Well, my friends, we’re staring down the barrel of another cold and flu season. It’ll be on us before we know it. There’s nothing worse than when your little ones get sick and are feeling miserable. Of course, it’s terrible for them, but it’s also super stressful and exhausting for us parents as well! Schools and daycares are full of nasty germs at this time of year and there isn’t much that can be done about that, other than trying to keep your whole family healthy and their immune systems strong. When your kids get home though, you can totally control what kind of germs they’re having to deal with.
It may seem a bit silly to worry about keeping your home germ free when your kids have been playing and learning in a flu-filled environment at school but it’s still definitely worthwhile to get rid of those germs as soon as they come home. Sure, they’ve already been exposed, but keeping your home clean will help to keep your kids from cross-contaminating each other if they spend the day in different environments and with different friends. I know, it’s so strange to talk about our adorable kids in terms of cross-contamination, but you know what I mean! 🙂 Actually, if you have little boys, cross-contamination may be the exact right term for what we’re dealing with here! Ha!
Anyway.
It’s a good idea to keep the things they come in contact with at home as clean as possible, at least to give their little immune systems a much needed break!
Today we’re going to talk about cleaning toys because those can become so germy. They’re handled over and over again, often by sticky little fingers. They can get chewed up, stepped on, traded with the pets, and then chewed on again.
You know I’m a little freaked out by the idea of using harsh chemical cleaners in my home, and that freaked-outedness doubles when it comes to things that have to do with my kids. The whole point of this is to make them not get sick right?
I’m partnering up with my friends at e-cloth again today to show you how I like to keep the toys in our home clean and remove germs without ever having to use a single harsh chemical. Actually, it can be done with just water!
I’ve told you before about how much I love my e-cloths and how I use them constantly for everything. I love that they work really really well, make my life easier, and are a really low-cost solution for keeping your home clean because they last for so long and can take such a beating. They clean with just water, but you can also use them with a cleaner if you have a favorite non-toxic cleaner that you enjoy using, although I would definitely stick with just water for most toys.
E-cloth has come out with a line of baby care products that are also great for any home with small kids, like ours. I call Jack my baby all the time, but he is not a baby. Just ask him. He’ll let you know that he’s almost four. It’s a big deal, you know. 🙂
The baby care line has a chemical-free home starter set that comes with a bathroom cloth, a general purpose cloth, and a glass and polishing cloth. The general purpose cloth does an excellent job of cleaning toys and removing 99% of bacteria with just water, and I love finishing off with the polishing cloth if it’s a shiny toy that we’re dealing with.
BUT.
The thing I love about e-cloth is that they don’t just stop there. They’re so good at coming up with special fibres that do the very best job possible for very specific jobs. So you can save your general purpose cloth to use all over the house, but when it comes to toys, the toy and nursery cloth is awesome. It has extra soft, fluffy fibres that are designed to reach into even the teeniest crevices to break up and remove germs, drool, and hardened messes with just water. It’s perfect for all of those germ-collecting toys, and especially teething toys for babies who are at that age.
Here’s how to use the toy and nursery cloth to clean toys!
Step one: Gather the toys you most suspect of being germ-harboring superstars.
Step two: Grab your toy and nursery cloth and wet it with just water.
Step three: Wipe the toys down!
Rinse your cloth out in the sink after every few toys to keep its germ-removing powers fresh, then toss it in the wash. Almost every single e-cloth product can be washed more than 300 times before it’s time to start thinking about replacing it!
So that’s really all it takes to keep your toys clean, healthy, and safe for your kids all flu season long! Just one little cloth with about 3.1 million bacteria-grabbing fibres per square inch. 🙂
There’s also a stroller and car-seat cloth (great for spills on upholstered furniture too), as well as a table and high chair cloth (great for keeping your kitchen table so clean you can eat off of it) in the baby care line as well.
How do you keep your kids’ toys clean during flu season and throughout the year? Have you had the chance to try e-cloth yet?
I was compensated for my time in writing this post, but all opinions, thoughts, and suggestions are my own as always! …And I really am as into these e-cloths as I sound. Seriously. I’m probably going to give them out as Christmas presents this year. 🙂
MORE EASY CLEANING IDEAS LIKE THIS
- Super Simple Things I Do Every Day So That My Home Always Stays Clean
- Top 10 Ways to Keep Your Home Clean With Pets
- The Secret to Polishing Stainless Steel Appliances
- My Simple Household Binder System
- The Creek Line House Homekeeping Tips and Tricks Archives
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.