Day 29: Cleaning toys

Toys carry so many germs. Your kids play with them, you play with them, their friends play with them. How often do you remember to clean them? Cleaning toys can be quick, easy and save your kids from picking up a lot of unwelcome germs!

Plastic Toys:
Did you know that you can put most of their toys in the dishwasher on the sanitation cycle to sanitize them? (The HOT water setting).  If you feel like the toys might fall onto the heating coil at the bottom, just use a twist tie or something similar to tie them to the rack to keep them from falling (lightweight or small toys can fall to the bottom)
HINT: If you have a toy with a hole in it (like their rubber ducky…) you can plug up the hole with a squirt of glue from a hot glue gun. This will keep water from getting into the toy in the first place, keeping mold OUT!

Plush Toys:
The soft toys and stuffed animals can be washed in the washing machine on Hot/High and dried on high in the dryer.

Give them a soak:
Give the toys a good soak in vinegar-water. Just fill a container with hot water and add a 1/2 cup of water vinegar for every gallon of hot water that you use. You can let the toys soak for 10 minutes in the solution. Rub them with a washcloth or sponge. The vinegar acetic acid will cut through the dirt and will disinfect the toys, naturally.

Toys with batteries:
If the toys have batteries, you could put white vinegar in a spray bottle and spray the exterior surfaces with the vinegar and wipe them clean with a rag or paper towel.

Bath toys:
Be sure to dump all of the water out of them after each use and try to dry them to avoid mold. To clean them, put them in a sink of diluted bleach water because these toys tend to grow mold quickly. If you smell any mold or see any, but sure to just throw this toy away!

HINT: Check your baby’s nasal bulb syringe for mold (see post about that HERE!), as well.

Disinfect baby areas:
Remember to wipe down areas like the playpens and changing tables. I just use a disinfecting wipe for ours once or twice a week (sometimes more for the changing table).

There are many “baby-safe” disinfectant wipes now, so you can always purchase those if you are hesitant to use the harsher chemicals.

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If you missed yesterday, go back to Day 28: Organizing Your Linen Closet

Are you ready for Day 30? Organizing your office or START AT THE BEGINNING with this index and pick where you want to go next.

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