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If you have followed Chemistry Cachet for awhile, then you are very familiar with cleaning vs disinfecting! You might be new to our website or maybe you are finding this post because you want some simple answers based on science. Today, we are going to help you with that! This is the truth about cleaning vs disinfecting!

The pandemic has surfaced some interesting situations in the cleaning world. In March, there was a huge spike in people searching for homemade disinfectants because they couldn’t find cleaning products to purchase, AND they wanted to keep their homes safe!

At the beginning of the pandemic, there was also a huge concern for how long a virus could live on a surface. Reports were saying 5-7 days even up to 10 days a surface was at risk. Now, we know that to be totally scientifically inaccurate (which we really always knew). But there is still a concern to make sure your surfaces are disinfected properly. Not just for viral strands, but really all bacteria or possible germs.

Many years ago when I started creating homemade cleaners, the goal was to create science based recipes with a purpose.

The year 2020 has brought even more people to this website who are wanting this exact same thing. I guess Chemistry Cachet has been a little ahead of the curve, but now people really want real information that works….without being complicated.

The TRUTH About Cleaning VS Disinfecting

We touched on cleaning vs disinfecting a little bit in our post about three household items that disinfect. I thought it was important to make a post specifically for this subject though because it is such an important topic.

The thing is, cleaning and disinfecting have ALWAYS been a separate course of action. In fact, this is true with both store-bought cleaners and homemade cleaners.

I have noticed now, most brands are now writing these two separate steps on the back of their spray bottles!

Make sure you save this post because this is your complete guide and reference to cleaning and disinfecting your home.

Let’s begin with cleaning.

What is Cleaning?

Chemistry Cachet’s definition of cleaning is to remove unwanted substances like dirt, grime, food, or particles from an object. Webster’s definition of clean means to be free from dirt or pollution. Basically, when you clean something, you are removing particles (which are anything) from an object (which is also anything).

Examples of cleaning:

• Removing dust from wood
• Removing soap scum from a a bath tub
• Removing dirt from floors
• Removing food from a counter
• Wiping off the stove
• Wiping off your shoes

I think you can get the idea, but cleaning is a very simple process. I like to think of it as a physical process. In chemistry, we learn about physical and chemical processes. Cleaning is a physical process. You can see when something is dirty and when something is clean.

What substances can you use to clean?

Knowing what cleaning actually means, it is easy to understand why so many substances can be used to clean!

This is why our homemade cleaners are so popular. They clean SO well! Since you can see the cleaning process, you can really tell what works and what doesn’t when it comes to cleaning.

Some of the best, more homemade items for cleaning include:

• Water (key ingredient in many cleaners, but also great on its own)
• Microfiber
• Rubbing alcohol
• Dish soap
• Vinegar
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Baking soda

In fact, if you keep all the above items on hand, you can whip up a cleaner any time. You can head to our cleaning tab for dozens of homemade cleaners. You can also check out our eBook for some really awesome ones like our all-purpose cleaner on page 13.

Either way, these substances are great homemade cleaning materials. Store-bought cleaners are also an option. Those are trial and error to see what you like best. Remember, you can see the cleaning process. It is obvious when a store-bought cleaner doesn’t perform well.

What does disinfecting mean?

Disinfecting is trickier because it isn’t something you can see like cleaning. In fact, a perfectly CLEAN surface can be totally contaminated with germs, and you don’t know because you can’t see germs.

Chemistry Cachet’s definition of disinfecting means to remove 99.9% of all germs including bacteria and viruses.  The EPA defines disinfecting (page 20) as using chemical substances to remove 99.999% of all germs on objects.

There are many guidelines and processes you must do in order to disinfect. This is very serious when it comes to public places like schools or hospitals. Especially during this pandemic. You must always follow the EPA or CDC guidelines on disinfecting a public area to ensure you are doing the right process. I highly recommend reading this publication from the EPA we have referenced because it is a really good guide to a public area.

On Chemistry Cachet, we stick to guidelines for your home 🙂

What can I use to disinfect my home?

Just like above, we shared some very basic, more homemade items to clean your home. Here are some other options to disinfect your home. You will notice a few of these are also listed in the cleaning section, but continue reading to learn how they are used differently depending on if you want to clean or disinfect.

• Rubbing alcohol (70%) (You can find on Amazon right now)
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Sodium percarbonate
• Chlorinated bleach (last resort in my opinion)

There are also dozens and dozens of store-bought disinfectants available. If you want to choose a store-bought disinfectant, be sure the label says “kills 99.9% of all germs.” On the back, it will also list was viruses or bacteria it kills.

How do you disinfect?

This is the most important section of our article today. Please read this!

These are the most critical, science based steps to disinfecting. Like the EPA states or any store-bought disinfectant says on the bottle.

Step 1: Clean the surface well. Make sure all particles are removed (dirt, food, scum, etc). You can use a homemade cleaner or a store-bought cleaner for this. Anything to make sure surface is clean.

Step 2: Now, spray your disinfectant over surface. Make sure to saturate the area well with your disinfectant. It is important to spray enough material on there so it can sit for about 10 minutes***

Step 3: Using a paper towel or microfiber cloth, wipe off the surface with one stroke per side (this avoids possible cross contamination). I think paper towels work best for this. You wipe one portion, flip over and wipe with the next side until all the surface is dry.

***Read the back of store-bought cleaners as time varies.

Be Careful of Cross Contamination

If you are dealing with some truly germ-y surfaces (ones you know might contain a virus or bacteria), then also be careful of cross contamination. This article from the Water Quality & Health Council about cleaning vs disinfecting brings up a good point about cleaning tools. Cleaning tools like sponges can cross contamination when you wipe. This is why I also use a paper towel or microfiber and do the one wipe per surface.

Can you use the same homemade cleaner to disinfect?

Simply put, no you cannot. Why? Because a homemade cleaner is created to clean. It doesn’t have the chemical capabilities to also disinfectant (this is done in a laboratory like with store-bought cleaners).

The benefit of homemade cleaners is minimal, safer ingredients. The drawback to anything homemade is the lack of chemicals to be formulated to do all the steps. There is no way around this!

However, you can use some of the ingredients found in homemade cleaners to disinfect!

How to disinfect with homemade ingredients?

Here is how you can disinfect a more homemade way if you are interested.

I will use our all-purpose cleaner as an example. The ingredients in our all-purpose cleaner (you can see it in the video here), are water, dawn, and rubbing alcohol. This recipe is created to be safe on all surfaces and can be used daily without harming surfaces. It is one of the best recipes readers love! I get emails daily about how well it cleans which is awesome. However, it does NOT disinfect on its own because it is created as a cleaner.

Instead, use the rubbing alcohol ingredient found inside this recipe to disinfect your surfaces.

Here is how to do it:

Step 1: Spray your surface with Chemistry Cachet’s all-purpose cleaner. Wipe it off and make sure surface is clean, free from debris.

Step 2: Now spray the pure rubbing alcohol all over the surface and let is sit 10 minutes.

Step 3: Wipe off with a paper towel using the steps listed above in how to disinfect.

This is just an example. You do NOT have to use our all-purpose cleaner. I don’t care about eBook sales or anything like that. I just want readers to use what they love… Feel free to use ANYTHING homemade you enjoy. Just remember, disinfecting will need to be done with a separate step with one of the approved homemade disinfectants listed above (rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, sodium percarbonate).

Can you clean and disinfect at the same time with store-bought cleaners?

The answer to this is also no! In fact, go to the store in the cleaning section and pull out a disinfectant spray. In this example, I am showing a Lysol product. If you read the directions, even this brand states cleaning and disinfecting must be done separate. You can look above at the back of the spray bottle.

This goes back to the fact that your surface has to be clean and free from any food or dirt in order to disinfect.

Make sure you check with officials and Government organizations for public areas like schools.

I want to reiterate this because we have had many emails about this. Always follow the CDC guidelines if you work in a public place and want to make sure to keep everything safe. Largely populated areas must use more heavy duty protocol (especially hospitals) due to the number of people and large spaces.

These tips today are going to be more for your home or personal space to keep it safe 🙂

Be sure to head to instagram for more tips and videos on cleaning vs disinfecting!

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