Almost every household has bleach in the drawer, but not everyone realizes its full potential. From eliminating weeds on your driveway to freshening up cats' litter boxes, here are 20 bleach tricks you’d wish you knew sooner.
1. Make Homemade Disinfectant Spray
In these difficult times, this trick can be really helpful. A combination of two cups of water and a tablespoon of bleach will give you a homemade disinfectant spray. You can use it on non-porous surfaces, such as wood, sealed-title, and countertops.
2. Sanitize Towels
It's very important to keep your towels clean, especially these days. But laundry detergent is possibly not enough now. So maybe you want to use bleach in your washing machine to disinfect your towels so that they can always be clean and germ-free.
3. Brighten Your Glassware
Find it hard to remove the watermarks or stains from your stemware? Bleach is here to help you. A teaspoon of bleach to your liquid dishwasher soap will give you sparkling glasses for your next social gathering.
Coming up: A genius hack to keep fresh cut flowers alive longer.
4. Eliminate Weeds
It can be very annoying that weeds keep popping up from the cracks in your patio, walkway, or maybe even your driveway. To give your back and knees a treat, take some undiluted bleach and spray it over the weeds, then pull them out. You'll never see the pesky weeds again.
5. Keep Fresh Cut Flowers Alive Longer
The water in your vase can become cloudy and contain a lot of bacteria. You can try to mix together a quarter teaspoon of bleach per liter of vase water and watch as your fresh-cut flowers live longer.
Coming up: Say goodbye to shower mold and mildew.
6. Clean Your Gardening Pots
A lot of you may take up gardening while staying at home, but one thing to look out for is exposing healthy plants to leftover mold or even disease from older plants. So, to decontaminate any toxins, you can try to soak your pots in a mixture of half a cup of bleach and one gallon of water.
7. Get Rid Of The Odour Of Your Pet's Litter Box
Enjoy the company of your furry friend? But the odour of the litter box can bother you. Here we have a genius solution. Next time after you clean the box with some soapy water, wipe it down with a mixture of half a cup of bleach to one gallon of water. Leave it there for about five minutes and then rinse out the solution. Problem solved!
8. Remove Shower Mold And Mildew
It's time to say goodbye to the pesky mildew and mold stains between your bathroom's shower tiles. According to Julia Byrne, a product developer for bleach at Clorox, "a mixture of equal parts bleach and water in a spray bottle" will help you get rid of the mold for good.
Coming up: A homemade mosquito repellent.
9. Clean White Porcelain
The days when you break your back scrubbing your white porcelain sink, pottery, or candle holders are over. Try this simple trick. Cover the white porcelain with paper towels saturated with bleach, then rinse everything off after 15 to 30 minutes. You'll get a shining porcelain!
10. Remove Coffee Stains From Mugs
You’ll be amazed at the cleaning ability of bleach. Besides what we have mentioned, a drop of bleach and some water will help you rid your favorite mug of stains. Just don't forget to rinse the mug thoroughly afterward.
11. Make Your Christmas Tree Stay Alive Longer
Many people tend to buy Christmas trees early, but you may find the tree dead weeks before Christmas. Here is a genius hack to help the evergreen live longer. According to Julia Byrne, "(Pour) a solution of two teaspoons of bleach per half a gallon of hot water, plus one cup of corn syrup, and an eighth of a cup of powdered iron from your local nursery (into the tree stand)."
12. Repel Mosquitos
Mosquitos don't like the smell of bleach. So next time you go camping, mix some bleach with a cup of water and place the solution near you. Then you can say goodbye to the world of itching.
Coming up: Design your own shirt with bleach.
13. Get Rid Of The Funky Smell Of Trash Cans
Trash cans always have a funky scent even if they are protected from actual trash by garbage bags. Thankfully, we have found a genius hack. Next time you clean your trash can with some soapy water, try to swish a mixture of half a cup of bleach and three-quarters of a gallon of water around the can. And rinse everything off after about two minutes.
14. Design Your Own Shirt
Want your own unique shirt? Some bleach can help you. First, you need a black or dark shirt, then stick a cutting board inside the shirt. You'll also need to put a stencil on top of the shirt. Spray bleach around the design and wait for a few hours, then wash the shirt. Now you have the shirt of your own design.
Coming up: An easy and fast way to clean your car.
15. Don’t Pour Bleach In Your Toilet
You should never pour bleach into the toilet bowl straight away because many of them are made with materials that are easily damaged by bleach. You may contact the manufacturer to determine if it’s safe to flush bleach down the toilet. Besides, it can form toxic gas when bleach meets with ammonia, so be careful!
16. Clean And Disinfect Kids' Toys
Bleach is perfect for cleaning and disinfecting non-porous objects, including toys. Make a solution of half a cup of bleach per gallon of water, then wipe the surface with the mixture and wait for at least five minutes. After rinsing the solution off, the toys will be clean for your kids.
17. Sanitise Second-Hand Sheets
If you bring second-hand sheets home, you may want to disinfect them thoroughly before using them. Bleach is a perfect disinfectant for you. "Add two-thirds of a cup of bleach to your standard machine or one-third of a cup of bleach to your high-efficiency machine along with regular detergent. Ensure that the bleach contacts the clothes for ten minutes," said Julia Byrne.
18. Clean The Butcher's Block
A butcher's block can be hard to clean. Luckily, we have found a simple trick for you. What you need is to mix one teaspoon of bleach with two liters of water. Then dip a brush in the solution and scrub small circles over the wood. Just remember not to saturate it. After drying the wood with a clean towel, it will be as good as new!
19. Clean Plastic Lawn Chairs
Wait a minute before you throw away those old lawn chairs. Our trick will make them as good as new. The ingredients are some mild detergent, half a cup of bleach, and a gallon of water. Mix them together and start scrubbing the chairs. Then rinse them off and let the chairs air-dry.
20. Clean The Interior Of Your Car
Bleach can also be used to clean the interior of your car. A 50/50 solution of water and bleach will make your car clean and germ-free.
