Household Cleaning Products You Should Never Mix

Who does not want to step into a neat and clean house after a hectic day of work? Cleaning a house may sound like an easy job, but there’s a lot to do. Keeping a house clean, disinfected, mold-free, etc. can be a very tough job. But there are tons of chemicals in the market to help you with household cleaning. Products like bleach, cleaning vinegar, baking soda, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, etc. are used for household cleaning purposes for many years. But there are a lot of things we should know about these things before we start using these. Since these are harsh chemicals, it is very important to know which to mix and which not to. Ignorance can cause a lot of problems in such cases and may do some serious damage as well. Here is some combination of household cleaning products you should never mix.

1. Baking Soda and Vinegar: Baking soda and vinegar are some of the most common things present in every household. Whenever there is a stubborn stain or any other cleaning issue, we usually reach out to these two. Baking soda and vinegar are amazing cleaners but only when it is used on its own. Baking soda is basic and vinegar is acidic and when put together mostly creates water and sodium acetate. These two when mixed will foam up, and if kept in a closed bottle may also explode.
2. Hydrogen Peroxide and Vinegar: hydrogen peroxide and vinegar are great natural disinfectants. There are a lot of social media post and internet articles suggesting hydrogen peroxide and vinegar are great disinfectants and should be sprayed over kitchen surfaces to keep it clean and infection-free, and some also recommend to mix it in a spray bottle and spray it on fruits, which is actually very harmful, these two mixed together will create peracetic acid, which will surely sanitize but it is extremely corrosive. When used together may harm skin, eyes, and also respiratory system.
3. Ammonia and Bleach: Many cleaning supplies available in the market contain ammonia and bleach, mostly glass cleaning solutions have these two ingredients, which are very harmful if used together. So it is very important to read the ingredient lists before purchasing any cleaning supplies. When these two chemicals are mixed together it creates chloramine which can cause shortness of breath and chest pain.
4. Vinegar and bleach: Vinegar and bleach together creates a very strong cleaning product but should never be used together. When vinegar and bleach is used together it released strong chlorine gas and chloramine which can be very harmful to skin, eyes, can cause breathing problem and can also cause long term harm to the lungs.
5. Bleach and rubbing alcohol: Bleach and rubbing alcohol which is also known as isopropyl make chloroform, which may prove to be very harmful. Chloroform is the chemical seen in movies used by the bad guys on people to make them senseless. It may not make you pass out but caused long term harm.
6. Different type of drain cleaners: There are many types of drain cleaners in the market right now, and we usually try out a lot of them, and it is somewhat satisfying to try out new stuff, but it is very risky to mix different chemicals as it releases gas over time, it is very important to read the ingredients before purchasing any drain cleaners. And professionals also suggest sticking to one drain cleaner over time.
7. Bleach and toilet cleaner: The mixture of an acid-base toilet cleaner with bleach can be very harmful as it releases toxic fumes which in the long run can affect respiratory organs and the eyes.
8. Vinegar and Castile Soap: Vinegar and castile soap is often used as a cleaning combo, but it is a very dangerous combination. Castile soap is a fine, hard white, or molted soap made with mainly olive oil and sodium hydroxide which creates an oily mixture. This mixture when mixed with vinegar, the acid in it breaks down the castile soap and creates a very dangerous mixture. It is recommended not to use this mixture.
9. Oven Cleaner and Bleach: Bleach is the most frequently used product is any cleaning work, we always go for bleach whenever we face a cleaning issue. But bleach is a very reactive thing. We often mix it with a lot of things we should not, like oven cleaners, this combination can produce chlorine gas, resulting in eyes, nose, and throat and lung irritation.
10. Glass cleaner and bleach: Mixing bleach with any glass cleaner can be very dangerous, it releases toxic chemicals and gas. The most common ingredient in glass cleaners is ammonia, which when reacts with bleach produces sodium hypochlorite and chloramine vapor. Which over time releases can be extremely injurious to human health.

Every one of us tries our best to keep our house neat and clean, there is nothing better than returning to a clean house after a long day of work. Be it an old house or new, most of us dedicate a day of the week to keep everything clean and disinfected, often cleaning a house turns to a hobby, we spend a lot of time cleaning it, try out new cleaning stuffs in the market and do our little experiments while cleaning kitchen, sink, oven, glass, carpets or anything of the house. Not caring about the risk that we can initiate just by not knowing what to mix with what. Ignorance can sometimes be very harmful. So it is very important for us to be more careful while doing our own chemical experiments and read and gather knowledge about each and every ingredient we use in our house because the house is supposed to be the safest place one can be. Keeping it clean is surely important, but keeping it safe for ourselves is much more important.