Do you know, even the most clean houses are not 100% germ-free? Yes, no matter how hard you work to keep the house clean, germs do exist in some or the other parts of the house. They enter into the house through many means – people, pets, food, air, and even water and sometimes cause infections.
Hence, the only way to keep your house germ-free is to clean at least the high-risk areas. Any place in your house with more surfaces that get touched frequently is likely to become a germ-bank.
Follow the below mentioned cleaning techniques, which could help you clean your house more consciously, I mean, germ-consciously.
First step in preventing germs
One thing you must do as frequently as possible, and also make it a habit is to keep your hands clean. It is one of the best ways to prevent the germs from spreading in the house. For instance, your toilet is one of the high-risk places where the probability of germs is more. The germs there won’t enter into other parts of your house by themselves. It’s you or other people that transfer them through hands.
Therefore, washing your hands is one of the best ways to keep the germs at bay. Use a liquid soap, preferably an antiseptic, wash your hands thoroughly at least for 20 seconds (time it takes to say happy birthday to you twice) and dry your hands properly. Keep alcohol hand-rubs or sanitizers handy and use them when you’re running short of time.
Keep cleaning equipment clean
Hands spread the infection, so does the cleaning equipment such as the cloths, towels, mops and sponges. When not maintained properly, they become the breeding places for germs. Hence, make sure they are clean and dry. Also have separate cleaning equipment for kitchen and bathrooms, toilet and bath sink, etc.
When anyone of the family is suffering from infectious diseases, it’s better to use disposable cleaning equipment or at least make sure you wash the mops, cloths, towels and sponges at 60ºc in washing machine, after every use. Mops and cloths made of microfibre last long and are good for cleaning.
Focus more on surfaces and floors
Floors are one of the dirty places in the house. As we move from one room to other, the germs may spread through our feet. Also, they are likely to bring outside germs to indoors. Hence, it is important to clean the floors and carpets every day. Use a vacuum cleaner to clean the carpets and other surfaces. Make sure the filters are clean and change them regularly. Apart from floors, you should also clean the most frequently touched surfaces like the remote controls, keyboards, switch boards, door handles, fridge handles and taps.
Keep your kitchen germ-free
One more high-risk area in the house is your kitchen, from where the germs can spread easily. An alarming fact about the kitchen is, the sink carries more bacteria than the toilet or garbage can. So, even before you do anything in your kitchen first wash your hands. And while cleaning the kitchen always wear hand gloves. Clean the sticky spills and dirty areas every day.
Also remember cleaning alone won’t help in your kitchen. You also need to disinfect the surfaces to kill the germs and to avoid germ spread. You can also use natural and inexpensive ingredients like bleach, which is an effective disinfectant. Mix one cup of bleach to one gallon of water, apply it on the surfaces and leave it for 3-5 minutes. Later, rinse it and dry it. Keep the windows open whenever you use products with bleach.
Bathrooms and toilets
Another germ-prone area is your bathroom, which has many areas that carry germs, and it is more likely that you touch these things and bring them to another area. The best way to prevent germ spread is to wash your hands with soap after using the toilet or bathroom. While cleaning the bathroom use hot water and detergent and don’t ignore the areas you touch frequently such as flush buttons, taps, door handles – clean and sanitize them properly.