On Preloved Toys (Part 2): Cleaning Preloved

On my last post on preloved toys, I talked about looking for a soft toy in the mall in vain. There are many cute toys to choose from, but somehow, I didn't find the perfect one. Now, enter this Facebook seller. I actually found the US-preloved toys in Multiply, but found out they have a Facebook account as well. I headed on to their account to see a more complete album of toys.

Lo and behold, I saw branded toys (albeit used) that were priced around P100 - P150 only. I myself bought three toys that were altogether cheaper than his baptismal tuxedo. Haha! I bought a Baby Einstein Octoplush and two soft books from Sesame Street and Taggies, all for less than P500!

Since they were all preloved, or used, cleanliness was certainly an issue. However, I followed a rigorous cleaning and disinfecting regimen, and everything was done in the comfort of our kitchen. How? Let the pictures tell the story:

What you will need:

The many times featured Cradle Toy and Surface Cleaner and the ever-reliable Zonrox Color-Safe (Not in photo: sponge and towel) (In photo: used Golden Fiesta cooking oil)

Step 1: Wet a sponge and pour Zonrox over it. Why did I use Zonrox for baby toys? Our family dentist swears by it and uses Zonrox to sterilize her equipments, the same tools she places inside our mouths. Just make sure to rinse them thoroughly.

Step 2: The sponge I used is very rough and not the soft kind. Its consistency is like a loofah's. With that sponge, I scrubbed the toys vigorously. Make sure to scrub every nook and cranny.

Step 3: If you are a mom, you'll surely have a basin or two. Get one and fill it with water. Immerse the cloth books to remove the bleach.

Step 4: The Octoplush is electronic and you can't immerse it in water. Instead, get a clean towel and wet it. Use this for the electronic plush toy and wipe all over it thoroughly. Don't stop wiping until all the traces of bleach is gone. Zonrox Color-Safe apparently creates suds, so make sure the toy is already suds-free.

Step 5: Drain the dirty water from the basin. Make sure the cloth books are suds-free, too, by mercilessly squeezing them. At the same time, boil water.

Step 6: After the water has boiled, pour it in the basin and let the cloth books immerse again.

Cloth books immersed in very hot, boiling water

Step 7: Since you cannot immerse electronic toys in water, what I did was get a smaller basin and placed the toy inside it. Then, I placed it on top of the bigger basin with the cloth books.

Octoplush inside a smaller basin

Step 8: After placing the smaller basin on top of the bigger basin, I placed a rubber mat over them to trap steam. I followed the principle of steaming as a way of sterilization, and that's a valid method ha. How do you think electric sterilizers work? So while hot water directly sterilizes the cloth books, very hot steam sterilizes the Octoplush.

Rubber mat to trap steam

Step 9: After the water has cooled down, I air-dried the toys by hanging them on the clothesline. After they dried, I took them down. No, they are not yet ready for playing. This is where the Cradle Toy and Surface Cleaner enters.

Step 10: After the toys were dry, I sprayed the Cradle Toy and Surface Cleaner all over them. Then, I scrubbed them (again) clean. After making sure that no residue is left in the toys, I hung them again to dry.

And it's done! Now, we can enjoy our (very cheap) toys - of course, after mommy has spent a day cleaning and disinfecting all three of them. But the look on Y's face is priceless!

Y enjoying his toys -- He was really enjoying them but his favorite commercial was on when I took this photo, so the toys were ignored (Caught on photo: Davao Mommy's thunder legs)

Here again is Y, trying to get some reading done.

"Please don't disturb me! I'm trying to find Ernie!"

How about you? How do you clean and disinfect preloved things?

*The toys above are used versions of Baby Einstein Octoplush, Sesame Street Peek-a-boo Book, and My First Taggies Sweet Dreams book. All of them are in good condition and do not need repairs, whatsoever.

*Grainy photos courtesy of my 2-year old mobile phone.