Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Bleach: I don't know how to quit you...

So you may have noticed that my posts have been sparse as of late. That is because I'm moving.  Not out of the area; we are moving about five minutes down the road. We sold our suburban home and purchased one in the country so we can do as Lenny of Mice and Men once said, "An live off the fatta the lan!" This is a move my husband would have been willing to do fifteen years ago, but as an urban dweller, I've only recently come on board. During the first five minutes of the tour of this home, I was ready.  Of course, it wasn't until about half way through escrow, during our home inspection, that I found out what could have been a deal breaker: no bleach. Nope, something about the well, good bacteria, blah blah blah...I really don't care why, but the bottom line is no bleach allowed in a well water home.
Is this one of those rules people say they are following, but really don't, like flossing? Or a habit people pretend to have, like, "I only subscribe to cable so I can watch the History Channel"? Digging around amongst rural dWELLers produced responses that varied from "never use bleach" to "we don't follow that rule, but we don't use much bleach" to my sister's shocked reply, "You can't use bleach?"
I am not a neat freak. I am not a germaphobe.  I just love bleach with its chemical scent and power to whiten like the sun. And none of this Dollar Tree discount bleach: only Clorox. The off brands are half water. And none of the "non-splash" variety, as they add soap that bubbles when my sink fills with hot water and bleach. My every other day, hot water and bleach ritual that is no longer...sniff, sniff.
After resigning myself to the fact that with life comes compromise, I've hopped onto Pinterest (the other reason my posts have been sparse) to find alternatives to bleach.  Our new country home comes with four lemon bearing trees, and apparently the lemon is what God intended us to use to clean water spots off of shower chrome. Or the other pinner who claims that baking soda, with white vinegar, makes a paste similar to Comet (I doubt it) and scrubs away all sorts of grime. As I repinned this gem, I thought to myself, what have I become? Please don't let me become one of those "nuts 'n' berries" crazy ladies who makes her own face masks from the produce section!!! I don't want to start cleaning my mirrors out of a spray bottle filled with pressed daisies!!! I was the pregnant woman, who while being told by her OB/GYN to take birthing classes, angrily replied, "Do not send me to some woman wearing Dream Catcher earrings who tries to guilt me out of my epidural!" In life, there are strongly held beliefs one should never waiver on: use of legal painkillers, access to laser and the sanitation powers bleach holds.
We will be country people by next week, so what will I do? What VALID replacement is there for bleach? Please don't tell me to just use bleach sparingly, because being "balanced" is not an option for me...goodbye bleach!