MISTAKES NOT TO MAKE WHEN CLEANING TO AVOID MAKING YOURSELF ILL
Cleaning is good, but doing it without damaging your health is even better! You should be aware that some of the things you do to clean your home can make you ill. This also has to do with the way you use cleaning products.
Since a clean and healthy home is supposed to be a source of well-being and health on a daily basis, it would be a shame to suffer from other, unsuspected side-effects!
Here’s a list of mistakes to avoid when cleaning, in order to protect your health.
Spreading dust during dusting
Dusting is an essential step for a perfect household. It’s especially important in rooms where dust settles very regularly, such as the library or a rarely-used guest room. However, it’s important to avoid spreading dust during this stage, as it can trigger asthma and allergy symptoms.
So dusting regularly, especially in areas where dust settles most, is still recommended, but make sure you follow a top-down strategy. Specifically, this means starting with ceilings and top shelves, then working your way down to prevent dust and other potentially allergenic particles from spreading to previously dusted surfaces.
To perfect safe dusting, you can invest in a hand-held vacuum cleaner.
Do not clean contact points
Contact points are the surfaces you “contaminate” during your daily comings and goings. Specifically, these are door handles, light switches, cabinet handles, handrail and so on. These are areas we tend to forget about, especially after a big day of spring cleaning, and yet they present a high risk of contamination with various illnesses such as colds, covid-19, diarrhea, etc.…
Therefore, to create a perfectly healthy environment in your home, don’t skip the step of disinfecting contact points with a suitable product such as Impec disinfecting wipes.
Use a single sponge for everything
Unfortunately, some cleaning tools such as sponges can harbor microbes and bacteria, especially when exposed to moisture. As a result, sponges can transmit germs from one surface to another, especially if you use a single sponge for several surfaces. While it’s obvious that the bathroom sponge has no business being used in the kitchen, you can take the precaution of reserving a sponge for each type of surface. For example, it’s essential to dedicate a sponge to:
- Basins;
- Toilet bowl;
- English chair ;
- Floor ;
- Bathroom walls ;
- Mirror ;
To avoid mix-ups, you can use microfiber cloths instead of sponges and identify them by color!
Don’t leave cleaning products to work
Each product normally has a dedicated action time, which you can easily find on the package instructions. In a hurry, you may be tempted to disregard this recommended action time, but this is a mistake!
In fact, this time allows the product to work deeply on dirt, grease, grime, stains, etc., and to break them down. It’s all the more advisable with certain disinfectants, which sometimes need to act for a few seconds or minutes to better eliminate microbes, bacteria and other microorganisms dangerous to health.
Although you need to save time, you should apply the product to dirty or contaminated surfaces first, and then let it work its magic while you go about your day.
Failure to follow instructions for use
Doing the housework involves a few mechanical gestures, which sometimes don’t necessarily comply with the recommendations for use on the bottle. Some people, for example, use bleach without diluting it, and more commonly, exceed the prescribed dose in the hope of optimizing the product’s effects. However, this may not produce the best results, or worse still, it may leave residues that can expose you to chemicals later on.
Inhalation or contact with these products is potentially hazardous to health, so it is always best to follow the recommended dosage when using household cleaning products.