Everybody loves a clean house and most people look for quick, easy, and effective ways to clean, disinfect, and sanitize. Here are 10 of the best ways to accomplish that.
Disinfect Your Equipment
Use hot soapy water and bleach to disinfect your cleaning equipment. Germs, bacteria, and mold can build up on brushes, sponges, rags, and drying cloths. Keep them clean to prevent spreading germs around the house.
Dryer Sheet Dusting
Dryer sheets are excellent at picking up dust. After drying clothes, recycle them into dust cloths–then throw them out.
Let It Soak
When used to clean a grimy bathroom, almost all cleaning products are more effective when left to soak into the dirt. Commercial cleaners and DIY products like vinegar and baking soda work the same.
Coat everything to be cleaned and let it sit for at least 10 minutes to give the cleaner and disinfectant time to work on the dirt. Use a soft bristle brush, scrubber sponge, or soft cloth to remove the grime. Then rinse and dry with a microfiber cloth.
More Than Just a Dish Washer
Use your dishwasher to clean, disinfect, and sanitize more than dishes.
- Toys. Plastic and rubber. Sanitize setting may melt plastic.
- Lego. Place Lego and other small items in a mesh bag on the top rack.
- Flip Flops. And other plastic footwear.
- Garden Tools. Remember to oil and sharpen clippers after cleaning.
- Bathroom Items. Toothbrushes and holders, denture containers, brushes, nail clippers, etc.
- Light Fixtures. And flower pots. And vases.
- Etc. Anything you want cleaned without too much effort that won’t be damaged or won’t damage the machine.
Use a Cleaning Caddy
Cleaning caddies are available online for under $20.00. Filling one with cleaning products, rubber gloves, brushes, and rags allows you to move from room to room and job to job without wasting time going back to get something.
Be Organized
Clean one room at a time–completely. Moving back and forth between rooms and/or cleaning jobs wastes time and energy. Creating a daily and weekly schedule or checklist for each room may be helpful to ensure you get it all done.
Clean From the Top Down
Clean and dust higher spots first and work your way down. Let gravity do some of the work for you. Vacuum last to clean up dirt on the floor and anything that fell.
Clothes Hampers
Place a clothes hamper in each bedroom and make sure everyone uses theirs. You may still want to sort the laundry but at least it is not under the bed, in the bathroom, or strewn all over the floor.
Clean Your Washing Machine
Odor-causing bacteria build up in washing machines. Run a heavy-duty cycle c/w extra rinse using only bleach every month. This kills any bacteria and gets rid of built-up dirt.
Use Your Dryer To Remove Dust
Dryers are great machines to remove dust from pillows, cushions, blankets, etc. Ten minutes on the “air only” cycle removes dust, odor, pet hair and dander, and dust mites without washing. For best results, don’t overload the machine.
