Cleaning your home weekly is a necessary evil. Keeping my home free of germs has kept me healthy. If you have a few minutes, I’d like to share 7 cleaning techniques and principles you can use that will make cleaning a whole lot easier.
1. Check Your Curtains
Curtains and blinds are magnets for dust and cobwebs. (Cobwebs indicating spiders, which is never a good sign – unless it’s a daddy long legs, which actually eats other spiders and catches flies.) Swap out your current curtains stain-and-dust-resistant specific fabric.
2. Use Doormats
Dirt, mud and pebbles collect in the soles of our shoes. Therefore, the number one way to keep dirt out of your home (which invites a mess of insects) is to never use your shoes indoors; this includes guests, who may be accustomed to keeping their shoes on in your home. Doormats can be vacuumed every few weeks.
3. Wash Your Bedding
The frequent bedding-washing process eliminates accumulated dust mites and dead skin cells (which can attract bed bugs, microscopic insects that thrive on dead skin), and other contaminated insects that can wreck your way of life. Whenever you’re searching, look for pill-shaped and translucent eggs. Bed bugs are usually a few millimeters long, are often oval-shaped and are reddish brown. That’s why knowing how to check your bed for bed bugs (and other areas of your home) is one of the best things you can do for your health.
4. Prevent Foodborne Illnesses
Nasty, vile and dangerous germs spread when dirty hands come into contact with food – and vice versa. The spread of these germs can be prevented by cleaning your hands thoroughly before and after you handle all food. It’s in your best interest to use disposable paper towels instead of cloth towels or sponges (as these cleaning materials are often stuffed with bacteria and germs). If you must use a sponge, scrubber or sponge-scrubber mix, microwave it for at least 30 seconds to fry any bacteria, mildew and piled up germs.
5. Keep Foods Separate
Do you enjoy spreading bacteria from foods to surfaces to foods? This is called cross-contamination. Foods that touch each other are the easiest way to spread harmful (and in some cases: deadly) bacteria. To prevent this when you’re out shopping, separate raw meats, poultry and seafood from other foods in your grocery cart. Meat and produce sections have plastic bags exactly for this purpose.
6. Do You Have 10 Minutes?
Cleaning the rooms of your homes in manageable, miniscule intervals takes an active stance on preventing bacteria build-up. Plus, these short 10-minute intervals will keep you from dreading cleaning time. As opposed to trying (and often failing) to clean your entire home at once.
7. Rinse The Sink
Everything we rinse in the sink leaves behind bacteria, blood, pesticides and juices. Between the raw meats we rinse, to the produce such as potatoes and apples, all the nasty stuff collects in our sink. To keep bacteria from spreading, disinfect the sink with bleach and warm water every week or so. (If you can do it right after you’ve cooked with raw goods, even better.)
Conclusion
Prevention isn’t difficult. At least, not when it comes to keeping your home germ-free and your family from visiting the doctor in case of emergency or illness. Charles Duhigg wrote a magnificent book, called “The Power of Habit” which teaches you how to create routines for yourself. Building these routines teaches you self-discipline, willpower, and help you create habits that benefit your life.
