In laundry
1) How much do you add to a full load?
2) Do you add it and the detergent while the washer is filling, then make sure it agitates and mixes, and then add the clothes?
3) Do you add it directly to the water or use a dispenser?

Cleaning surfaces:
4) Do you wash hardwood floors with it, diluted with hot water?
5) Do you rinse, or just let the floors (and other surfaces) dry?

Any other tips?

Cleaning
5. I would never use on hardwood floors
6. Don't use

Bleach is a very harsh product, and I use it sparingly. Sometimes rinse the kit sink with it after preparing chicken, bleaching DH's t-shirts. Be careful when pouring because one tiny splatter can damage colored clothing you are wearing or already in washing machine.

You can't or shouldn't use it on "just any" laundry. White cottons: yes, they might have stains removed by bleach, as well as overall become whiter from dingy gray/yellow. I would use the dispenser on the washing machine so that it is added at the "correct" time in the cycle.

Synthetic & blends of fabric, & cottons that are other than white shouldn't be bleached because it will alter their color (unless that IS what you desire ... as in "faded jeans").

Floors, especially hardwood, I would say no bleach. What are you thinking.... that they would be "disinfected by the bleach"? There is no need to routinely bleach floors... which by nature have germs. Not all germs are bad. Hospital operating rooms of course would be the exception.

Only use with white bleach safe items.

I would not use bleach on a hard wood floor! I only use it in the kitchen and bathroom for sanitizing.

Make sure you are in a ventilated area. NEVER EVER mix bleach with other household cleaners - especially ammonia. Those two chemicals in combination will form chlorine gas and it WILL KILL YOU!

For the floors, yes, I'm wanting to disinfect the floors. Mind you, I'm hardly a germophobe - haha! However, I had a couple of stray cats and took them inside (after several days outside and knowing that they were starving) and kept them in a spare room. I don't know what, if anything, they brought in on them or if they had anything to spread, so I want to disinfect just in case.

They're now at the vet being checked out.

You don't need to disinfect a floor....

One bleach product that I use for laundry and disinfecting is Clorox Cleanup. It comes in a spray bottle.

It is fantastic for cleaning up in the kitchen. I spray my sink, cutting boards and counter top with it to disinfect. I let it set for a few minutes, then rinse off. I spray it on my dish cloth to disinfect that also. It is also great to spray in glasses or pitchers to remove coffee/tea stains.

I use it in the laundry for spot treatment of stains and also works great on arm pit stains - but ONLY on bleach safe white clothing.

The Clorox Cleanup must also have something else in it, because I have tried refilling the spray bottle with just bleach and it does not work as well.

I know that, in general, floors don't need to be disinfected. But I want to, in order to protect my own pets (see post above).

I appreciate all of the input! I'm going to go do some laundry now ..... with bleach, using it as suggested.

I keep a spray bottle of peroxide handy and use it several times each day to clean my counter tops... and I use it daily in the bathrooms..

Carolyn

I add it to my white laundry sometimes, when the washer is filling and swoosh it in the water. Then the soap, (swooshing) then the clothes.

Interestingly those "Clorox wipes"..... NO "bleach" (sodium hypoclorite) in the ingredients.

Often people are misguided about "disinfecting". Simple soap/water clean up is usually enough most of the time. Example: some people think spraying "Lysol" all around is going to protect them from colds, viruses, bacteria, germs, etc. It is very effective marketing, tho. I don't think spraying a dishcloth with a dilute solution of Clorox Cleanup is going to "disinfect" it. And on the website FAQs it says not to use Clorox Cleanup in the laundry.

You can almost always use vinegar instead to sanitize or de-germ, & it won't kill your pets if they happen to ingest it.

check Heloise for more ideas for using vinegar.
(I love Heloise!)

Regarding laundry, I have a load in now :-)

Vinegar water also helps balance the Ph in our alkaline soil, so it's good for garden plants, & if you spray it full-strength on weeds on a hot sunny day, the little buggers will shrivel up & die.

A friend uses vinegar water with a little rubbing alcohol for her ceramic & vinyl floors, & occasionally on the pergo-type floors to freshen them.

You can run a pot of vinegar water through your coffeemaker to cut through built-up "coffee gunk".

1/2 cup vinegar
1-2 squirts of dish soap
bucket of warm water

another thought-spray the floor area and walls with Lysol.

Ask the vet when you pick up the kitties. Are you keeping them???

I use it undiluted for mold/mildew. It's cheap and safe for humans and pets.

Lisa asked if I'm keeping the cats - oh my; I have a houseful as it is. I have friends coming over tomorrow to see them; hopefully it'll be a match made in heaven!

By the way, the cats checked out well, have no fleas or obvious issues (and blood tests are good).

If you're using bleach to sanitize a load you could use it in the rinse cycle(s).
3) Do you add it directly to the water or use a dispenser?
As above, most machines have a dispenser, but I usually just add it to the water. And I occasionally run a hot cycle with just bleach to sanitize the machine and kill mold.
Cleaning surfaces:
4) Do you wash hardwood floors with it, diluted with hot water?
I don't but you can. With hot water, have a fan moving air or have a window open. I personally don't mind the smell of bleach but some are sensitive to it.
5) Do you rinse, or just let the floors (and other surfaces) dry?
Using the proper amount there's no need to rinse.

Any other tips?
As mentioned, vinegar is a good option for floors. Some people use peroxide in laundry but bleach is cheaper. I don't like "oxi" products. I don't find them very effective but some love them.

Occasionally empty the littler box and bleach it. Bleach is also a great weed killer.

Had some snakes nesting under my front steps. Some bleach and ammonia took care of them! LOL

And as cycnic said, the correct way to use it in the laundry is to begin to wash, let the detergent do its job for a few minutes, then add the bleach. Read your Clorox bottle...

I'm thinking of hanging a sign over the sink,

"SHOOTING is too good for someone who leaves a coffee cup unrinsed. Have you tried rermoving the stain from the bottom of your unrinsed cup?"

Sometimes a nylon scratcher, baking soda and elbow grease will do it - but a bit of bleach is quicker ... and easier.

ole joyful