5 Products for Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting Your Home
∙ min read
Homes can be messy places. Even if you and your spouse both work from your residence, you are still capable of bringing in outside dirt, germs, and other messes into your family’s living space. While it’s a great idea to clean regularly to keep the home as healthy as possible, you may not know which cleaning products to use and for what purposes. There are a lot out there! This guide can give you ideas for how to get started house cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting.
If a Surface Is Clean, Is It Sanitized? What About Disinfected?
Believe it or not, those three words actually refer to three different processes. All of them refer to making something less messy than it was before you started working on it, but it’s important to know, for example, that purchasing a sanitizer is not the same thing as picking up a household cleaner. One is not necessarily worse than the other: They are used for different purposes. Before tackling your cleaning projects, make sure that you understand the nuances of these terms:
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Cleaning means simply making an area look clean. This could involve a deeper scrubbing of all dirt and grime, or it could refer to moving clutter from one area to another, like when people say they are “tidying up.” Most often, this term refers to the use of soap and water or a non-sanitizing cleaning liquid.
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Sanitizing involves using chemicals designed to destroy microorganisms. When you sanitize your home or specific surfaces within your home, you are keeping it safer and healthier for those living in it. The only catch is that sanitization must be performed on an already cleaned surface.
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Disinfecting is a process similar to sanitization that utilizes chemicals to reduce the number of illness-causing microorganisms on a surface. The term is a bit misleading. Though strong chemicals like bleach can be used to disinfect, they do not necessarily clean the area!
Great Products To Keep Around the Home
Though not all surfaces can be cleaned or disinfected with the same types of products, it’s worth your while to stock up on cleaning supplies that are both pleasantly scented and that get the job done. Check out the products below for examples and ideas of how to put together your own cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting basket of supplies.
All-in-One Cleaners
If you don’t want to have to worry about cleaning your nonporous surfaces like tile and granite with one product and then searching for another that will sanitize or disinfect, grab a gallon of Virex’s product that will clean, disinfect, and deodorize. It doesn’t smell like bleach, or like the heavy-duty cleaner it is (it’s lemon-scented), but it’s actually a hospital-grade product that is used in medical facilities to kill pathogens like MRSA and norovirus within three minutes.
Wipe-Based Cleaners
These wipes are strong, durable, and soaked in a professional-grade cleaning solution that’s sure to eradicate your toughest messes. If you’ve got a dining room floor covered in baby food, a shower plagued by a thick layer of soap scum, or a kitchen counter you can’t seem to get clean no matter what products you use, try these. You’ll love the fact that they don’t rip like paper towels, and you’ll also be grateful that you can simply throw them away at the end of the job. No more crusty washcloths to run through the wash!
Household Cleaners
Maybe you have been trying out different glass cleaning products in hopes that one will not leave streaks all over your windows, mirrors, and glass-top dining room table. If you haven’t found the perfect solution yet, check out these household cleaners for everyday home items like leather furniture, glass, silverware, and countertops. Most of these items do not sanitize or disinfect, but they prime your household surfaces for any sanitization you perform later.
Mold and Mildew Cleaners
When cleaning the home, few situations are as unpleasant as discovering a moldy corner of your shower or a film of mildew coating your kitchen sink. Keep the mold at bay by scrubbing it away with a regular cleaner and then spraying a fungicide, or simply use these mold and mildew removers to do the trick. Remember that if your home is humid, you’re likely to have more mold. To keep its growth down, use one of these sprays regularly in common areas like showers and bathtubs.
Bathroom Cleaners
If there’s only one area of your home that you regularly sanitize, make it the bathroom! Mold, pathogens, and soap scum will overtake this area if you are not careful to keep it cleaned, sanitized, and disinfected. Grab bathroom cleaning products to refresh your toilet bowl, keep the shower mold-free, and while you’re at it, remove those rust stains from around your faucets. Keep these cleaners under the bathroom sink or in a cabinet nearby for easy access.
Now that you’re aware of some great products to use in different areas of your home, it’s time to get to work! Remember, if you want to sanitize, make sure to clean the area first with wipes, a spray cleaner, or simply soap and water. When cleaning high-traffic areas of your home or those that need a little extra attention, you may want to use one heavy-duty cleaner or a combination of a cleaner and a sanitizing product. Find everything you need to keep a sparkling clean — and thoroughly sanitized — home at Max Warehouse today.
