“A clean home is a happy home.” It is also a germ-free home, which helps keeps its members free from sickness. A clean home doesn’t just happen though, you have to remember to keep up with cleaning your entire home to boost up the defense again those germs that are invested in sneaking in and setting up camp. Cleaning methods are important and we have a list to help ensure your home is clean and sterile.

1. Wash your hands before and after cleaning

In order to prevent germs from spreading and maintaining a clean home, it’s important to do what your mother always told you and to wash your hands. This is after using the bathroom, handling raw foods and before and after cleaning. Remember to use the proper method and use warm/hot water and anti-bacterial soap and lathering for 30 seconds before rinsing.

2. Wear gloves when using chemicals and cleaning

Gloves are an extremely good idea to use when cleaning. This not only prevents germs from spreading by keeping the germs contained to one area, but also protects your hands from contact with germs and harmful chemicals as well.

3. Use Disinfectant Spray

For areas that aren’t as easy to clean with a simple wipe down, use disinfectant spray to kill airborne germs. You can use these on couches, chairs and areas that you can’t stripe or wipe away with a clean rag. It’s also good to kill any germs floating about in the air.

4. Use a vinegar diluted mix or anti-bacterial spray

Wiping down areas that are in high trafficked areas that members of the household touch is a major first step in order to stop germs in their tracks. Using anti-bacterial spray found in stores or making your own vinegar diluted mix is a good solution to kill those unwanted germs from those surfaces.

5. Empty, clean and disinfect garbage cans

This one is quite simple and easy, however usually people just empty the garbage yet forget to wipe down and disinfect. Don’t skip this step! The garbage is a major breeding ground for airborne germs!

6. Wash clothes, towels and bedding in hot water

Remember to do this weekly or every few days. Don’t let it accumulate, your only asking for the pile of dirty clothes to manifest into an incubation center for germs. Get those clothes in the wash at the highest temperature and kill them off in the dryer as well.

7. Open the windows

Freshness and new air is important for filtering out the filthy germs that are circulating in the air of your home. Not only that but you’ll notice a new, fresh smell to your home eliminating the dank smell that was once accumulating indoors.

8. Dust and Vacuum

Dusting is vital and often overlooked in many homes, as germs like to attach to these little dust bunnies. Dust also decreases your quality of air and can cause discomfort when breathing it in. Remember to dust first and then vacuum as it might make its way down to the floor. Finish off by emptying and cleaning out your vacuum.

9. Boil and clean your toothbrush

One thing people forget is that your toothbrush is out in the open and that’s ok, especially to dry off and decrease the chance for growth of bacteria. However, there are other germs floating about, especially in the bathroom. Remember to boil your toothbrush periodically to remove any bacteria clinging on to the bristles.

10. Wipe down floors with disinfectant solution

The floors tend to be riddled with germs and bacteria brought in by our shoes and feet. Create a solution or buy one and scrub those floors to remove those germs. Try to make it a habit to leave your shoes at the door to minimize the spread of outside contaminants.

Keeping these cleaning methods in mind, now you can go out and buy those supplies and start scrubbing your house from head to toe to remove any germs you have that may have snuck in!

The kitchen – where all of the food preparation for you and your family take place. It should be a well kept, clean environment seeing as you’re handling your food that you will be consuming and want to keep the area as clean as humanly possible. However, what people don’t realize is that it is one of the most germ-infested rooms in the home!

1. Kitchen Faucet

Despite being a place thought to be a safe haven to germs and a cleaning zone for most of your dinnerware, it is actually one of the more contaminated places in your home and harbors to thousands of icky bacteria! It’s actually, on some levels, dirtier than your bathroom. What people don’t realize is that throughout all of your preparation of food items, like rinsing raw fruits and vegetables and even raw meats, these items actually carry potential pathogens that can make you extremely sick. These little guys stick around in your sink unless you take the proper measures to thoroughly clean and disinfect your sink.

My advice: At all possible moments, especially after preparing food, wipe down your sink and specifically the faucets with anti-bacterial spray or soap. Make sure to use hot water.

2. Soap Dispensers

Now that I have you scared, the first thing you want to do is clean your hands. But, wait! The soap dispensers are another breeding ground for bacteria! Say after you rinse your chicken in the sink, the first thing you want to do is reach for the soap to clean your hands off, right? Well, bacteria and other germs can escape on to the dispenser and leave the very item you thought would bring you sanitation is now infected.

My advice: Try using your wrist to push down on the nozzle instead of your infected fingers.

3. Sponge

Ah the sponge, the very symbol of the anti-germ. The very item you use to clean all of your kitchenware to sanitize it, actually contains an obscene amount of bacteria. It is cleaning the germs off of your silverware, which sometimes take a ride on your sponge. A mistake however, is that people don’t follow up with proper sanitizing methods to disinfect the sponge after use.

My advice: Make sure that after cleaning your dishes, wring out any excess water in it and place onto a sponge holder if you have one. Remember to kill off bacteria by placing it in a microwave for two minutes.

Tip: Use a separate sponge when cleaning out your sink, separate from the one you use to wash your dishes with.

4. Dish Towel

Dish towels have the potential to hold bacteria and germs within their fibers. We tend to use and reuse and reuse these towels again and sometimes before they get a chance to re dry. The damp towels then have a chance to increase the number of germs it can hold and without being properly cleaned or sanitized.

My advice: Use paper towels for your hands after you wash them after handling raw items. Dispose of the waste immediately. For those continuing to use hand towels, make sure to replace them frequently and wash them thoroughly with hot water and soap.

5. Refrigerator Seal

This is one that people don’t think about very often. Your refrigerator seal acts as a defense against germs and pathogens from entering your refrigerator. However, sometimes dampness in the air or the lack of cleaning methods to your refrigerator leave these seals susceptible to the growth of mold and other germs. It’s important to not neglect these areas as they are close to the very food you consume on a daily basis.

My advice: Make sure to wipe the seals once a week with a disinfectant spray.

Now that you have these specific locations that are breeding grounds for germs, bust out that anti-bacterial spray, get those gloves and mask and get to work! Scrub away those germs and get your home one step closer to being germ-free.