To Disinfect or simply Wash?

Oh the laundry that is piling up!

I'm a freak when it comes to sick germs. I can handle the cow poop germs, the dog germs, the playground germs (sometimes), the dirt germs, but I totally freak out when someone in our house gets sick. It doesn't matter if it is Tim or I, or Ashley, or the boys, I go through Lysol disinfecting spray and bleach like crazy!

This week, I went through an entire 2 gallons of bleach with all of my freaky washing and cleaning. So today, I'm wondering, do I need to disinfect or would simply washing be OK? Chime in ladies and let me know what you do.

Normally, I put the toys in a mesh laundry bag and toss them into the washer with a load of clothes. No extra bleach or the Lysol concentrate ~ just detergent and fabric softener. This gets done once a week or so. The toys are rotated around so they all get washed a couple of times a month.

This week, I pulled every toy from the bedroom, hallway, front room, kitchen, my room, and bathroom (wonder what I missed - probably the one with the sick germ on it) to disinfect them. First they went into a bleach solution to soak for 10 minutes (usually longer because I'm easily distracted), then they went into a water rinse (because sometimes toys go into the mouth and I figured if there was bleach residue it needed to be rinsed), then I let the toys air dry.

The toy containers were either Lysoled or wiped with bleach solution.

Stuffed animals were subjected to the washer machine with Lysol concentrate (smells disgusting!), and the dryer.

Electronic toys...OK, I confess, I contemplated tossing them since they are a pain to wash, but I wiped with a bleach solution. It is time consuming. Grandparents take note ~ no more electronic toys that can't be tossed into the washer! Just gift the kids with money for their bank accounts ~ they have too many toys anyway!

Then, when I thought I had it all covered...I walked outside. Oh my goodness! The toys! Do I need to disinfect them too? I haven't yet. I'm still debating...I'm still getting caught up on the non vomit clothes.

My house smells bleachy clean!