Cold and Flu season is quickly approaching, and you know what that means: Lots of fun times ahead for everyone, and especially for families with young kids in school. It can be hard to get any kind of control over a cold or flu that’s tearing its way through your household, but there are definitely things that you can do to help it from spreading to every single member of your house. It can be especially hard if you have a toddler in your house like we do because of course they seem to have a habit of touching absolutely everything, so for me, that makes it really extra important that I do everything I can to try to keep us all from getting completely knocked out of the game for a month at a time. Of course there are a lot of things that can be done that will make a big difference, but one of the most important things is to make sure that you’re creating a safe, and healthy environment around the house. Cleaning and sanitizing all of the surfaces in your home that are used by multiple people every day will really go a long way toward stopping a virus right in its tracks! And hand washing of course, but you knew that. 🙂
Keeping up with sanitizing these areas of your home on a regular basis will help you to create exactly that safe, healthy environment that your family needs at this time of year! Here’s the list of areas that I try to tackle as regularly as possible:
- Door knobs
- Light switches
- Faucets
- Toilets
- Railings
- Phones (and cellphones!)
- Keyboards
- Remote controls
- Tables and side tables
- Chairs (especially where you grab the chair to pull it out from the table)
- Drawer and cabinet pulls
- Kitchen counters and sinks
- Knobs, buttons, and handles on appliances
- Small appliances such as coffee makers and toasters
- Vehicle interiors
- Toys
- Devices such as ipads
- Desks
- Lamp switches
- Pens and pencils
- Alarm clocks
- Hair styling tools
- Household scissors
- Closet doors and door handles
This list of germy surfaces may look like a lot, but it really only takes a few minutes to walk around your house and wipe everything down with your favorite sanitizing solution! Whether you like to use a traditional harsh chemical type of sanitizer, or you prefer to use something more natural, just spray a bit on a cloth and get to wiping! Respray after every few surfaces and you’ll be making a big difference in how clean and healthy your home is for your family!
I like to use sol-u-guard from Ecosense for my sanitizing. It’s made with thyme oil and has been scientifically proven to kill 99% of germs! Those essential oils are pretty amazing! It’s approved for use in professional environments as well and they actually used to use this at the indoor playground we used to go to with Kennedy when she was a baby! It’s only available to order online, so let me know if you’d like a little more information about it. 🙂
Do you have a special cleaning and sanitizing routine that you start when cold and flu season hits?
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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.