This year for New Year's I am giving up bleach. Don't get me wrong, bleach is a powerful cleaning agent that has removed many an embarrassing personal stain and I love it, but I can no longer justify using it. I looked it up on the household database (because reading the label was too hard) and found that it was only 5% sodium hypochlorite (active ingredient) and 95% water. I have seen what that 5% has done to my foulest of foul clothes, even further diluted within the full load of a washing machine and decided that it is too powerful a chemical to pour nonchalantly into the drain, even only a capful at a time. It'd be better to dress in dark clothing.
As for the household cleaning function, I have heard of alternatives like baking soda, lemon, vinegar, and elbow grease, but I have personally never had much success with any of these - particularly not with the elbow grease. I'll do some experiments and see what actually works.
Moral: Wear dark colors
