Have you ever pondered how many times a day you touch your face with your hands? Let’s take that question deeper and wonder how many items our hands touch a day, and then we use those same hands and touch our faces. Below are a list of 5 Items that get the most use but the least cleaning. With the Flu season in full swing in Texas use this as a warning notice to your body to stay alert so that you can stay healthy during the Flu Season.
#1 The Telephone
If you are reading this blog and can’t remember the last time you disinfected your telephone STOP what you are doing and clean it now. I can guarantee you that you will get too busy to remember to do so later on.
If you work in an office most likely you spend your time working there and not cleaning there. You can’t rely on guessing the measures the janitorial staff takes at disinfecting office spaces. Most office cleaning consists of emptying trash cans, light dusting, and vacuuming floors. However we spend quite a lot of time in the office on a work phone that receives not only calls but saliva and germs. After taking a call you may clear your throat, cough, rub your nose and who knows what else. We then hang up that phone with our hands and proceed with the day. After hanging up that call follow the T Zone approach and be mindful not to touch your eyes nose and mouth.
Seventh Generation has great disinfecting wipes because let’s all agree we can’t run the phone through the dishwasher on sanitize. Just pull a wipe, wipe and throw away rather than call cough, speak and carry germs away!
#2 Keyboards
Keyboard germs kind of run hand in hand with The Telephone. Most of us spend more time touching our keyboards than we do touching our spouses. That was the joke of the day to lighten up the mood of knowing you are touching germs right now. They do sell keyboards that are washable but I don’t guarantee them and prefer keeping the disinfecting process simple. There are brushes that you can buy at your local Hardware stores that are meant for brushing in between the keys on a keyboard. You can also use a vacuum brush tool. I’ve even seen someone recommend using silly putty to get the crumbs out. We first must rid the keyboard of crumbs and debris so that the disinfecting can be thorough. Never Spray anything directly on the keys of the keyboard. Use an Eco Friendly wipe and with the keyboard not on wipe over the keys carefully. Make sure the disinfecting wipe is not saturated and is more damp than wet.
#3 Hand Towels
If you are using the bathroom at your home or someone Else’s home I do hope you are washing your hands and drying them. I have noticed that most homeowners rarely use their own guest bathrooms so I don’t know how often those hand towels are washed and replaced. So while gathering your laundry around the house don’t forget the towels in guest rooms which have hopefully been used a hundred or so times in a month by the entire family. An even better method of keeping the germ count down in this area is to totally eliminate the hand towels in the guest bathrooms and just use recyclable paper towels. There are small hand drying paper products that are made specifically for the bathrooms and even can be personalized with your initials if you want to get fancy with it
#4 Door Knobs
Most of us don’t realize that the doorknob is on the top 5 list of the household items holding onto the most germs. From the front door to the bathroom and then to the kitchen knobs on the cabinets to the garage door the germs are holding on tight! Those disinfecting wipes come handy here again. Don’t use the same one on each door thought. Use quite a few to really take your time and wipe each door knob or handle on the front and back side of doors. While disinfecting the doorknobs I can assure you that you may find that some of those doorknobs could use a good polishing as well. Front door knobs get neglected and used the most. Take a moment to appreciate the item that helps you get into your homes and disinfect and polish them ASAP!
#5 Remote Controls
Remotes are a tricky item to disinfect just like keyboards so the same rules apply. However since remotes are smaller we can clean them with not only a disinfecting wipe but also a Q-Tip dipped lightly in a vinegar and tea tree solution is the best. Think of children eating, coughing and pets slobbering unintentionally on them since they most likely are laying on the couch where you left them. I prefer the Q_Tip method to get into the crevices of the device and also to help not push any of the buttons out of place during the process
Although I am quite sure there are many more items in our homes that are getting used and abused and not disinfected I do hope this blog at least sent an alarm of warning to you to stay aware of regular used items and the germs they carry. You may end up using your disinfecting wipes in many other places while starting with these 5 however at least you are starting somewhere.