Confessions of a Germaphobe

As a health care professional working in home care, I have the pleasure of getting to know and help patients in their homes. Generally speaking, I really enjoy my job and most of the homes I visit contain pleasant, friendly people who make concerted attempts to keep their houses clean and tidy. Granted, the people I visit are sick (and often frail and elderly), so they aren't always completely successful at the endeavor to have a clean home, but their efforts are certainly noticeable (and appreciated, if I do say so myself....).

However, I must admit that there are homes that make me cringe at the thought of entering.... homes that make you realize that shows like How Clean is your House don't exaggerate the state of some people's homes one little bit.

After 10 years of having to enter and assess patients in these ever so lovely dwellings, I've developed a little problem. I'm a germaphobe. Seriously. I never used to think about what might be living on my counter tops or under my toilet seat, but now I find myself deeply concerned. I never used to give a second thought to a door handle at the store, or the handle of the shopping cart, but now I know that some people who look very clean are, in fact, living in disgustingly dirty homes.

Not that I'm the poster child for a clean home. My home is often untidy (I do have two teenage boys living here you know), but I honestly do strive to keep it clean - free of dirt and grime. So, because of my germaphobic tendencies, acquired over years of working in, at times, unbelievable filth and indescribable odour I have a strong desire to disinfect. Everything. So, in my quest to kill all microscopic flora in my home, I've purchased some pretty strong cleaners in my day. I've also often found that I would get an incredible headache after cleaning, presumably due to the strong smell of most of these cleaners.

So lately I've been finding myself trying to come up with better, effective, less toxic ways to clean. Sure, I want to kill the bacteria and viruses lurking around my home, but I don't want to also be killing myself :o) I just wasn't sure where to start. Then, I read this post by McMama and I thought to myself - that sounds interesting.... and easy. So, I started doing some Internet research, and then I bought a book to help myself out and now I'm cleaning without all of those chemicals! I can clean an entire bathroom without getting a wicked headache! In fact, I bought some lemon essential oil to add a hint of lemony freshness to my "All Purpose Cleaner" which I use when wiping down my kitchen counter and stove after dinner. If I need to disinfect the kitchen, or when I'm cleaning the washrooms, I use my "Tea Tree Oil" cleaner. My 50/50 water/vinegar solution, when combined with my microfiber cloth, is fabulous for getting the fingerprints off my black appliances and cleaning my mirrors and windows to a gleaming, streak-free shine! Baking Soda - who knew the cleaning possibilities that existed with this miraculous white powder? My sinks have never been so clean, and my laundry so fresh smelling!

Can you tell I'm excited about my new discoveries? I'd love you tell you that I've changed because of my eco-friendly ways, but I'm not an eco-friendly guru. While I do believe that being responsible with the environment and the resources we glean from our world is important, I'm far from being an environmental junky. For me, the true benefit of the change in cleaning products is more about health. I figure it just can't be good for us to be exposed to all these chemicals all the time. Don't misunderstand though, I still believe that antibacterial and antiviral chemicals have their place in this world, but do they need to be in my home? No. Not that I'm ready to throw the antibacterial hand gel away though..... I do go to disgusting places sometimes, remember?

So for now, I will continue on this path of simplifying my cleaning. Oh, and did I mention that it's way cheaper to use these products for cleaning? An added bonus, if I do say so myself! On that note, I'll leave you to discover your own natural cleaning potential, and maybe I'll go scrub my sink down with baking soda! :o)

Cathy