10 bad cleaning habits you should drop today

Whether you’re slicing veggies, fruit, or meat on your cutting board, it’s a no brainer that you need to wash it. But contrary to what you might think, scrubbing it down with soapy water isn’t the answer. Soak your board in bleach after each use (or at least those boards used for things like raw meat which contains harmful bacteria), to properly sterilise it and avoid bacteria transfer.

Here are more dumb cleaning habits to avoid.

Put down the duster, or anything that resembles it, especially a dry rag. While dusting your fan may leave it looking pearly white, that dust doesn’t just disappear into thin air! All that sneezing you do when dusting is the result of the tiny particles flying elsewhere, like your table, rug, etc. You may think you’ll clean up all the dust when you vacuum, but there are plenty of nooks and crannies it settles in that you’ll forget about. Your best bet is to wet a rag, which will pick up dust more effectively.

Sure, you know about washing your pillowcases weekly, but what about your actual pillows? Most pillows have a tag giving laundering instructions, yet very few people follow through with doing so. Your pillow is subject to dust mites, body oils and bacteria from your saliva, which is why you should stick it in the washing machine every three to six months.

Here are 16 more surprising things you can put in the washing machine.

It doesn’t take much to dirty up a stainless steel appliance. One touch and your refrigerator is totally smudged. When cleaning, be sure you’re not wiping in circular motions, because you’ll see the marks when the cleaner dries. Instead, find the grain in the stainless steel and follow that. You’ll notice a big difference.

You know to do the big stuff: vacuuming, mopping, wiping away dust. But there are some items in your house that you may have never cleaned, yet harbour a major amount of bacteria. Light switches and remote controls are two highly overlooked housekeeping areas. Cold viruses lurk on such places, from sneezing or coughing into your hand and then immediately flipping on the TV or light. A simple spritz of disinfectant is a good place to start, and a bleach wipe can get into the tough to reach spots where the unhealthy gunk hangs out.

Follow these cleaning tricks for hard-to-clean items.

You can’t control the sun, but you can avoid it, which is something you should do when washing your windows. This is because glass cleaner dries quickly in direct sunlight, leaving behind unsightly streaks that are counterintuitive to your washing job. Opt for overcast skies and the temp below 20 degrees.

Isn’t the point of a washing machine that it cleans dirty things? So why would you have to clean it? The reality is, your cleaning tools need just as much TLC as the rest of your home. Good housekeeping means paying attention to the things that make your life easier, which is why your washing machine, for instance, deserves to be cleaned. If your clothes have started smelling of mildew after being washed, it’s time to run a cycle on the hottest water setting with nothing inside, and using vinegar for an extra boost for a squeaky clean washing machine. Regular cleaning is an important part of maintenance.

Sometimes less is more when it comes to good housekeeping, and that’s certainly true for cleaning and taking care of your wooden floors. Whether you’re mopping or using a standard rag and bucket, be sure that you don’t have too heavy of a hand with the water. If there are scratches or gouges in the finish, the excess water can make its way beneath the surface and damage the wood.

Even if you are good at keeping the dust at bay throughout your house, your housekeeping is lacking if you’re not cleaning your air ducts. Over time, they collect dust, leading to allergy symptoms and even increasing the chance of fires when you turn the heat on. Be sure to clean them once a year at least.

Learn which other household items become fire hazards when you don’t clean them enough.

While light bulbs used to burn out and need replacing frequently, today the long-lasting LED bulbs make it possible for you to forget about them for a while. But you shouldn’t. The longer they’re installed, the more dust they build up, which is yet another fire hazard.

Here are 20 more hidden things in your home that could be a fire hazard.

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Source: RD.com