Bleach Makes Everything Bad Go Away

Bleach is so wonderful. It's the best cleaning product out there, bar none. My mom taught me so many ways to use bleach and it has been an essential weapon during my trials and tribulations of living at chez Carlos.

Before I moved into Carlos' condo, Carlos would never use a liner in his trash cans. This ongoing practice resulted in nasty trash buckets lined with a sludge that resulted from the decay of food material and other waste. Blech. There was no way I was going I was diving into his 13 gallon plastic kitchen trash can to clean it. No matter how many pieces of paper towel and how many bottles of all-purpose cleaner I had. No way. NO. JUST NO!

So what did I do? I took the empty (emphasis on empty) trash can and stood it in the bathtub. I then poured some bleach into it, just enough to cover the worst of the sludge, and let it sit there for about 15 minutes.Then I turned on the shower and let really hot water fill the trashcan. I made sure to open all the windows of the condo, including the bathroom one, because steam that results hot water and bleach is not something you want to be breathing in. In fact, I even went outside for a few minutes while the shower water was filling up the can just to get away from the fumes. Once it the trash can was full, I shut off the shower head and let the trash can sit there for a few hours while the hot water and bleach worked it's magic. I dumped the bleach water and got a sparkling clean trash can in return. No scrubbing, no spraying, no nothing. Thank you bleach!

Warning: Be careful when using bleach! Wash your hands thoroughly afterwards and be careful not to get any on your clothes. If need be, strip yourself of all clothing and wrap yourself in a large white towel or wear a white bathrobe.

Another way I use bleach is to unclog the bathroom sink and tub when it gets to filled with hair and other waste. Somewhat recently both the bathroom sink and tub were clogged and would fill up quickly and drain way too slowly. I don't know about you but I loathe standing water. It's a magnet for bacteria, bugs and the dreaded MOLD! I have little to no patience with standing water. What I used to do to treat clogs was add a couple glugs (yes that's a technical term I use) of bleach to help the water drain. It did help the drain go by faster but it didn't help the clog and the problem would continue. One day, completely by accident, I discovered the solution. After forgetting to help the sink drain with some bleach I went back and found the water had all drained. I looked inside the drain and saw hair, floss, string and other gunk inside. I poured enough bleach into the sink to create a pool reminiscent of what was leftover after I washed my hands. The bleach got to work and the drain burped a few times and the liquid went down. Ever since then, water drains quickly in the sink. I did the same for the tub and after a few belches it's been draining efficiently.

So why didn't I just buy some Draino? It doesn't work! I don't care how much research they've done and how it's advanced over the years. Draino, and similar products, are more money than their worth. After an incident with a tub clog back in my old apartment, I went through about 4 bottles of Draino only to have the tub still filled with standing water for hours upon hours after every shower. I called my mom in distress and her answer to me was Bleach and lots of it. I bought a small bottle of bleach (much cheaper than either of the 4 bottles of Draino I had purchased) and poured the whole thing in. The problem went away just like that!

So when in doubt, bleach! Bleach makes bad things go away. (Warning: Does not work on annoying people, only on annoying household grime and clogs and your laundry whites).