How do I clean these CD's?

[Satori]

I had a bunch of stuff in those 13gal plastic totes in the back yard. It looks like the kids got into them and didn't reseal them and then it rained... (I check every time rain is coming but forgot a couple weeks ago when it rained for a week ) yep, opened them up yesterday to sort stuff and they were full of water and had that nasty old mildew green pool water smell. It was pretty gross, there was only a couple of things I was able to salvage one of which is a stack of old CD's that were my favorites. The CD's themselves are in perfect condition but I need to clean the nasty stuff off them. How do I do that without etching the CD's and kill any nasties that might be on them? Vinegar? Bleach?

[yeahwhat]

I'd spray them with vinegar or eye glass cleaner or window cleaner, then wipe them carefully with a really soft cloth, from the middle to the outside in straight lines, not going around in circles. That's for the side that gets read. The label side it doesn't matter so much how you wipe them.

[ArtsyMomma]

On the music side use isoprophyl alcohol, and a soft cloth. Wipe from the center of the cd towards the edge, not in a circle around the disc. Just straight from the center outwards.

Label side doesn't matter.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by ArtsyMomma

On the music side use isoprophyl alcohol, and a soft cloth. Wipe from the center of the cd towards the edge, not in a circle around the disc. Just straight from the center outwards.

Label side doesn't matter.

Thats normal cleaning, I need to get slime off them...

[yeahwhat]

Will rinsing them off under cool running water help get off most of the slime? Then wipe as above.

[MeepyCat]

I would not use those totes for outdoor storage without weighting the lids. I had a cat who could open them, and while he was kind of an unusual cat, raccoons and squirrels can definitely get them open.

[fullofgrace]

Originally Posted by Satori

I had a bunch of stuff in those 13gal plastic totes in the back yard. It looks like the kids got into them and didn't reseal them and then it rained... (I check every time rain is coming but forgot a couple weeks ago when it rained for a week ) yep, opened them up yesterday to sort stuff and they were full of water and had that nasty old mildew green pool water smell. It was pretty gross, there was only a couple of things I was able to salvage one of which is a stack of old CD's that were my favorites. The CD's themselves are in perfect condition but I need to clean the nasty stuff off them. How do I do that without etching the CD's and kill any nasties that might be on them? Vinegar? Bleach?

Honestly, them being all gross means they are not in perfect condition. You could try spraying them, but I think the bigger problem is that they are being stored outside to begin with. Some things are appropriately stored outdoors. Something that will be placed into an electronic device is not.

I am of the firm belief that if anyone has run out of storage for things, it means s/he has too many things. Before even considering how to clean them, I would first consider just how badly you need these items since they've been living outdoors and not actually put to use in your home. Don't waste your time cleaning items you haven't been actively using. Now that they are all disgusting anyway, throw them away guilt free!! If things are overflowing from your house into the yard, I really, really think a good purge is in order. Spring Cleaning time is a good time to start tossing! Free yourself of some (already clearly unused by virtue of where it has been sitting) clutter. It makes a busy life so much easier. I promise. (and from my siggy you know I know what I am talking about)

Originally Posted by MeepyCat

I would not use those totes for outdoor storage without weighting the lids.

If you absolutely have to store things outdoors in bins (like emergency preparedness items or items that are already sealed by their packaging, perhaps), ITA with this.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by MeepyCat

I would not use those totes for outdoor storage without weighting the lids. I had a cat who could open them, and while he was kind of an unusual cat, raccoons and squirrels can definitely get them open.

They were sealed, the kids cut the tape and got into them as well as knocked some over climbing on them.

Originally Posted by fullofgrace

Honestly, them being all gross means they are not in perfect condition. You could try spraying them, but I think the bigger problem is that they are being stored outside to begin with. Some things are appropriately stored outdoors. Something that will be placed into an electronic device is not.

I am of the firm belief that if anyone has run out of storage for things, it means s/he has too many things. Before even considering how to clean them, I would first consider just how badly you need these items since they've been living outdoors and not actually put to use in your home. Don't waste your time cleaning items you haven't been actively using. Now that they are all disgusting anyway, throw them away guilt free!! If things are overflowing from your house into the yard, I really, really think a good purge is in order. Spring Cleaning time is a good time to start tossing! Free yourself of some (already clearly unused by virtue of where it has been sitting) clutter. It makes a busy life so much easier. I promise. (and from my siggy you know I know what I am talking about)

I trashed 99% of it, I ended up washing them in a bowel with a couple drops of dawn and they came clean easily (only one was obviously damaged out of like 50 CD's), I plan to rip them and get rid of them. The bins were left over from moving in a rush and things had just been thrown into bins. I hadn't had time to sort though them, ok, more like it was out of sight out of mind but its done now. I didn't even know the CD's were in there to be honest and was pretty surprised to find them in there. Believe me, I hate clutter and try to avoid it as much as possible these days. The kids trash the house enough, don't need to add to the mess by having extra stuff around.

[fullofgrace]

Originally Posted by Satori

The kids trash the house enough, don't need to add to the mess by having extra stuff around.

Have you not made locked cabinets and cupboards (the kind with keys) your friends yet? I highly recommend it! <-- Jokingly serious, though. With special needs kids, out of site out of mind needs to be the mantra. They don't have our internal labeling system of what's ok and what's not ok to get into. Especially for special kiddos, but for most kids really, anything left out is fair game. LOL

And really, in the big scheme of things, that's ok! That's how their brains work. The trick is running with that and finding what works for us parents while letting them be kids. If my kids get into something that I didn't want to be made a mess of, it teaches me to put it "uppa high" (what my kids called it when I put things up and away when they were little ) from that moment forward. Cleaned up, put away and LOCKED AWAY, makes for soooo much less stress for everyone!! Yes, I have one small locked pantry, and yes, it is my friend.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by fullofgrace

Have you not made locked cabinets and cupboards (the kind with keys) your friends yet? I highly recommend it! <-- Jokingly serious, though. With special needs kids, out of site out of mind needs to be the mantra. They don't have our internal labeling system of what's ok and what's not ok to get into. Especially for special kiddos, but for most kids really, anything left out is fair game. LOL

And really, in the big scheme of things, that's ok! That's how their brains work. The trick is running with that and finding what works for us parents while letting them be kids. If my kids get into something that I didn't want to be made a mess of, it teaches me to put it "uppa high" (what my kids called it when I put things up and away when they were little ) from that moment forward. Cleaned up, put away and LOCKED AWAY, makes for soooo much less stress for everyone!! Yes, I have one small locked pantry, and yes, it is my friend.

I have locks on everything I can but were renters and can't put holes in cupboards unless I want to pay to replace them. They have managed to figure out every child lock out there and putting up high doesn't do any good. Out of sight is not out of mind for my kiddos The things I have padlocked they managed to defeat and break the item in the process. Its getting better but we still have our days...

[fullofgrace]

WOW. I'm having a hard time picturing my kids breaking a padlock, and Miss S in particular is wildly strong.

Oh! Maybe I didn't explain well - our pantry came with a door on it. My locked door did not require any new holes -- we just swapped out the door handle on the pantry closet with a keylock one. You could do that with a closet with zero damage pretty easily. That would help you.

And yeah - the 'childproof' locks are useless here and always have been. My kids are too smart for those. Keys (that live on my person at all times) are where it's at here. And out of sight out of mind was a mantra for ME, not the kids. They still know things exist and where.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by fullofgrace

WOW. I'm having a hard time picturing my kids breaking a padlock, and Miss S in particular is wildly strong.

Oh! Maybe I didn't explain well - our pantry came with a door on it. My locked door did not require any new holes -- we just swapped out the door handle on the pantry closet with a keylock one. You could do that with a closet with zero damage pretty easily. That would help you.

And yeah - the 'childproof' locks are useless here and always have been. My kids are too smart for those. Keys (that live on my person at all times) are where it's at here. And out of sight out of mind was a mantra for ME, not the kids. They still know things exist and where.

They leave the padlocks intact and break/weaken the hinges to move the lower part just enough to get though. The closets have huge sliding doors. I did install a locking handle on my bedroom door to lock up everything in my room, took them about a week to figure out how to break it so even if its locked you just push and the door open, no need to turn the handle

[fullofgrace]

Originally Posted by Satori

The closets have huge sliding doors.

On every door? Ugh that would suck.

I did install a locking handle on my bedroom door to lock up everything in my room, took them about a week to figure out how to break it so even if its locked you just push and the door open, no need to turn the handle

Yeah, that sounds more like your door needs to be fixed to actually LATCH. They wouldn't be able to do that at all if the door was framed snugly and properly. Of course kids'll push open an unlatched door! (BTDT with one of our ours, so I can totally picture that) You can't break a keylocked handle on a properly hung door. (unless you get some tools like boltcutter and make a lot of noise doing it, which would be hard to miss, and therefore stoppable! ) Door repairs fall under your lease?

[Satori]

Originally Posted by fullofgrace

On every door? Ugh that would suck.


Yeah, that sounds more like your door needs to be fixed to actually LATCH. They wouldn't be able to do that at all if the door was framed snugly and properly. Of course kids'll push open an unlatched door! (BTDT with one of our ours, so I can totally picture that) You can't break a keylocked handle on a properly hung door. (unless you get some tools like boltcutter and make a lot of noise doing it, which would be hard to miss, and therefore stoppable! ) Door repairs fall under your lease?

lol, it did latch when I changed out the handle, I don't know what the heck they did to break it like that. I'm going to buy a heavy duty one and have my dad install the thing. Maybe I did it wrong or something. I don't know if door repairs are in the lease but the apt came with non locking handles. The only one that locked is the bathroom and they can't bypass that one unless they pick the lock and yes, we have had words more then once when they did it while I was in the shower I have to hide the tools (keep them handy cause little one likes to lock the door and close it locking everyone out).