Ask Mrs. Clean: House Cleaning, Stain Removal and Organizing Tips

[victoria]

I run an animal rescue and I have recently become concerned that in my fervor to keep the environment clean, I have actually been harming my pets with toxic cleaners.

I have found multiple safe cleaning recipes for all kinds of spray cleaners and the like. But what I cannot seem to find is a recipe for something to add to an entire bucket of water to do a full-mop job with.

I want to be sure that I am adding the right amount of vinegar and whatever else in order to disinfect properly. Could you tell me how to do this? Because we have multiple cat-rooms to clean, I'd like to actually be able to make up a large bottle of "cleaning solution" to quickly add to a mop bucket with water, as we clean several days a week.

[mrscleannw]

Hi Victoria,
If absolute disinfecting is your main concern, household bleach is probably your best bet.

The vet sites I checked recommend a 1-20 rate of dilution which is approx 6 ounces of bleach per gallon of water. (3 cups bleach to 4 gallons of water.) Bleach kills both the FIP and the FeLV virus, as well as many other germs and bacteria.

Bleach is much more effective than vinegar in disinfecting, and much safer to your animals than using a product that contains Borax.
Vinegar is not as effective as bleach, and it will not kill all germs and viruses but it's all natural, all safe, and a natural deodorizer too. At Mrs Clean we use vinegar and water to clean most hard surface floors. (NEVER use on stone, travertine or marble). Use 1 cup vinegar to one gallon of hot water.

You can also mop the floors with a mild soap and water solution, (4 tsp of Dawn Detergent in 1 gallon of water), followed by disinfecting the area with 6 ounces of bleach per gallon of water.

Mix 1/2 cup borax into 1 gallon of hot water to disinfect and deodorize.

Plain white vinegar (household vinegar with 4% acetic acid) used without dilution to clean to a surface does provide practical anti-bacterial effects.

Make sure there is adequate ventilation for your animals, and remember bleach can be corrosive to metals.
Good luck!

A few natural cleaning resources:

US department of health and human services household products database

The vinegar institute

Vinegar and Hydrogen Peroxide as Disinfectants

A very lively discussion on using vinegar to disinfect: