How to Keep Your Home Germ-Free

Do you want to keep your home germ-free? Keeping our homes clean and organized is one way to reduce the number of germs in our living space. But it’s also essential to focus on the small details that go unnoticed, like what surfaces we touch with dirty hands or how often we wash dishes after cooking. Here are seven ways you can make sure your home stays as germ-free as possible.

1. Keep Your House Clean

Keeping your house clean is the first step you can take to ensure sanitary conditions, especially once guests arrive. You can easily keep areas like your top Pfister faucet clean and germ-free by regular cleaning. Hard surfaces like tables and countertops are immediately exposed to hands, so keep them sanitized with disinfecting wipes or sprays, which will kill germs through disinfection. Letting food sit out for too long is an easy way to introduce germs into your home, so be sure to eat leftovers within four hours after cooking unless they are refrigerated.

A vacuum cleaner is a great way to pick up bacteria and dirt from rugs and carpet, but make sure it’s kept out of reach of children and pets—vacuums pose a choking hazard and can cause severe injuries. You can also clean knobs and railings on your stairs with a disinfecting wipe to avoid transferring germs from one place to another. If you’re having trouble staying on top of cleaning tasks, try hiring a professional cleaner to help you out.

2. Clean Ceiling Fans and Curtains Regularly

Even if you wipe down your ceilings and walls in one day, there’s a good chance that they’ll become contaminated the next day again. It’s crucial to clean ceiling fans, light fixtures, and curtains regularly to keep surfaces germ-free. Cleaning curtains and light fixtures can be a little tricky, but there are products available that make it easier to clean these surfaces without scrubbing. Wash the fan blades on your ceiling fan once a month to ensure no dust or dirt buildup on the surface.

3. Wash Sheets Often

Germs love warm, moist places where they can grow and multiply without being disturbed. This is why people with colds often infect tissues for hours before looking for a trash can or a way to clean it. Every night, cover your pillow and mattress with fresh sheets by washing them regularly throughout the week. It’s also a good idea to change your towels every three days because these surfaces are frequently touched and used to dry hands after they’ve been washed. Also, do laundry often to remove germs that could be building up in the clothes you wear every day. Frequent washing will also reduce the number of allergens your home’s ventilation system brings inside.

4. Keep a Clean Bathroom

You should clean a toilet or bathtub after each use to keep it germ-free. If you can’t find the time to do this every day, try to make sure surfaces are sanitized once a week with products that kill germs by disinfecting them. According to the EPA, all-purpose cleaners are generally effective at killing germs, but products that contain bleach or hydrogen peroxide are better for disinfecting surfaces.

5. Disinfect All Cleaning Sponges

A common source of E. coli is cleaning sponges, which can be contaminated if they’re not cleaned often enough after use. After you’ve cleaned a surface with soap and water, disinfect the area with a bleach-based or lemon-based all-purpose cleaner. When you use sponges for other purposes like washing dishes, make sure to disinfect them after each use.

6. Wash Your Hands Often

The easiest way to introduce germs into your home is by touching surfaces with dirty hands. To ensure your hands are clean, always have hand sanitizer nearby so you can use it before touching any surface. Wash your hands often throughout the day with soap and warm water to prevent germs from spreading through your home. When washing your hands, be sure to scrub for ten seconds, which is the amount of time recommended by doctors.

7. Use Fans When Cooking

For better ventilation, open the windows to let fresh air in. If you don’t have any windows or are worried about insects coming inside during your indoor cooking adventures, turn on the kitchen fan so that it will circulate and push out unwelcome odors and smoke. You can also make sure food has fully cooled before storing leftovers in the refrigerator.

You can keep your home as germ-free as possible by keeping it clean and avoiding the spread of germs. This can be done by washing your hands often, cooking outdoors when possible, and disinfecting surfaces to avoid contamination.