Antiviral / Antibacterial Cleaning Tips from the Pros
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Prevention is always better than cure. With a bad allergy season coming and with the threat of deadly diseases such as the novel coronavirus, having a proper cleaning strategy is imperative for your home to be healthy and safe.
Use multiple rags
One of the most common causes of harmful organisms such as germs, viruses or bacteria spreading is cross-contamination through using the same rags. Kitchen rags should stay in the kitchen, living room rags should stay in the living room.
Another way to avoid cross-contamination between rags is separating dry rags and wet rags.
The best way to keep track of which rags are for which is to colour coordinate. For example, kitchen rags are blue. Then wet kitchen rags are dark blue, dry rags are light blue. Be creative.
Heat can eliminate harmful organisms
This would definitely depend on the material you are cleaning, but if it will not cause damage, we highly recommend using hot water when wiping surfaces before applying cleaning agents. This will remove a portion of the diseases and the rest will be up to the cleaning agents.
If you want a cheap and easy hot thing, there is nothing better than the sun. Letting things dry out in the sun after cleaning is beneficial because the natural heat UV rays kill bacteria, spores, and viruses.
Let cleaning agents do their job
Cleaning agents such as antibacterial sprays usually require time for them to work properly and eliminate harmful threats. Leave cleaning agents for about 30 – 60 seconds first, before wiping them down. Be patient. Consult the instructions to see the optimal time for the agents to work.
Dry means sanitary
Most germs, bacteria, and fungi thrive in damp environments. After waiting on the cleaning agents to do their job, wipe the surface until it’s dry to prevent breeding grounds.
This simple rule is also applicable for cleaning tools and equipment.
Clean the cleaning equipment
Cleaning equipment can also be breeding grounds if just left after cleaning. Always clean your equipment first before storing them.
For rags and cloth-like cleaning materials, wash them in hot water and soap. Then, let them dry out, preferably in the sun. Never leave rags wet.
Germs and fungi like to live in your bin. It’s dirty, dark and damp. To drive them out, regularly disinfect bins after the trash has been collected.
After applying the disinfectant, brush the insides of the bin if there are grime and build-up. Then leave to dry out in the sun before using to prevent fungi from growing.
Clean frequently
If you notice, what we mostly do is prevent the growth of harmful organisms by attacking their potential homes. This will definitely be more effective if you clean regularly and frequently. Viruses and bacteria can grow really fast so we have to do our best to never even give them the chance.
Wash hands thoroughly after cleaning
This is the most important part that tends to be forgotten. Even if you wear gloves when you clean your homes, it’s still better to be safer than sorry.
You want to make sure that you have sufficient time and you clean your hands thoroughly.
As you have seen in the video, you want to clean your hands for 20 seconds long. For kids, it’s as long as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. But if it isn’t your jam, just choose any song you want and rinse your hands during the chorus.
Our favourite song for washing hands is How Deep Is Your Love and we change it up to, How Clean Is Your Hand!