Your house is neat and tidy. You make an effort to keep it clean and hygienic, scrubbing the toilet bowl with disinfectant at least once a week. So there couldn’t possibly be any germs lurking in your house, right? Wrong! Here is a list of the dirtiest places in your house that you never thought of cleaning (and how to clean them).
Kitchen Sink
The place where you wash your food and dishes is a breeding ground for bacteria that come off your mouth, your food and the old food that sits on the plates. It may look clean but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t teeming with germs. To keep your kitchen sink germ free you should disinfect the sides, bottom and surrounding area with either a household bleach or salt and white vinegar. Then pour a little down the drain as well to keep it clean. Do this at least twice a week.
Kitchen Tap / Faucet Handles
Like the sink above your taps are a breeding ground for germs but in this case it’s worse! Because you will often come to the tap and turn it on with hands that are full of bacteria. When last did you disinfect the faucets after you touched raw chicken or handled food? To clean them wipe them down with bleach or a mixture of salt and white vinegar.
Refrigerator Seal
What’s that you say? The seal of the fridge is the part that makes sure it stays closed and the cold stays in. It has a little groove that runs all the way around the door. This little groove is probably filled with bacteria. You should clean this at least once a month as well. For bad smells inside your fridge you can place a bowl of water with bicarbonate of soda in it to absorb the smells.
Door Handles
Most of us don’t think of this obvious bacterial haven when we think about disinfecting our homes. We think of the places that dirt goes, we forget that anywhere your hands go dirt goes too. Clean regularly (once a week) with rubbing alcohol.
Inside The Washing Machine
Hard as this may be to believe the inside of even the best washing machine is not a clean place! All of the bacteria that were trapped in the sweaty armpits and underpants of your clothing are now inside the machine. And unless you washed your clothes in boiling water (not a good idea for most garments) or bleach, they are now breeding happily in this moist, dark environment! To clean the inside of your washer you should do a quick wash with the following mixture inside the machine: half a cup of bleach, half a cup of salt, 1 full cup of white vinegar. Place a towel inside the machine while you run a quick wash cycle with the cleaning mix to help rub off the bad bits.
Light Switches
Like door handles, light switches are high traffic areas that most people touch several times a day without ever thinking of cleaning them. Anyone who touches the switch is leaving their cocktail of germs for the next person. To clean your switches rub them down with alcohol. There are a number of disinfecting wipes on the market that work just as well.
The Hall And Living Room Carpets
Your feet touch everything in the outside world, then you come inside and walk that grime all over your carpets. You sit on them, your pets lie on them, your kids spill on them – they are dirty! Most vacuum cleaners suck up dirt, but unless you have an industrial level wash and vac at home you are probably not killing the bacteria in the carpet. To keep it clean you should vacuum weekly, then spray it down with a specially made carpet cleaner, and vacuum it again. Get it steam cleaned at least once a year. Lastly you should put small welcome mats at your doors to try and reduce the amount of grime traipsing through your home.
Author Bio: Janet Miller is a mom of four, yogi, nutritionist and cofounder of Jen Reviews. She writes extensively and has been featured on MindBodyGreen, The Huffington Post and Fast Company.
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