Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface Daily Sanitizing Spray Review

Let me start this review by clearly stating that I am not germphobic.  As someone with a degree in Biology, I understand that there are many kinds of good and harmless bacteria in the world in addition to the nasty ones that we hear so much about.  I am very worried about the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria like MRSA and go out of my way to avoid antibacterial products most of the time.  That being said, I understand that there are some situations that call for a disinfecting/sanitizing product.  When I need one, I usually stick to a homemade mixture of plain old bleach and water.  One day I discovered Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface Sanitizing Spray on the shelf at Target and decided to try it out.

The problem with a homemade bleach/water solution is that it breaks down and loses its effectiveness over a couple of days.  This product contains stabilizers which preserve the solution and prevent it from dissociating.  The bottle claims that it is gentle enough to use around kids, pets, and food and suggests using it on: sinks, highchairs, toys, doorknobs, toilet seats, telephones, tables, appliances, counters, plastic cutting boards, etc.  It's very easy to use.  All you do is spray enough of it onto the surface to get it thoroughly wet and then allow the liquid to stand for at least two minutes.  You can then either wipe it off or allow the surface to air-dry.  Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface Sanitizing Spray doesn't have strong fumes and has only a hint of bleach scent to it.  It doesn't irritate my asthma and I feel comfortable using it around my parrots.

As I said earlier, I don't really use products like this around most of my house.  I do need them for our pet areas, though.  We run an animal rescue out of our home and have dealt with kennel cough, feline distemper, coccidia, giardia, upper respiratory infections, roundworms, tapeworms, and even dog lice in the past year.  We use the same litter boxes, crates, carriers, and exercise pens for all of the fosters so it is extremely important that they are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected reguarly.  I usually scrub everything down with a combination of Simple Green and KOE Odor Eliminator, let it all dry, and then spray a healthy amount of a bleach/water solution onto everything.  Thus far, we haven't had any cross-contamination between litters of animals which means that the bleach is doing its job.  I was hoping that Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface Sanitizing Spray could save me the extra step of mixing up the solution every couple of days...

and it has.  It saves me a minute or two but I have to pay dearly for it.  A 22 fluid ounce bottle of this product costs almost $3 at Target.  I can buy a gallon of bleach and an empty spray bottle for less than that and they'd last me for about 30 times as long as one bottle of Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface Sanitizing Spray does.  In this case, I think I'll stick with regular plain bleach and my homemade sanitizing solution.