What's the best way to get rid of the germs in my sink?

Cleaning your sink with bleach is a great way to kill household germs. Plus, it'll keep your sink clean without the expense of pricey cleaning products.
Your kids leave dirty bowls with puddles of milk and bits of cereal in the kitchen sink. Every member of the family – except the baby and the dog – spits toothpaste foaming with bacteria, viruses, fungi and other micro-organisms into the bathroom basin. Yuck. And someone has to clean it up. And that someone is probably you.

It may sound like overkill but one easy, inexpensive trick of domestic germ control is to clean your sink with bleach.

You can destroy the germ pool in your kitchen sink. Regular swiping with household cleaners keeps grease and grime at bay so the sink looks like you care. But being really serious about sanitation is a weekly, or at least monthly, water-and-bleach soak. And it’s easy.

Fill up the sink halfway with the hottest water you can get out of your tap. Then pour in one to two cups of bleach. Let the mixture sit for at least ten minutes, about when the water is cool. Protect your hands with rubber kitchen gloves to unplug and let the water drain. Rinse with hot water. Your sink will shine and be completely germ-free.

It takes less than a half-hour a week to rid your porcelain or fibreglass bathroom sink and tub of soap scum, dried toothpaste and mildew. Follow the same steps as for your kitchen sink. Disinfect the faucet handles too. You’re neutralizing one of the worst bacteria spreaders in the house.

A bonus for your plumbing: When you clean your sink with bleach and hot water, that solution is helping to clear gunk out of your pipes on the way down.

Bleach products and cleaners are registered with Health Canada and are safe to release into our wastewater systems. And don’t worry if you use a septic system. The approved bleaches break down really quickly when they hit the organic matter in your septic tank.

Read the label to find out if the chlorine cleaners you use are Health Canada approved. Of course, store all bleach and cleaning products out of reach of children.