The toilet is everyone's least favorite household cleaning job. But whether you have potty training children, someone in your family that's been sick with the flu or food poisoning, or your toilet is due for a cleaning, disinfecting is key to preventing the spread of harmful bacteria and illness-causing pathogens in your household.

Most toilet seats have an average of about 295 bacteria per square inch*, including E. Coli, Salmonella, Staph (Staphylococcus), Influenza and more. Just flushing the toilet spreads plenty of bacteria on its own, as polluted water vapor erupts out of the bowl during the flushing process, potentially coating the surrounding area in a gross bacterial mist. Illness-causing bacteria can survive on hard surfaces for weeks, so a weekly schedule of disinfecting is important to keep harmful bacteria at bay, and more frequently during cold and flu season.

People commonly use disinfecting wipes because they seem convenient, but they often require that surfaces remain wet for up to 10 minutes in order to be effective, and keeping a surface wet with disinfecting wipes can be more difficult than you might think. Many of them contain alcohol, which can cause the liquid to dry quickly, and can also cause premature cracking of plastic and vinyl. This can make it difficult to keep the surface wet without re-wiping multiple times, resulting in a potential waste of both time and money.

A fast-acting spray-application disinfectant will allow you to disinfect the hard-to-reach areas that wipes can't, and ensures that the surface remains wet for the proper time so germs are, in fact, killed. An EPA-registered disinfectant can eliminate cold, flu, E. Coli, Salmonella, Staph and other illness-causing bacteria in 2 minutes or less, remaining wet and active on hard, non-porous surfaces long enough to do its intended job.

DISINFECTING, DEODORIZING:

• Remove gross filth or heavy soil prior to application of Simple Green Clean Finish Disinfectant Cleaner.
• Apply product with a hand pump trigger sprayer. Hold sprayer six to eight inches from the surface to be treated.
• Spray area until it is covered with the product.
• Allow surface to remain wet for 2 minutes. No scrubbing necessary.
• Allow treated surfaces to air dry or wipe off with clean cloth.