Tis the season for germs to travel widely as people come in and out of your home and office bringing glad tidings. With heavy foot traffic comes more coughs and sneezes and dirt and germs from shoes in shared spaces. The best gift you can give yourself and others this holiday season is keeping your spaces clean. You can easily do that with these 7 holiday cleaning tips.
1. Stock Up on Supplies
A hearty stock of cleaning supplies is number one on our list. How do you clean if you don’t have the means? While we’re not necessarily saying you need to stock like it’s Doomsday, you do want to have a little more than usual. Why? Because more people are coming in and out during the holidays. You’re going more places. This means you’ll be wiping down surfaces and washing your hands a lot more during the holidays (at least we hope you will).
Here’s what we recommend:
· Disinfectant spray or wipes
· Glass cleaner
· Wood cleaner
· Multipurpose cleaner
· Surface cleaner (granite, marble, stainless steel, quartz, etc.)
· Toilet cleaner
· Bleach-based tile and shower cleaner
· Wood or laminate floor mopping solutions
· Goo Gone for sticky situations
· White vinegar
· Baking soda
· Bleach
· Hand soap
· Dish soap
You also want a stock of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, microfiber cloths, dusters, and paper towels on hand.
2. Clean Surfaces after Use
Germs are spread most often through touch. Commonly touched surfaces are things like doorknobs, cabinet knobs, light switches, countertops, sink handles and faucets, toilet handles, refrigerators, coffee pots, and microwaves.
Think of how often you make wiping down doorknobs, light switches, and cabinet knobs a daily to-do. For most people, it’s probably not often if ever despite the fact that these are some very high-traffic surfaces that easily contribute to spreading germs.
Consider that your family and guests or office companions flush the toilet and touch the sink before their hands are clean. It kind of makes you want to armor yourself with a bottle of disinfectant spray everywhere you go. Make cleaning common-touch surfaces a ritual during the holidays this year.
3. Don’t Reuse Cutting, Boards, Knives, Etc.
Kitchens are popular gathering places during the holidays. People love to congregate around the kitchen island or table, slicing new meats and breads and treats for snack trays and the like. Foods left out quickly grow bacteria.
What’s more is that foods being shared (by shared we mean touched and talked over) become quick carriers for germs as do the surfaces on which they’re prepared.
Cutting boards and knives in particular have a lot of germs and bacteria on them unless they’re washed with hot water and a dish soap after each use. Yes, it’s tedious, but it definitely helps your home or office stay cleaner.
4. Keep Your Hands Clean
Another cleaning tip is to use toothpicks and plates and napkins to discourage people from using their fingers to handle food in your home or office. After all, fingers that touch food are rarely cleansed before they grab that fridge handle or punch ladle or doorknob.
Putting hand sanitizer near touchable surfaces will help will encourage anyone in your home or office to clean their hands before reaching and grabbing.
5. Vacuum Every Day
While you can’t tell visitors to your office to take their shoes off, it’s advisable to tell people visiting your home to take their shoes off. A distributing array of contaminants enters the home on people’s shoes. This yucky stuff gets embedded into carpets and can be very difficult to fully clean…but, it helps if you’re already maintaining your carpet and floors’ cleanliness.
Make it a habit to vacuum every day. Keep dust, dirt, debris, etc. off of your floors and out of your carpet threads, so when you do have guests over or visitors to the office, you’re able to manage the extra mess. Before and after the holidays, shampoo your carpet to make it even easier to keep things clean with daily vacuuming.
If you have area rugs, in addition to regular vacuuming, schedule a professional cleaning for them before and after the holidays.
6. Spot Clean the Furniture
During the holidays, furniture sees a lot more use. Vacuum under and between the cushions and wash furniture coverings more often than usual depending on how often people are sitting on them. You should also spot clean. Find a spot cleaner for your type of furniture (ex: Febreeze for fabric or microfiber) and take care of dirty spots right way.
7. Stay on Top of the Chores
Lastly, perhaps one of the most important holiday cleaning tips is to stay on top of the chores. These are things like:
· Take trash out regularly (don’t let trash and recycling bins overflow)
· Keep laundry laundered and put away
· Unload the dishwasher in the morning and load it at night
· Make the bed each day
· Dust less-used surfaces
· Tidy an organize your office desk
· Put mail away / don’t let clutter stack up
Doing the daily tidying will help your home feel cleaner. This is good for your stress. Because stress weakens the immune system and the holidays are already stressful enough, anything you can do to lower your stress is a good idea. Plus, it will be easier to tend to regular cleaning rituals like vacuuming and cleaning work surfaces when you stay on top of the chores.
To conclude, the holidays can be messy and hectic. Keeping it clean with these 7 holiday cleaning tips helps you stay sane and safe. Glad “tidyings” to all!
Clean, healthy and safe holidays are happy holidays. These 7 holiday cleaning tips from the experts at Advanced Cleaning will ensure you, your colleagues and your family stay safe. If you’re too busy to tackle the necessary cleaning this holiday season, don’t hesitate to call the pros. Think of it as your much-deserved gift to yourself.
