Most of us don’t look forward to spending a good part of our day cleaning the house but it’s one of those things that have to be done unless you want to end up living somewhere that looks like the local landfill. We also don’t adhere to the same standards where “clean” is concerned, of course, and there are definitely people on both ends of the spectrum. There are those that cannot rest unless everything is squeaky clean and is in its proper place. Others are content to keep things a little more loosely organised and are able to tolerate a certain level of clutter in their living space. Unfortunately for all of us, there are some everyday items around our homes that we probably don’t pay enough attention to when it comes to cleaning, and neglecting these things can sometimes lead to health problems that could be easily avoided.
A fair number of us could probably be considered coffee addicts and that means there are a lot of coffee pots in houses all over the world. In many cases, it’s one of those things you might think of as something that does not need to be cleaned very often since it’s almost constantly in use. Even so, things can get to growing in your coffee pot that you don’t necessarily want to be drinking along with your morning cup of java. But that’s not where the problems end. A scientific study found that an astounding 50 percent of coffee makers had mold and yeast growing in them, while 10 percent were found to be harboring coli-form bacteria.
Who thinks of cleaning out a dish washer when it is pretty much washing itself out every time you run it?Turns out its pretty easy for food particles, soap scum and grease to build up inside a dishwasher, particularly around the bottom where water often collects. You can easily scoop all that stuff out a couple of times a year or so and avoid build-up that can cause odours.When you are done with that you can place a cup of vinegar on the top rack and run the dishwasher as you normally would. When that’s finished you can sprinkle some baking soda in the bottom of the unit and run it again, which should leave it smelling fresh and looking good.
Here’s one that most people probably never think about. The coils are usually found on the outside of the fridge on the back, or in the case of some built-in models, on the bottom.It’s best to disconnect the power to your fridge before using a brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner to remove the dust that’s collected. It will make your refrigerator run more efficiently, use less energy and also may help cut down on the likelihood of a breakdown.Cleaning the coils once every six months may reduce the chances of a malfunction by as much as 70 percent.
If it’s one thing bacteria absolutely love, it’s a place that gets wet almost constantly, offers plenty to eat and provides a bunch of nooks and crannies to hide out in. This perfectly described the kitchen sink, which constantly rates as one of the nastiest, dirtiest places in your entire home. You might be surprised that kitchen sinks are even dirtier than your toilet seat in most cases! To keep the bacteria under control, you can mix up a combination of rubbing alcohol and water in a spray bottle and give the sink a good spray every other day or so.
Here’s something else you may not think about cleaning since you might think that the sheets or mattress pad may keep it from picking up much dirt. The reality is that it’s quite easy for mattresses to collect debris like dust and flakes of dead skin that can pass right through your sheets with little trouble. This is another case where the vacuum cleaner will do a good job of removing unwanted material. If you want to take it up a notch by removing odours, sprinkle some baking soda on the mattress and let it sit for at least an hour before vacuuming it up.
Few people would disagree that the trash can, can be a pretty nasty environment that not only looks unpleasant, but often smells pretty bad as well. Cleaning the trash can once a month will go a long way towards keeping germs and odours from becoming a problem. Wiping the can down inside and out with a good disinfectant spray should do most of the time but a few times a year you may want to take it outside and give it a good scrubbing with soap and water.
It may be a little unpleasant to think about but your pillow accumulates a lot of nasty things when you sleep on it night after night for months or even years.Pillows soak up the drool that many of us experience when we sleep, and pillows are also favourite hangouts for dust mites which love to feed on all the dead skin that collects on pillows.It’s a good idea to just put them in the washing machine every six months or so and run them through a heavy cycle. Many pillows can also be placed in the dryer on a low setting.
If you think about it for just a minute, you realize that these two things are touched a lot. And people’s hands are not always clean when they touch them, making it likely that these are some of the dirtiest locations in your whole home. White vinegar makes for a very effective, low-cost and totally natural disinfectant you can use to wipe down surfaces that get touched a lot. This will go a long way towards preventing the spread of germs that can cause illness.
Speaking of things that get touched a lot, it’s hard to think of many things that get touched more than a computer keyboard or mouse.Keeping them clean can help stop the spread of germ and bacteria and also help prevent them from malfunctioning.A can of compressed air can be purchased for blowing the cookie crumbs and other debris out of your keyboard and a little rubbing alcohol can be used to clean the surfaces and leave them virtually germ free.
Staying with the theme of things that are constantly touched, we come to the ever-present cell phone and those handy remote controls for all the electronic devices we have in our homes these days. A little rubbing alcohol or disinfectant solution made for the purpose will do a great job of killing of the impressive colonies of bacteria that take up residence on these kinds of things. Think about all the places you take your cellphone and the things you touch before your pick up your phone again and it may help give your some appreciation for how dirty these things can get during everyday use.
