Realistically speaking (or writing), every bacterium or fungus that gets soaked in 25% alcohol will die. If she's spitting into the same potted plant all the time, the soil will lose all its life and will require continual sterilizations to prevent the "mold and mildew" from forming. If the soil was left alone or organically fertilized, it would prevent mold and mildew by itself. The Jerry Baker concoction has very little sterilization effect because the small amount of mouthwash is diluted in 15 gallons of water and they sprayed through the air where the alcohol will evaporate before hitting the ground.

How expensive THAT must be for a laundry add-in! Not to mention the large number of chemicals in it: "Active ingredients in commercial brands of mouthwash can include thymol, eucalyptol,[13] hexetidine, methyl salicylate, menthol, chlorhexidine gluconate,[11][14] benzalkonium chloride, cetylpyridinium chloride,[15] methylparaben, hydrogen peroxide, domiphen bromide and sometimes fluoride,[16] enzymes and calcium. Ingredients also include water, sweeteners such as sorbitol, sucralose, sodium saccharine, and xylitol (which doubles as a bacterial inhibitor).[17]" "Sometimes a significant amount of alcohol (up to 27% vol) is added,[18] as a carrier for the flavor, to provide "bite",[19] and to contribute an antibacterial effect.[20]" I avoid "smells" and scents of all kinds because most of them seem to be a toxic chemical of one kind or another. I'm with cynic on this one... NOT smelling is perfectly acceptable. If they smell like mold/mildew, then you have another problem. Although there are enough types of antibacterial ingredients in mouthwash to probably take care of THAT problem. A couple T. of bleach OR (brown bottle) Lysol, OR washing soda or borax might be other effective, and less expensive, alternatives. We use our towels for the entire week before washing them. They are hung near a floor register where the fan on the furnace/AC is on constantly, so they dry quickly after each use. I use Charlie's Soap (1-T. per large load of laundry) and vinegar in the rinse in towels. No smell when dry, other than the great outdoors from line drying them. The sun also sanitizes, as an additional plus to line drying outside. I also agree with thoroughly drying wet towels (bath and kitchen) before placing them in the laundry. We have an accordian, wall-mounted drying rack in the laundry room where everything wet is air-dried before it gets placed in the laundry baskets. -Grainlady

Thanks for measuring that terriks. Yes, busybee3, along with the size, the glass aspect is a huge consideration. Tina, my choice is also to keep things under the sink, however......it doesn't always make it make under the sink. He at least puts the toothbrush away since I make such a big deal about what lingers in the air. I'm also looking at the bedside carafes with a glass on top. But, again, that's glass. I also think they're made with much more fragile glass than the Blenko one. Dee

Oh, yes indeed, you're singin' my song... Hence my screen name, Rockwhisperer. We have planted many trees -- fruit trees inside the fence, trees that are native to our area on the land around the outside of the fence, ones that local folks call "trash trees", but I say, "what good is it to have a tree if it won't flourish here??" So, mulberry for the birds, persimmon, crab apple, hackberry, thronless locust, whatever I can get my hands on. We've added bushes around the garden fence, bridal wreath to attact beneficials, different colors of crape myrtles, euonymous, nanking cherry, American cranberry, elderberry, etc., etc. Every time we plant something we have a huge pile of different sizes of rock. Mostly we find the rock in the ground is only in a "sheet" because they are so tightly fitted together, and once you find "the key stone" the rest can be pried out. But now and then, we run into something that, no matter how far we dig out around, we cannot find the edges. And then we just abandon the hole and start a new one in another location. It seems like I am digging rock out of the garden every spring. One person told me she thought the rocks "float" up toward the surface and I'm getting so I believe that, too. I, too, don't like to till, because it kills the earthworms and now and then we have maimed a toad and that really upsets me. That little ugly, warty creature is worth his keep in insects eaten. We also scare out a lizard now and then and I would hate to kill one of those. But I just can't seem to get on top of the Bermuda grass and bindweed. We have pretty much eradicated the puncture vine by hand pulling it and burning the stuff we pull up. But our neighbors' dogs roam the acreage out here, and bring new barbs clinging to the fur on their feet, and so we find new areas of it growing every now and then. Almost everyone has at least one dog, it seems. When the coyotes start yipping, every dog for several miles around sounds the alarm and it sounds like a dang kennel out here. Everyone has from a little over an acre to five acres and we all keep our grassland mowed to protect against wildfire. A couple of our neighbors have ten acres or so and they either run cattle on it or they have the grass baled for hay. I can't see how it's top quality hay, because I think all it is, is Bermuda grass. We've planted clover out here because of the nitrogen it adds to the soil but it is hard-pressed to hold it's own against the Bermuda during drought times. We have bordered our land in those rock we've dug out of holes, our "rock wall" is about two feet tall. It serves another purpose other than just a use for the extra rock. It keeps the lawn care service that one of our neighbors sometimes uses from turning off onto our land in their trucks and trailers, for the purpose of turning around. Hubs went over and asked them not to do that, as they were making ruts, and it was hard for him to mow, but they would just say "ok" and do it anyway if they thought we weren't watching. I had never heard that about "Poor Man's Fertilizer". LOL We hardly ever get enough snow to till in, but I would think allowing it to lay there till it soaks in would be the same thing, wouldn't it? But I do prefer rain water to tap water and I wish we had a well, but we are on a water district and they get the water from the City. It is laced with stuff I don't like, like chlorine and fluoride and I'm scared to know what else. We have an old cistern that was used by the first owners of our house in the 1960's. One of our old-timer neighbors told us that when they blasted for the cistern, the foundation was already poured for the house, and the blast took out the foundation, too, so that was to do all over again. Our house was hit by lightning about 15 years ago and burned. Was rebuilt, improved in some areas, not so much in others. That's the nature of everyone's home, I guess.