With the rise of various virus and bacterial infections led by the coronavirus, you cannot ignore the need to keep your home safe. Thorough cleaning and disinfecting your home is paramount. But do you know that there’s a difference between cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting your home?
While sometimes these can mean the same thing, they’re not used interchangeably when it comes to killing viruses. Disinfecting your home is the most effective way of eradicating the virus.
So, how do you disinfect a home? Here are 5 safe methods to help you keep your home clean and germ-free.
1. Use Soap and Water
Soap and water are basic cleaning essentials that have been around for ages. If you think these simple products aren’t effective to keep away germs, then you’re wrong. If your surfaces aren’t so contaminated, there is no need to get very harsh chemicals.
Soap and water are easily available to help clean and disinfect your home. What’s more, they’re the most eco-friendly and safe for handling. They work well for cleaning floors, surfaces, and countertops.
2. Maintain Regular Cleaning
The best way to keep germs away from your house is to maintain regular cleaning and disinfecting. Don’t assume that your house is clean simply because you did some cleaning yesterday. Germs are very tiny creatures that can hide even in a spot that looks very clean.
Even if you’re not always in the house, make sure you do the cleaning every day. Clean and disinfect various surfaces within your house and mop the floors. Pay much attention to high traffic areas as they attract more dirt.
3. Use Alcohol-Based Disinfectants
Alcohol-based disinfectants are proven to work wonders when it comes to maintaining a clean home. A good example of this disinfectant is isopropyl alcohol. It contains around 60 to 90 percent alcohol and 10-40 percent water. Due to this composition, it’s proven to be a rapid antimicrobial against virus, bacteria and fungi.
When using any alcohol-based products to disinfect a home, make sure you practice proper handling. Exposure to these products can also have effects on your body, such as causing irritation or skin rashes.
4. Understand High-Touch Surfaces
High touch surfaces have become regularly used words. But what does this word mean as far as home disinfecting is concerned? These are those places you already stop to do something, making them more exposed to germs.
High touch surfaces can be your kitchen counters, bathroom, drawers, refrigerators, light switches, among others. These places are more exposed to bacteria and viruses. You need to clean and disinfect these areas more often to keep germs away.
5. Handle Your Foods Properly
Proper food handling is essential when disinfecting your home. Some chemicals used for disinfecting your household items can be dangerous if they touch food. Do not use bleach, sanitizer, or any chemical on fruits and vegetables.
If you scrub your fruits and vegetables while cleaning, stop doing that. Rinsing them with clean water is enough to make them clean and safe for consumption. Keep your hands always clean and wash before handling any foodstuff.
