Do You Do This...?

[CathieArms]

I actually do carry sanitizer around with me because i'm around kids, and am always in a place where hundreds of other people have been that day.

I actually do carry sanitizer in my purse or car, but not because of a fear of germs so much as sometimes you just feel the need to have clean hands and it's a quick fix.

 

[hammie59]

This is pretty much how DH and I roll. I would implore people to utilize 'regular old soap' whenever possible, as antibacterial soap can increase the resistancy of the germ against the antibacterial ingredient. This is how drug resistant strains are created, and could make our antibacterial soap less useful in the future. If I can't get to a sink with good ol soap, you betcha we'll pull out the antibacterial. I also use lysol or clorox on 'yucky' surfaces in the room, ie the toilet handle, faucet handles, door handle, and remote. As well as on a public surface (such as a picnic table) that we are about to eat on. Also, be aware that most antibacterial wipes/gels will not kill a virus (ie the flu virus). They have a protein coating that makes them harder to 'kill', and are not even technically "alive", they must have a host cell, inside your body, to reproduce. Ok, off the soapbox. One less sick person is one less way for me to get sick.

I totally agree. I hate all the over use of antibacterial soaps. Goes hand in hand with misuse of antibiotics. Anyhow, I do wipe down the basics in the hotel (remote, toilet, counter, etc...) with a lysol wipe. We're a family that's big on washing our hands a lot. Nothing over the top, just common sense.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Oh yes! I bring my spray & wipes to clean the room with when we check in. It only takes a minute and it makes me feel better.

 

[Colleen27]

I totally agree. I hate all the over use of antibacterial soaps. Goes hand in hand with misuse of antibiotics. Anyhow, I do wipe down the basics in the hotel (remote, toilet, counter, etc...) with a lysol wipe. We're a family that's big on washing our hands a lot. Nothing over the top, just common sense.

What I hate is that the demand for antibacterial everything has made it hard to find non-antibacterial products in some cases. I love the pretty smelling Bath & Body Works hand soaps but don't buy them because they are ALL antibacterial. Same goes for dish soap - there is usually one or two non-antibacterial scents, but most of the time the ones that appeal the most are antibacterial so I pass on them. And do we really need antibacterial agents built into kids toys?

We do carry alcohol-based hand sanitizer for those times when we're grabbing a snack and don't have a restroom handy or after using a porta-potty, but I don't believe there's a benefit to everything being antibacterial so I steer clear of most anti-bac products and it hasn't seemed to hurt us any.

 

[hammie59]

Yes, I've also stopped buying the Bath n Bodyworks soap for that very reason. So frustrating cuz I love them!

 

[Gigi22]

Never. If I were ill, I might consider using Lysol wipes to clean surfaces in a hotel room to prevent spreading my germs to my DH, but not otherwise.

 

[PolynesianLily]

I think it is appropriate to use sanitizer when you do not have the option of running to the washroom to wash your hands. I'm not entirely sure if I will carry the sanitizer around in the parks (maybe at the restaurants). But again, i'm glad to know that other people do it as well.

 

[sunshineNJ]

Yes I do, in any hotel we stay in. I do the remote, door knobs, toilet flusher and seat and of course check for bed bugs. It only takes a couple of minutes and it gives me some peace of mind.

 

[Tykels]

YES! Lysol wipes and wet ones are a must. Be careful what you pack for the plane. Last year I had my Lysol spray confiscated from TSA because it was too big. (That is true, I was called over the loud speaker to security)

 

[chefmb]

Reading these boards has changed the way I travel(even though I don't travel very often)!! I now check for bed bugs with my little flashlight before taking any luggage in the room, and I wipe things down with my Lysol wipes. Never even used to think about those kinds of things!!

 

[honeydiane1953]

No I only bring hand sanitizer to use before eating.

 

[yankeepenny]

I will admit it. I wipe down handles and remotes and check for bed bugs and overall cleanliness. I have NEVER had a dirty/not up to par room.

sometimes maybe a little worn and in need of rehab, but that is it.

 

[yankeepenny]

quite a few counter service places have hand wipes-for instance at least CHH does in MK, they work .

and i always carry a couple of packets of small wipes in back jeans pocket.

 

[santadog]

I don't check for bed bugs, but I always wipe down surfaces, and I've done that ever since I saw a news report that showed there were more germs on a shopping cart handle than there were on a public toilet seat.

 

[crazedprincess]

I've never wiped things down in our hotel room or checked for bed bugs. But after this whole bed bug scare, I'm thinking I may at least do a check for those. We carry hand sanitizer to use before eating and we wash our hands frequently. But I'm not going to obsess the entire time over germs. It's just not my idea of a good time.

 

[disfan07]

Nope. Never have, never will and I am immunosuppresed and have many chronic health problems.

The one thing that I do is carry hand sanitizer with me. The only reason is because I am allergic to the hand soap in the bathrooms at WDW so the whole washing with plain old soap wont work for me. I will break out in a severe rash. If I could use the soap at teh parks, no I would not carry hand xanitizer with me.

 

[smidgy]

And I hope you carry those into the parks to use on the rides where kids with runny noses hold onto the handle bars and on the seats in the monorail where a mother just changed the baby's diaper or in the wash rooms at the parks and hotels before you sit down.

As I've said before, I hope a germaphobe has been in the room right before me. Personnally, I grew up on the five-second rule, if it fell on the ground and you get it in the first five seconds, you are good to go.

ITA! I think children would get sick less often if they were ever allowed to develop their own immuniites to germs. when everything is constantly "sanitized" how can you build up immunities? (just like the over use of antibiotics).

let a kid play in the dirt. it's ok if a little one gets sick once in a while. he will build up immhities and be sick much less often later in life.

First baby: sterilize bottles(ok, showing my age here). sterilize pacifier. if it pops out of baby's mouth, resterilize it.

second baby: um, run said pacifier under hot water.

third baby: pick up pacifier. pull cat hair off it. blow on it and put it back in baby's mouth.

 

[smidgy]

ok, we arebig on hand washing. just saying I (and a lot of others) think there is way too much sanitizing. not enough letting nature do what it was intended to do.