A large number of people have found out that regular cleaning is the best means to keep your rental home safe during flu season. But, as a matter of fact, cleaning just the obvious dirt may not be appropriate. Doorknobs, light switches, computer keyboards, smartphones, tablets, television remotes, and game controllers are easy to miss when cleaning the house. If you are not sanitizing them regularly, they may pile up more harmful bacteria than your toilet.
How dirty are standard handheld devices?
It is largely recommended that you regularly clean your smartphone, tablet, keyboard, mouse, television remote, and gaming controller. By reason that these electronic devices are touched so often each day, most importantly phones, controllers, and remotes, they can have ten times the amount of bacteria found on other surfaces in your home!
Just think about it: in the event that you touch something and then touch your phone or computer keyboard, you’ve transferred bacteria from one surface to the other.
The more often you touch a particular surface, the more bacteria will collect there, now suddenly becoming a serious health hazard. At the time of flu season, it’s easy to pick up germs and unintentionally pass them along to others by sharing devices, controllers – even the TV remote. This is what makes cleaning your dirty devices essential. If you aren’t cleaning your devices every day or after every use, the chances are that they might get you or your family sick.
Surfaces you touch every day
Have you ever tried to keep an eye on everything you touch around the house daily? You may be astounded! High-touch surfaces, most importantly, get a lot of use but certainly may not make it onto your general cleaning lists. As an illustration, doorknobs, cabinet handles, window blind controls, and light switches are all touched daily, occasionally a large number of times daily.
If you haven’t wiped these surfaces down with a germ-killing solution, they are potentially harboring high levels of harmful bacteria. Studies have found these surfaces usually contain far more bacteria per square inch than your toilet.
Sanitizing high-touch surfaces in your home is especially salient at the time of flu season. With that said, these surfaces cannot actually be sprayed with liquid cleaners or disinfectants. Spraying anything on your tech devices will destroy them. Contrary to that, you can purchase wipes designed to clean electronic devices. These wipes usually contain alcohol, which kills harmful bacteria.
For other high-touch surfaces around the house, make use of a microfiber cloth and spray a disinfectant solution on the cloth, not actually directly on the light switch or doorknob. A commercial cleaning solution that specifically points out it will kill bacteria will work for your home’s plastic or other durable surfaces. Just don’t use harsh chemicals on painted surfaces, wood, or natural stone, as the chemicals will damage these areas.
Along with high-touch surfaces, the CDC recommends washing your hands frequently and cleaning all surfaces in your home with a disinfectant ideal for the type of surface you’re cleaning. Just be attentively careful to have proper ventilation and properly obey the label directions regardless of what cleaning agent you prefer. By taking these extra precautionary measures, you can keep your home as germ-free as possible during flu season and for the entire year.
Are you in the market for a new rental home? Contact Real Property Management Realevate Specialists to communicate with one of our property managers servicing Temecula and nearby or check out our available listings.
Originally Published on November 26, 2021
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