10 Things You Should Clean More Often

Written by Camille Deal – Dec 14, 2020

I know, I know.. You really do not have time to add one more thing to your schedule, but these are 9 important things you should REALLY clean more often.

With flu season around the corner, COVID-19 making its debut, and sickness as a whole on the rise, you should really consider reading the list and find out why these are so important to keep fresh.

I didn’t list these things in any particular order because I feel like they all have a big impact on containing germs and keeping your family healthy.

10 things that you desperately need to be cleaning more often to keep your family safe. #cleanhome #organizedhome #homeorganizationtips #sahm #cleankitchen #farmhousekitchen #kitchengoals #clickcountertops

The fridge

Everyone touches your fridge handles, little sticky fingers included. Your friends come over and they open the fridge for a drink. Your kids come home and they open the fridge for a snack. At the end of the night you grab the door and fling it open to secure yourself a glass of wine.

The moral of the story is that your fridge gets used all the time, but rarely cleaned. A quick wipe down once a week is much easier than having to pull out every single condiment and scrub all of the shelves.

You store your food in there.. don’t you think it needs to be more sanitary?

Any fans

We run our fans all year long. Even when it is freezing outside, we have them on low. I turned my son’s fan off the other day because the fan combined with his air purifier tends to make his room cooler than the rest of the house, and I did not want him to freeze after his bath. I was SHOCKED to see the dust build up on the fan blades.

We have two air purifiers in our house, and I clean constantly! The fan is constantly running, so how the heck did it even build up all that dust?!

I have a little step stool that I use to clean my fans, and I have the awesome Swiffer duster with the extendable handle. After I dust the fan, I try to wipe it down with a warm water/ vinegar mix and a dish rag.

By the time you’re finished, you have successfully cleaned your fans AND you got in a shoulder workout!

The car

Keep a container of lysol wipes in your car along with a bottle of air freshener. I have found that having those two items handy serves as a good reminder to clean my car out. I don’t typically keep a trash bag in my car because I find that it drives me crazy to wait until it gets full to throw everything away, but that is another option for you!

You don’t have to own a shop vacuum to keep your car clean. I like to use the handle on my house vacuum to clean my car. My personal vacuum has better suction than any shop vacuum I’ve owned thus far.

If you don’t have access to an outside plug to vacuum your car, then head to the car wash.  Car washes are popping up everywhere with free vacuums after you buy a car wash. I’m not obsessed with having the outside of my car clean, but I do feel accomplished when it looks all shiny!

Suggested Post: 10 Awesome Personal Hygiene Hacks

Door handles

You need to start cleaning those dirty door handles!

Lysol is your best friend. Spray all of your light switches and door handles down with lysol on a regular basis. I would say weekly, but I have been known to do it much more often than that.

Also, I recommend trying to do it right before I go to bed, so that no one grabs a soaking wet door knob. Turns out that grabbing a wet door handle makes your family a little grumpy, haha.

You can count your fridge door as a door handle as well, and spray that down on your way around the house. Don’t overlook the closet doors. We use them a lot, but commonly overlook them while cleaning.

Pet’s bowls

Fido wants you to stop refilling their bowl without washing it. It is not enough to dump out the dog’s water every now and then and refill it. Your dog’s water bowl gets slimy and forms bacteria just like your water bottles do.. (Yeah, go wash that bad boy!) If you feed your pet wet food, then you have more than likely seen the chunky build up on the bowl. Your pet’s food can grow mold just like yours can.

Whenever I am leaving the house on vacation, I throw Max’s bowls in the dishwasher right before we leave. I keep an extra set of bowls in his travel bag.

Bed linens

We have a pup in the house, but he isn’t allowed on the bed. (Don’t feel bad for him, his dog bed is as good as my mattress, if not better AND he is allowed on the couch) Even so, his hair floats around and ends up in the sheets. It drives my husband absolutely insane. No one likes to wake up in the morning, and somehow have a mouth full of dog hair. I change my sheets on a weekly basis, and sometimes it happens twice a week. It seems to work out that I change them on Sundays usually.

If you go to church, then you can strip your bed and throw the sheets in the washer, and when you get home they’ll be halfway to being back on the bed!

Making my King sized bed while chasing my tot around and trying to keep my dog out of the warm laundry is a job in itself, but I always sleep better in fresh sheets. 

Your hands

Completely self explanatory, I know, but this means even more to me now that I’m a mom. WASH YOUR HANDS!

Wash them, and still don’t touch my kid, haha!

You should try to keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in your car. After you wash your hands, you inevitably have to touch the disgusting bathroom door.

If the restroom that you are in has the air dryers, then SKIP them! Unfortunately, it was recently proven that air dryers recycle the air in the bathroom. You are drying your clean hands in pee particles…

EW! Not to mention, the sound is horrendous.

The coffee pot

You rinse out the pot itself, and throw it in some soapy water when it starts to look stained. Can you remember the last time you cleaned the whole machine?! Start cleaning your entire coffee pot, ya nasty!

Yes, including you Keurig friends!

Cleaning your coffee pot is so effortless. Mix a cup of white vinegar with two cups of water, and brew a full pot of coffee. If you have a Keurig, brew large cups until it requests that you add water. Repeat the process with plain water two to three more times. Its amazing what all you can use vinegar for.

All air filters

This includes air purifiers also. If you do not have one yet, then it is something to consider adding on your Christmas list! I have two air purifiers in my house, and I would love to add a third. I have an Oreck brand air purifier that I have had for over six years, and I can’t say enough great things about it! It is on the more expensive end of the scale, but with a washable filter, I definitely feel as if it was a worthwhile purchase. My other air purifier is a Honeywell brand that I purchased from Target, and it makes a difference, but I don’t think it is as good. I clean both purifiers on a monthly basis, year-around. We have a German Shepherd in the house, so improving the air quality is important for all of us!

You don’t have to change the air filters in your house quite as often, but they are equally as important. Dirty air filters cause increased work for your A/C unit. You can buy multipacks of air filters on Amazon for cheap! Don’t let a $5 filter be the reason you need a $5000 HVAC unit replacement! OUCH!

Your car also has a cabin air filter that often goes overlooked. When they get extremely dirty it can cause the inside of your car to smell funny. (AKA I’ve been there and done that). When I ran my A/C it smelt like fish, and when I ran my heat it smelt like burnt popcorn. I drove myself NUTS thinking something had crawled in my car and died. Thank goodness my neighbor is a mechanic!

Here is your monday reminder, so add it to your to do list! Clean up your home and wipe down your kitchen countertops.. They're nasty! #cleanliving #kitchengoals #countertops #clickcountertops #farmhousekitchen #modernkitchen #dreamhouse #todolist

Your countertops

I saved this one for last because people just don’t realize how badly they need to clean their counters! Can you think of the last time you wiped down all of your countertops? Personally, I have an OCD about it and I wipe them down almost daily, but most people don’t.

Think about all the things your countertops experience. Your husband throws his keys down on them. You prepare food on them. Your kids spill drinks on them. Little hands and feet touch them to climb up to the cabinets.. Your countertops are a catch all!

If you’re someone whose countertops have seen better days and a lack of love, then check out Click Countertops! You can fall in love with your old home all over again. You’ll look forward to keeping your counters clean when you replace them with those stunning Alpharetta quartz countertops that you’ve had your eye on.

Okay, go get busy! Now you know why your mom always asked you to do chores… Sounds like its time to get your kids to do their part too!

They may not like you for it now, but you’re raising responsible humans.

If you are one of the people that is working from home due to the Corona Virus, then this is the perfect time to get started on this list. If you don’t feel like you can possibly fit one more thing into your schedule, then check out my tips for keeping your house cleaner when you have a busy schedule! Efficiency is key.