What are the Dirtiest Things in Your Home?

Yes, your home harbors germs and other contaminants, even when you clean your best. But, there are some items in your home that are dirtier than the rest, and what they are might just surprise you! These everyday items often get overlooked during the weekly cleaning, so consider this your reminder on what they are and how to give them the attention they need to stay consistently clean.

Throughout the House

All over your house, light switches and doorknobs are the most frequently used, gathering lots of germs, dirt, and grime from the hands that touch them throughout the day. Alongside light switches and doorknobs, come cabinet and drawer pulls all around the house, as well as appliance knobs and pulls, which often fail to be disinfected with regularity. In the kitchen, cabinet and drawer pulls, along with appliance knobs and pulls can be exposed to food spatter and raw meat, making it important to clean them regularly with hot soapy water and your favorite disinfectant. Wiping down doorknobs and light switches all over the house with disinfectant can reduce the spread of germs, bacteria, and viruses among the members of your family. It’s always a good idea to clean everywhere that hands touch frequently and remind everyone in the house to wash their hands regularly.

Bathroom and Kitchen Faucets

While reminding everyone to wash their hands is a great way to prevent the spread of germs, so can keeping your home’s sinks’ faucets and handles clean and disinfected. Dirty hands touch the sink regularly, with the potential to make the faucets in your home the ideal breeding ground for germs. Disinfect the faucets and handles thoroughly as part of your weekly cleaning or more often, especially is someone in your home is ill.

While at the Kitchen Sink – Those Sponges!

While at the kitchen sink, ask yourself if it is time to replace those sponges. Sponges are often damp, making a happy home for germs and bacteria to live and breed. Sanitize your sponges daily, microwaving them for two minutes to kill germs, or tossing them into your dishwasher when running a load. Even so, sponges should be replaced every two weeks. Better yet, switch to microfiber cloths which can be easily washed and disinfected daily.

In the Kitchen – Coffee Pots and Cutting Boards

If you are like most people, you wash your coffee pot regularly, but what about the whole machine. How often do you clean it effectively? The water reservoir of your coffee pot can be a breeding ground from germs, yeast, and mold. You can disinfect it, eliminating bacteria and other germ growth by cleaning it with white vinegar. Simply add four cups of white vinegar and let it sit in the reservoir for 30 minutes. Next run it through a brew cycle. Finally, run a few cycles of fresh water to rid your coffee machine of the vinegar scent.

Cutting boards, where you slice and dice meats, veggies, and more, are the other oft’ overlooked items in your home when it comes to cleaning. It helps if you use a separate board for meats and another for veggies, but even so, if not cleaned properly, they too can become a favorite breeding ground of germs. Most cutting boards are dishwasher safe, making them easy to clean and disinfect. If yours isn’t, then the easiest way to clean is handwashing with hot soapy water. Wooden cutting boards can also be cleaned with white vinegar or lemon juice, and salt, and then rinsed with soapy hot water.

When You Need Clean

When you need cleaning assistance, reach out to the professionals at Signature Maids to get your cleaning done right every time!

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