason to need things germ-free, general cleanliness will help with any disinfecting you need to do so it's not a waste of time if you're being sensible about it. If, say, a door handle is full of gunky old food from toddlers, any germs getting on the door handle will find a nice little habitat where they may be able to hang out for a few days before dying. The same door handle but clean wouldn't be as hospitable and germs on it would die quickly so if you didn't disinfect it, it may not matter so much.