Here's How To Make Your Own DIY Bleach Cleaning Spray

Making sure your kitchen and bathroom are disinfected is an important part of cleaning, but using disposable products like disinfectant wipes can get expensive, and throwing them out can feel like a waste each time. By making your own disinfectant spray, however, you can cut down on the amount of wipes in your garbage, save a little money, and keep your home clean and free from germs. For a quick-and-easy DIY disinfectant, you can combine a small amount of bleach with water in a spray bottle.

It's crucial to take safety precautions while making a DIY bleach cleaning spray. When handling bleach, make sure your skin is protected with rubber gloves and the room has good ventilation. It's important to note that bleach should never be mixed with other cleaning products, such as rubbing alcohol, vinegar, or ammonia, as these combinations can create toxic gasses or chemicals. For example, combining bleach with vinegar or other acidic cleaners creates chlorine gas, which is extremely toxic to inhale.

To make your own disinfectant spray with bleach, you'll need to determine what strength you want. While higher concentrations of bleach will kill more germs, sprays with less bleach will still do their job and won't be as harmful if they touch your skin. For a stronger cleaning solution, pour 2 1/2 tablespoons of bleach into your spray bottle, followed by 2 cups of water. If you have more surface area that needs cleaning, you can double this recipe. Less potent cleaners only require 2 teaspoons of bleach for every 2 cups of water. Adding the bleach to the bottle first will help ensure that it doesn't splash out and get on you.

While making larger batches of DIY cleaning spray to save for later might seem like a good idea, note that bleach loses potency over time, and it's recommended that you make your cleaner on the day you want to use it. If you do have leftover bleach spray, you can store it in a cool, dark place, but know that it may not be as effective next time.

If the surface you want to disinfect is particularly dirty, you can clean it with soap and water, but let it completely dry before using your DIY bleach spray. For your cleaning solution to be the most effective, you'll want to saturate your countertop, or whatever you're cleaning, with your spray so that it remains wet for several minutes. Let the solution sit for about six minutes before wiping the area with a damp cloth. While you can let your bleach spray air dry, it can be helpful to wipe it away if you're worried about it coming into contact with food.

This cleaning spray can be used on hard surfaces that aren't porous, like tile, laminate counters, vinyl floors, and ceramic; however, it's not safe to use on wood, carpet, marble, silver, copper, non-stainless steel, or aluminum. With this said, to ensure germs don't linger in your kitchen or bathroom surfaces after someone's been sick or if you want to make sure your house is extra clean, a batch of this DIY bleach cleaning spray could prove a cost-effective, simple solution that you can make in about a minute.