Disinfecting Nontoxically

The cold and flu season is in full swing folks!! When illness hits your house you need to go into disinfecting overdrive to keep it from spreading through every member in the family.

1. Have everyone wash hands numerous times a day.

2. Spray door handles, sink faucets and handles to appliances like the fridge with full strength distilled white vinegar, let sit for a few minutes and wipe clean. (I usually clean with a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water, but when we are sick I use vinegar straight)

3. Spray counter tops and tabletops down with with full strength distilled white vinegar, let sit for a few minutes and wipe clean.

4. Dampen a cloth by spraying with full strength distilled white vinegar, and wipe down all phones and remote controls, computer keypads, light switches (do not spray directly onto electronics or anything electrical!)

5. To clean kids toys:
- throw stuffed animals into the wash. Be sure to use hot water and make sure to dry thoroughly in the dryer. I sometimes run them through 2 rounds in the dryer to be safe.
-for plastic toys that can get wet let sit in either the sink, a large bowl, or a clean bucket in very hot water with some dish soap for like 10 minutes. Then you can rinse clean. I then set them to dry on dish towels. Depending on the illness- for a cold this should suffice, for the flu or stomach bug I would go a step further and spray the toys down with vinegar let sit a few minutes and rinse again and then let dry.
-for other toys that can't get wet dampen a cloth by spraying with full strength distilled white vinegar, and wipe down.

6. Wash all bedding in hot water and on the highest setting on your dryer. Try to do this everyday if you can while someone is sick. (this becomes much harder to keep  up on all the laundry when you are the one sick)

7. Run toothbrsuhes though the dishwasher on the sanitize cycle as often as once a day while the illness is present. I also usually replace every ones toothbrushes once illness is over.

For more tips on cleaning with vinegar check out this site http://www.vinegartips.com/scripts/pageViewSec.asp?id=7