It’s so difficult living as a family unit when it comes to preventing the spread of illness because this is unavoidable. A lot of us have memories of one member contracting a disease and eventually spreads to every member during a miserable week, or a fun one if you guys just like staying in and having soup in front of the TV. Such situations will happen but can be prevented or at least the spread of the bacteria is greatly lessened. An individual who generally knows how to be independent enough and has that sense of wanting cleanliness and actually cleaning, understands how maintaining a home is one of the basic steps to maintaining good health. Microbes can last for days or weeks so regular cleaning is a must to rid of all kinds of harmful bacteria.
1. Disinfect Your Electronics
Statistics with the amount of germs found in electronics used to be a popular, factual shockers featured on a lot of casual and health talk shows. And if you do think about it they are pretty gross, we touch them every day as dust gets to them every day as well and we never even wipe them at times. It’s no surprise why remotes, cell phones, TV and laptop screens, keyboards, air conditioners and fans are the most prominent examples.
Imagine nurses, doctors, chefs, cooks and the water bottler handlers touching their phones every single day. Also we tend to bring in our phones to the bathroom thinking we are keeping them from dirty and wet spots. But actually when you flush with the cover down, fecal bacteria can shoot up, up to six feet! Yikes! Make sure you don’t put your toothbrushes near the toilet as well.
Computer cleaners are the best for your gadgets and are meant for your gadgets, your spray it on and leave it to dry for a while to safely rid of dust and gunk through a wet, chemical process. If you don’t have this on hand a 50/50 mix of water and alcohol swiped across making sure it’s just lightly damped. This is risky for water and alcohol in excess amounts can drip down to electronics and disable their function permanently, no dripping allowed!
2. Hop to your laundry responsibilities
And we are not just talking about personal clothing and the bed room sheets and pillows. We are taking anything in the household that can be laundered should be. Shower curtains should be scrubbed too along with all bathroom padding and mats. Carpets, rugs, curtains and oh yes nasty old kitchen towels and oven mitts are FILTHY and you will really know this when you wash it yourself. Even when nobody gets sick laundering fabrics prevents illness and is a basic rule in living well. Combining this with washing with hot water is the best way to kill bacteria as long as you get the water as hot as you can and soak in the anti-bacterial solution for at least 30 or 40 minutes.
If you want to be even more thorough, fabric-safe bleach can be thrown in the mix but be careful of certain colors, separate colors as much as possible if it still matters to you. Chlorine bleach is only for white clothes. Make sure you balance out the amount of soap, water and bleach well, the box instructions or good old Google will yield quick results but a lot of people go by feel. Underwear, handkerchiefs, boxers, towels and such should be discarded more quickly since they are the type of items usually infected over and over.
3. Disinfect the Bathroom
We all know and can even feel that bacteria thrive in damp places, the bathroom also tends to get dark so that can be double trouble.Bathrooms quickly emit odors and extra humidity in the air because they catch bacteria so quickly. Dirty bathrooms are the worst and the best way to lose friends. Not only the obvious toilet but the shower and sinks are very risky and catch a lot of dingy stuff, it gets slimy every now and then you notice right? That is our body’s gunk mostly mixed with soap and other gunk. A bathroom is meant to be taken apart and swept, scrubbed down, left to dry then swept one last time for good measure. Bathroom pads are great for preventing accidents and being warm and soft to the feet but they catch a lot of moisture which can also stink, these should be scrubbed along with the shower mat, shower floor, the shower head, and definitely the sink it gets dirty so quickly and has a lot of risk.
Paper towels are wonderful for cleaning the bathroom since they are disposable and lessen the risk of bacterial spread. They make cleaning bathrooms and kitchens less yucky with less laundry to do.
4. Your kitchen and its items
Hospital kitchens are tough to look after as well depending on the strictness of the establishment, but since you are at home it is easier to keep track of what needs to be cleaned. Remember to replace what needs to be replaced like sponges, steel wools, kitchen rags, mops, brooms and the like for they are teeming with bacterial colonies and plain smelliness.
If you are not thinking of discarding such items like a steel wool, sponges and rags soak them in boiling water with liquid disinfectants and maybe even an alcohol solution like rubbing alcohol and water or cheap vodka and water.
Besides completing the dishes make sure they dry properly and are not in falling in weird places from the sheer amount of utensils and dishes. Wipe then soap scrub counters, floors, walls especially by the stoves, clean the oven unplugged of course and don’t forget to scrub under and in between counters and where corners meet. Wipe out, in and around the fridge, try not to get grounded by electricity. Take out the vegetables and clean the veggie drawer, clean the muck around the inside of the fridge and you’ll be happy how clean you feel eating.
Make sure you don’t mix up kitchen cloths, that is one of the most unsanitary acts you can perform on yourself. Towels can spread salmonella too and cross contaminate on counters. Make sure you separate and know your towel groups along with their rank on how dirty their job is. The mild towel group is for drying hands and drying wet dishes that have to be used right away. Medium category wipes wet counters and/or lightly dirtied counters, walls and cabinets. The heavier duty ones for the dirtiest counter tops and floors, all of these must not be mixed up.
Bleach or an alcohol solution with soap scrub should be used on your garbage cans unless it is time to throw them away.
5. Recognizing and disinfecting points of contract
These so called points of contract are simply just spots in the living space that the people touch a lot with their bare hands and are simply around a lot. If you know what objects get touched the most and what areas people breathe in around the most, you know where to spray, wipe and scrub more often. Take note of the usual touched items you may want to disinfect as well, like doorknobs, toilet flushes, window handles, cabinet handles, refrigerator doors, normally pressed buttons, gadgets, etc. I cannot stress the importance of general cleaning any more. It is always handy to have paper towels, wet wipes, rubbing, alcohol, an anti-bacterial liquid soap, a stronger anti-bacterial surface cleaner and bleach. And of course a broom, but I don’t think I have to tell you that. Having all of these items will keep your kitchen and bathroom in check. Wash hands regularly, if your skin is sensitive, invest in slightly pricier soap with moisturizers, vitamins and minerals and minimal or no chemicals. Washing your hands around 3-6 times a day is pretty good depending on your activity but you should just wash as much as necessary. For example if you make a lot of food or do spring cleaning.
6. Oh please don’t forget to disinfect your thermometer
Do I really have to say this? We stick it in forbidden areas teeming with bacteria and darkness we must disinfect thermometer thoroughly for every time it is used.
It may sound so simple and so foolish if someone doesn’t do this but everyone makes mistakes and everyone spaces out even if they really, really shouldn’t. If you happen to be using a thermometer a lot you can forget to wash it maybe one time or even use it on another person if you are a reckless caretaker haha. Use rubbing alcohol please.
7. If you have furry friends, disinfect them too!
You must take your pet to a vet regularly to get checked for any illness or weird bacteria or virus that suddenly wants to thrive. Get them the shots they need while they are young, cut their nails carefully and regularly, wipe their feet, wash
and wipe them after every time nature calls, groom their fur, bathe and shampoo them well, watch out for mites.
They tend to spread the E. coli and staph virus to humans so make sure every one including Sparky gets a check up and a healthy diet.
8. Stuff toys and pillows too!
Even if they should be pried from children’s hands Stuffed toys and small comfort pillows tend to be forgotten and get unwashed for years and years. With sick children especially, these should be washed as soon as possible for their quicker recovery.
9. Open your windows Besides getting some valuable Vitamin D you also let the room “breathe.”This will make a much healthier and refreshing indoor environment, windows were built for a reason. They are the pores of a living space and allow new air to come in, pushing the old, stale air out. When the windows are closed, pathogens tend to get trapped inside longer than they should and thrive in your living space. So opening the windows every now and then is very good for you.
10. Empty your trash bins
What smells?Is a question you may ask yourself every now and then when you just woke up and you forgot to take out the trash. You can tell bacteria is present by a repulsive odor as well, and the odor from a trash bin filed to the rim is an aroma cockroaches, mice, ants and other pests love. Empty your trash regularly and clean out the inside with a bleach or alcohol/detergent scrub.
