Cleaning every day is one of the healthiest habits you can adopt. Not only does daily cleaning control germs and allergens, it keeps cleaning manageable by breaking tasks down into smaller chunks. This stops dirt and clutter from piling up to the point where your home feels chaotic, allowing you to enjoy the proven mood and concentration benefits of living in a tidy environment. In fact, research shows that those who clean every day even have improved physical health because they’re more active and motivated.
Of course, for most of us, cleaning the entire house after work each night isn’t realistic or practical. Your daily cleaning routine should therefore be limited to the manageable, high-priority tasks listed below, with deep cleaning occurring on the weekends. Alternately, you can use this schedule to do light maintenance cleaning throughout the week and let our professional house cleaners take care of the rest.
7 Essential Daily Cleaning Tasks
- Change your hand towels.
Dish towels and bathroom hand towels are hotbeds for bacteria. Even if your small towels don’t look soiled, they could be harboring dangerous bacteria, according to a study by the USDA. Why? Many people touch dish and hand towels immediately after handling raw meat and other potential sources of contamination.
Though you don’t have to launder your small towels every day, you should exchange them for fresh ones every 24-48 hours (depending on how often you use them). When you do launder your towels, make sure to wash them on a high heat setting to kill bacteria.
- Speed-clean the shower.
Doing a bit of light shower cleaning every day is a great way to keep stubborn grout stains and soap scum at bay. To quickly clean your shower, keep a spray bottle filled with well-diluted white vinegar, a cleaning sponge, and a squeegee in your bathroom. While you’re waiting for your conditioner to set, mist your shower tiles with the vinegar mixture and scrub them for two minutes with the sponge. After you’ve rinsed your hair and turned off the shower, use the squeegee to wipe away excess moisture.
- Wipe down kitchen counters.
You probably wash your cutting boards after each use, but you may not know it’s crucial to clean the rest of the kitchen counter frequently, too. Even if you haven’t prepared meat during the day, counter tops can easily become contaminated with bacteria during normal use. Most of us drop high-touch objects (like keys, purses, and cell phones) on the counter as soon as we return home, for example, effectively transferring outdoor bacteria to the kitchen. Likewise, leftover crumbs can attract pests (and the diseases they carry) if you don’t wipe down your counters at least once a day.
- Take care of dirty dishes.
Leaving dirty dishes out overnight is never a good idea. The crumbs and odors they harbor are a magnet for pests, and letting food residues dry out overnight makes dishes much harder to clean. If you don’t have enough dirty dishes for a full dishwasher load, consider washing them by hand instead of leaving them on the counter overnight.
- Clean out your kitchen sink.
Have you ever noticed a foul odor or leftover food debris in your sink after washing the dishes? These issues are more than just cosmetic: Whenever moisture, food, and warmth are present in the same environment, bacteria can rapidly proliferate.
To keep your family safe – and keep your kitchen smelling fresh – take ten minutes to clean out the kitchen sink every evening. First, remove food debris with a paper towel and use a magic eraser to buff out stains. When you’re done, fill the sink with hot water and a tablespoon of bleach. Let the mixture sit for five minutes, then drain the sink and polish it dry with a clean microfiber cloth.
- Vacuum high-traffic areas.
Most dirt in the home comes from one place: The outdoors. By vacuuming high-traffic areas (like hallways and the living room) once a day, you’ll keep outdoor dirt and allergens from invading the rest of your home. You’ll also protect your carpets from wear and keep the entryways of your home looking clean and welcoming. Just make sure you use the right vacuuming techniques to get the job done; otherwise, the dirt you miss will slowly spread and accumulate.
- Sanitize your cell phone.
Cell phones are infamously dirty: In fact, they often contain more bacteria per square inch than the average toilet seat. Mobile phones frequently come into contact with our unwashed hands, our saliva, and a wide variety of surfaces, so they’re essentially the perfect germ carriers. Fortunately, staying safe is as simple as wiping down your phone with an alcohol wipe at least three times per day. For added protection, consider using hand sanitizer before you handle your phone, and avoid absentmindedly placing it on nearby surfaces (keep it in your pocket instead).
Still Finding Cleaning Overwhelming? Our Cleaners Can Help!
Sometimes, cleaning tasks pile up despite our best efforts. If you’re working long hours, or if you’re cleaning as you get older, or you’ve recently had a baby, your schedule probably doesn’t permit even basic daily cleaning – and that’s completely understandable. To keep your home hygienic while you take care of your priorities, we recommend working with our professional cleaners. The maids at Super Cleaning Service Louisville can keep your home fresh, tidy, and manageable, no matter what’s going on in your life. Contact us today to learn more about our flexible, affordable maid services in Kentucky while you instead enjoy your day relaxing at Taylorsville Lake State Park.
