Plenty of people understand that constant and regular cleaning is an appropriate strategy to keep your Monterey Park rental home a safe place to be during flu season. But in fact, cleaning only the visible dirt may not be enough. Doorknobs, light switches, computer keyboards, smartphones, tablets, television remotes, and game controllers are all quite easy to leave out whenever cleaning the house. If you are not sanitizing them often and regularly, these things may acquire more harmful bacteria on them than, say, your toilet.
Common Dirty Devices
It is highly prescribed that you take time to regularly clean your smartphone, tablet, keyboard, mouse, television remote, and gaming controller. On the grounds of how often these electronic devices are touched each day, particularly phones, controllers, and remotes, can have ten times the amount of bacteria found on other surfaces in your home! Just consider it: every time 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 build up there, instantly developing into a big health hazard. During flu season, it’s really rather easy to gather germs and carelessly pass them along to others by sharing devices, controllers – even the TV remote. This is what makes cleaning your dirty devices so relevant. If you aren’t cleaning your devices per day or after every use, the eventualities are that they will get you or your family sick.
High-Touch Surfaces
Have you ever tried to keep informed of all and anything you touch around the house each day? You may be flabbergasted with what you find out! High-touch surfaces, specifically, are areas that get a lot of use but in actuality may not make it onto your general cleaning lists. For example, doorknobs, cabinet handles, window blind controls, and light switches are all touched daily, even plenty of times a day.
If you haven’t wiped these surfaces down with a germ-killing solution, the chances are that they are harboring high levels of harmful bacteria. One study ascertained that light switches often have 200 bacteria per square inch, while most toilets have 20 on average.
At the time of flu season, it’s particularly imperative to sanitize high-touch surfaces in your home. However, plenty of these surfaces cannot actually be simply sprayed with liquid cleaners or disinfectants. Spraying anything on your tech devices will definitely destroy them. However, you can purchase wipes that are geared to clean electronic devices. These wipes usually contain alcohol, which will kill the harmful bacteria.
For other high-touch surfaces around the house, choose a microfiber cloth and spray a disinfectant solution on the cloth, not directly on the light switch or doorknob. A commercial cleaning solution that precisely states it will kill bacteria will be best for your home’s plastic or other durable surfaces. Just don’t choose harsh chemicals on painted surfaces, wood, or natural stone, as the chemicals will ruin these areas.
Not just high-touch surfaces, the CDC also urges washing your hands frequently and cleaning all surfaces in your home with a disinfectant appropriate for the type of surface you’re cleaning. Just be careful to have proper ventilation and be guided by the label directions heedless of what cleaning agent you apply. By taking these few additional precautions, you can keep your home as germ-free as possible during flu season and all year round.
Are you in the market for a new rental home? Contact Real Property Management Fairmate to speak in-depth with one of our Monterey Park property managers or view our listings online.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
