Cleaning Experts tips: How to Disinfect Your House, Cars, and Surroundings
It’s been roughly two months since the Coronavirus has hit our lives and flipped it upside down.
From practicing social distancing to continually washing our hands the pandemic outbreak is something none of us has expected.
But one thing we need to do is to keep ourselves healthy and stop the spread.
Well, how do we keep ourselves safe and sound? Perhaps, by following certain guidelines laid down by WHO and CDC and also by keeping your surroundings clean always.
If you’re curious to know, How to do safe Grocery shopping, check here.
In this article, I’m sharing with you the most important information on Cleaning and Disinfecting your surroundings to stay safe and healthy.
What you need to know about Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting?
To stay safe and healthy especially during the cold and flu season you must clean and disinfect your home, car, workspace, and other daily hanging places. So, let me walk you through the cleaning and disinfecting techniques.
First of all, you need to know that Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting are the three important practices to follow in order to keep your home squeaky clean.
Cleaning is all about wiping off dust particles away from the surfaces. Cleaning doesn’t remove any kind of bacteria. It just makes the surface bright and shiny. Whereas, Sanitizing is the possible practice to kill certain disease-causing microorganisms which rest on the surface. Lastly, Disinfecting is to completely get rid of all disease-causing microorganisms on a surface.
Now, the biggest question is when to Clean and when to Disinfect the house?
When you’re staying indoors, a simple daily cleaning is all good and enough to remove dirt or dust particles. For the regular cleaning, you could simply dampen a cloth in a tablespoon of Bleach to a quart of water.
However, during this pandemic outbreak, we need to be utmost cautious of keeping surfaces and surroundings disinfected. Furthermore, when people at home are sick, a sick person came home or when someone at home is immunocompromised, and if someone at home had chronic health conditions that is another time to properly disinfect your place. So, keep disinfecting the surfaces every day as much as possible.
How to Disinfect your Home to keep it Clean and Safe?
A disinfectant could be either a chemical or heat to get rid of bacteria-causing microorganisms. There are basically two types of disinfectants: General disinfectants and Hospital-grade disinfectants.
When you want to disinfect your home, focus on disinfecting the area you place groceries or other deliveries brought from outside, the surface after cutting the meat, things used to prep the meat, heavy traffic areas where there is a high chance of bacteria being exchanged such as electronic devices, faucets, loo, doorknobs, handles, etc.
While disinfecting, firstly, you need to wipe off the surface with a regular cleaner and then you must apply disinfectant to get rid of microorganisms.
For instance, in the case of groceries placed on the kitchen counter that is bought from outside. After placing the groceries in respective places, spray the area with a general-purpose cleaner and wipe it down with the help of a paper towel. Then you must apply disinfectant and clean the area for the second time. This way, you should clean any area or surface.
However, it’s really important to wear Gloves when dealing with Chemical or Commercial Disinfectants.
Lately, steam is a great way to kill bacteria. The steam that comes out of the device kills the bacteria in contact. You can use Steam cleaners on hard surfaces like kitchen counters, walls, and on soft surfaces such as upholstery, blankets, quilts, and etc.
Where to Disinfect in the House?
Focus on the hotspots in your home which means the high traffic surfaces. To be more clear, an area which is constantly touched and bacteria getting exchanged. Those could be doorknobs, kitchen faucet handles, microwave touchpad, microwave handle, refrigerator door handle, light switch plates, keypads, alarms, keyboard, mouse, tablet, phone cases, floor base board, vacuum cleaner handle, mailbox, reusable bags, and cleaning supplies.
Besides, in the bathroom, disinfect toilet lever, shower curtains, bath towels, bathrobes, and etc. All the hard surfaces can be cleaned with disinfectants and soft surfaces can be laundered. You must wash the clothing stuff in hot water either with a cup of hydrogen peroxide or a scoop of oxygen bleach to kill the bacteria.
Though you stay indoors, sanitize, or clean your home with a bleach solution at least once a day. If you’ve kids around your home, you should disinfect several times a day, let the area air dry, and then allow kids to the particular area.
The areas to disinfect in your Car are the Steering wheel, Gear shift, Car door handles, Touch screen, Car keys, and other instrumentation in the car. Wipe them down regularly to make sure there are no particles of bacteria or disease-causing microorganisms.
DIY Sanitizing Solutions
Bleaching Solution
In a bowl of 4 cups Water add 4 tablespoons Bleach powder. Take a clean cloth and soak it in the solution. This is a perfect sanitizing solution to daily clean the surfaces. That being said, to clean food contact surfaces, just mix a tablespoon of bleach to a quart of water.
DIY cleaner
In a bowl of two cups Water add 1/2 tablespoon Dish soap and a few drops of Tea tree essential oil. This DIY cleaner can be used to clean your home on a regular basis.
Post sick Cleaning Routine
Due to decreased immunity strengthen, I got attacked by the flu most of the time in a month. When I catch a cold, I keep sneezing and throwing wipes here and there in my room. I know that’s gross. Also, I just lay down on my bed all day. Doing such things used to worsen the flu. So, once I came across a video on the internet about how to clean the surroundings and surfaces post sick. They helped me a lot. Here are the tips.
- Clean points of Contact – This is the most necessary step to kill the virus. This includes Electronic gadgets, desks, bathroom door knobs, flush levers, face towels, and whatever you keep touching all the time when you’ve flu.
- Wash you Bedding and Clothes – As you feel like crashing throughout the day, wash your bedding and replace it with a new one. You must clean all the clothing stuff only with hot water to get rid of flu residues. You can also add disinfecting Tea tree oil while laundering.
- Open Doors and Windows – You need to breathe some fresh air and let go of the prevailing stale air from your room. Therefore, open all the doors and windows at least for a few couple of hours.
- Place a Bin – To trash the used wipes without spreading piles of wipes all over the bed, place a bin alongside your bed.
Products that Keep your Home Clean & Safe
“An Ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Check out some of these home cleaning products and get your money’s worth.
- Dyson Torque drive Cordless Vacuum Cleaner
- Dr. Bonner’s Pure Castile Liquid Soap made with Organic Oils
- Alcohol Formula Disinfecting Wipes
- Clorox Healthcare Hydrogen Peroxide Cleaner Disinfectant
- UV Light Wand to kill Microorganisms
- Multifunctional Steam Mop for getting rid of bacteria-causing microorganisms
- Sanitizer Spray bottles
- Premium Mesh for Fruits and Vegetables Grocery Shopping
- Tea Tree Essential Oil disinfectant cleaner (Add oil this to water and it’s good to use as a cleaner)
- Barkeeper’s friend Powder Cleanser
Up to the very end!
These are some of the useful tips in keeping your home safe, clean, and sanitized. What are the cleaning techniques you’ve been following? Leave a comment below. I’d be glad to know your techniques.
Also, check out the article on Coronavirus – Causes, Symptoms, and Precautions
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