Kitchen Disinfecting Mistakes
By Sara Butler
The kitchen is often called the heart of the home, but it can also be one of the dirtiest places in your house. Keeping your home clean and disinfected is as important as ever and keeping the kitchen clean can help prevent you from getting sick. Here are a few of the most common disinfecting mistakes so you can avoid them.
Using the Wrong Products
There's a difference between disinfecting and simply cleaning surfaces in the kitchen. When you clean, you remove dirt and germs from the surfaces. Cleaning doesn't mean that germs are eliminated but merely reduced in number to reduce the risk of infection. If you want to disinfect surfaces, then you need to use more powerful products. Diluted bleach solution or other EPA-approved disinfectants are the way to go to actually disinfect surfaces, which means killing germs.
You Don't Do a Daily Disinfect
Think about how much you use your kitchen and the things you do there. If you want to make your kitchen a space that is safe and won't make you sick, then you should work to disinfect your kitchen each day -- every surface. That means handles on appliances you use as well as the counters and other surfaces. And don't forget to wash your hands when you're done so you don't accidentally spread germs to the other parts of your house.
Wiping Off Disinfectants Too Fast
A disinfectant is supposed to sit for a bit on surfaces to really disinfect them. But most people spray the surface and then immediately wipe it away. You shouldn't do that. Remember to read the directions on a cleaner and use it as directed to really harness its cleaning and disinfecting power.
You Don't Clean It First
Remember that cleaning and disinfecting are two different things. That's why you should clean a surface before you disinfect it. When you clean, you wipe away the dirt and grime, making it easier for the disinfectant to do its job and kill germs.
You Don't Disinfect Your Kitchen Sponge
It's important to disinfect your kitchen sponges, which can often be a source of germs in your kitchen. You can put it through a cycle in the dishwasher to disinfect it or soak it in a bleach solution or hot, soapy water. You can even throw it in the microwave for one minute to disinfect it. Just make sure you're taking the time to actually do something about this often-overlooked source of germs.
Keeping your kitchen clean is vital to your health and wellness, so do what you can to make it a safe space.
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Round Rock, Tex.