Undoubtedly, most people totally understand that regular cleaning is a helpful way to keep your rental home safe during flu season. But, in actual fact, cleaning just the glaring dirt may not be quite enough. 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. The reason is that these electronic devices are touched so often each day, like phones, controllers, and remotes, they can have ten times the amount of bacteria found on other surfaces in your home!
Think it over: as 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, quickly becoming a serious health hazard. In this time of flu season, it’s easy to pick up germs and mindlessly pass them along to others by sharing devices, controllers – even the TV remote. This is what makes cleaning your dirty devices significantly critical. If you aren’t cleaning your devices every day or after every use, the chances are quite high that they might get you or your family sick.
Surfaces you touch every day
Have you ever tried to keep a close eye on everything you touch around the house daily? You may be astounded! High-touch surfaces, exactly, get a lot of use yet may not make it onto your general cleaning lists. For instance, doorknobs, cabinet handles, window blind controls, and light switches are all touched daily, very often almost all times daily.
If you haven’t wiped these surfaces down with a germ-killing solution, they are more likely harboring high levels of harmful bacteria. Studies have found these surfaces customarily contain far more bacteria per square inch than your toilet.
Sanitizing high-touch surfaces in your home is especially crucial at the time of flu season. But, however, these surfaces cannot outrightly be sprayed with liquid cleaners or disinfectants. Spraying anything on your tech devices will harm them. Alternatively, you can use wipes designed to clean electronic devices. These wipes usually contain alcohol, which kills harmful bacteria.
For other high-touch surfaces around the house, utilize a microfiber cloth and spray a disinfectant solution on the cloth, not exactly on the light switch or doorknob. A commercial cleaning solution that specifically describes 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.
Besides high-touch surfaces, the CDC recommends washing your hands frequently and cleaning all surfaces in your home with a disinfectant that fits the type of surface you’re cleaning. Just be prudent to have proper ventilation and carefully obey the label directions irrespective of what cleaning agent you select. By taking these extra precautions, 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 Raleigh to speak with one of our property managers servicing Raleigh and nearby or take time to examine our available listings.
Originally Published on November 26, 2021
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