Alcohol and hydrogen peroxide are good antibacterials as they kill all bacteria, then evaporate. They do not linger on surfaces, possibly causing superbugs.

Tricosolin, found in many antibacterial soaps and cleansers, is another story. The best clean hands and bodies come from soap and hot water rather than hand wash with alcohol or triclosan.

And, of course, there are those of us who believe that we need to build up an immunity to germs and bacterium since we can never really totally disinfect our homes.. That said, we do need to be careful of the remnants of animal foods.

They can be particularly nasty. As for our runny nose–Maybe we did acquire a cold from the guy standing in the grocery store line behind us, or our cashier who kept sniffing while checking out our groceries.

But it is just as likely that we developed allergies from our carpet,our shining homes or the superbugs remaining on our germ-free countertops.

Disinfectant Mix together:

• 1/4 cup borax
• 1/2 gallon hot water

Note: Before using these green cleansers, try them in an unobtrusive place to make certain they do no damage.