I clean for 5 hours a day to stop coronavirus spreading, I love Mrs Hinch & have got through 100 bottles of bleach
A MUM has revealed how she cleans for up to five hours-a-day to protect herself from coronavirus, getting through 100 bottles of bleach since lockdown began in March.
DeAna D’Monte, 49, a divorced mum-of-two from Kent, used to clean just once-a-week before the pandemic began, but she's far from alone in ramping this up.
And she barely leaves the house, aside from dog walks and the occasional trip to the Post Office, because she's worried about catching the virus.
A new survey carried out by cleaning product manufacturer Hydrachem found 57 per cent of Brits are cleaning more than we did before the virus. On average, we are all cleaning for 63 minutes more each week - and many have taken this to the extremes.
Clinical psychologist Dr Oliver Sindall () told Fabulous our new cleaning obsession is rooted in rationality, and should not be confused with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
In an exclusive chat with Fabulous, DeAna, who runs online gifts business Word Craft Design Gifts, reveals all:
“When lockdown first started back in March, it hit me badly – I was down and depressed.
My work as a web designer for businesses dried up; I spent the first two weeks glued to the news, just eating and sleeping.
Then I started to worry obsessively about the virus.
The idea of it being on surfaces in my home drove me up the wall, and preyed on my mind constantly – the more I heard about it and how long it could survive on surfaces, the more I worried about it, and the more I felt compelled to start cleaning my house every day.
I have fibromyalgia, which means I get tired more easily and it affects my immune system – colds always seem to last for a long time – so I’m worried about how getting Covid-19 would affect me and have been shielding as much as possible.
I go through four bottles of bleach a week and must have used 100 since the pandemic started. I trust bleach more than any other cleaning product as I know it kills the virus
DeAna D’Monte
As a result, I set up a strict cleaning regime. Whereas normally, I would clean the house once or twice a week, I’m now doing it from top to bottom every day.
I now get up at 6am so I have time for all my cleaning. I've had to quit watching TV too.
I'll have a coffee, walk my dogs and then start cleaning. I carry on until I feel everything is clean enough, which could be around 11am.
I hoover the house every day and clean all the door handles, including the front door and letterbox, banister rails, tiles and washable floors, in a mild bleach solution which I put in a spray bottle.
On surfaces that can’t tolerate bleach I’ll use an anti-bacterial spray.
When my shopping is delivered, it's left at the end of the path of my house, in a small village in Kent.
I unpack it wearing gloves and then put it on my big kitchen table and spray it with the bleach solution – you have to think about how many people have touched it before it arrives in the house.
I go through around four bottles of bleach a week and must have used 100 since the pandemic started. I trust bleach more than any other cleaning product as I know it kills the virus.
I also use Fairy Liquid for the washing up, Dr Beckmann, Astonish anti-bac surface cleaner and Dettol.
I’ll look on Mrs Hinch's Instagram page for tips and use The Pink Stuff on her recommendation. I love Elbow Grease from Home Bargains and use Mr Muscle down my sinks and drains.
My grocery shopping bill has gone up by at least £20 or £25 a week because of all these extra products, plus masks and hand gel.
I won't go to anyone else's house at the moment and I’ve set up a cleaning station by the front door for me and any visitors, like my kids who are aged 27 and 30.
When I go out to walk my three dogs, I wear my washable mask and Crocs. On my return, I use hand gel, clean my shoes with anti-bac spray and my dogs get their feet washed too.
I use disposable gloves and masks when I have to go to the shops or Post Office, which is as little as possible.
I’ll happily hand out bottles of hand gel – I gave some to the postie the other day – and I’m always ready with lots of spare masks! I'm just so grateful to not have to share a communal front door.
At weekends, I up my cleaning regime to include areas I might not have had time to do in the week, cleaning for at least four hours a day to make sure the windows and suchlike are spotless.
An expert's view
Dr Oliver Sindall told Fabulous our new cleaning obsession is rooted in rationality, and should not be confused with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
“With OCD, sufferers have frequent obsessive thoughts which might result in manifestations of compulsive behaviour which may not be related to the obsessive thoughts,” he told us.
“This is different, and what we are seeing now is people who’ve never cleaned compulsively before starting to do so.
"First of all, this is understandable – it’s not irrational, and it hasn’t come out of nowhere.
"We are in a deadly pandemic with conditions to help manage it, and we clean because that is what we have been told to do to keep ourselves safe.
“Everything around us is out of control, and we might not even consciously be aware of how that is making us feel.
"But when we are overwhelmed by uncertainty – if we don’t know where the next pay check is coming from, or whether our kids can go to school, we ask ourselves, ‘How can I regain control over my life? I know, I can make sure the house is clean, the post is clean, that I wear a mask everywhere.”
Some researchers have dubbed the fear of contracting the virus, and associated behavioural changes, coronaphobia. But Dr Sindall thinks it’s dangerous to give our corona cleaning obsession a name.
He says: “At the moment, these are understandable fears. But if you find they are impacting on your behaviour in other areas of life – for instance, if you’re not going to work, or not sending kids to school – then it might be time to ask your GP for support."
Once I’d got over the first difficult weeks of the pandemic, I decided to start my own business, Word Craft Design.
I invested in a printing press and I now print funny, uplifting or slightly risqué slogans on mugs, badges and T-shirts.
I’m absolutely rigid about making sure there are no germs on those items.
When they’re delivered, I leave them in a secure covered area outside in the fresh air for at least three days. And after I’ve printed them, I’ll wear gloves and masks while I pack them ready for delivery.
My cleaning regime is not only about keeping myself safe, but the people I love and all my customers too.
No-one is coming to my house and catching the virus. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for that, so everything has to be 100 per cent risk-free, I’m obsessive about that.
It’s time-consuming but it’s worth it for my peace of mind, and my customers’.
Other people might think it’s excessive, but I think it’s the right thing to do, and I’ll carry on cleaning like this every day until the pandemic is over
DeAna D’Monte
I was prepared for this second wave so mentally it’s hasn’t been as difficult as it was back in March.
I’ve accepted the fact that it may be this time next year before we have normality back. I don't buy the idea of a vaccine - I think the virus will mutate and be around for a long time.
I feel isolated from my friends, but I've been doing lots of Zoom calls and loved having people over to my garden in the summer.
I’d love to spend less time on the cleaning and relax the regime but I don’t feel that is an option right now.
I feel that it’s something I need to do in order to keep the virus at bay.
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By cleaning for so many hours a week I’m reducing the risk for everyone, me included.
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Other people might think it’s excessive, but I think it’s the right thing to do, and I’ll carry on cleaning like this every day until the pandemic is over.
For more information on DeAna’s store .