Everyone loves coming home to a clean house.
Most Americans dedicate time each day to tackle small chores, and make time weekly for bigger cleaning tasks. Despite this effort, our homes may not be as clean as we think. Because we tend to assess cleanliness with our eyes and nose, there are many hidden and overlooked areas that contain dirt, dust and a whole lot of germs. Even when these places are out in the open, you may not always be able to see or smell the mess hiding in plain sight. People know to pay extra attention to keeping the bathroom clean and that dirt gets tracked onto floors, but it’s the areas we don’t even think about that are the dirtiest places in our homes.
The cleaning aficionados at The Simple Scrub have compiled a list of dirtiest spots in an otherwise clean house. We hope you’re sitting down, because it’s pretty surprising.
1. Light Switches, Doorknobs and Handles
We tend to use these things without much thought about how much ick we’re leaving behind, or how much has been left before we touched them. These high-touch areas collect a lot of germs, and because cleaning them often goes overlooked, they’re one of the dirtiest places in our homes. Make sure to tackle these little germ-traps with a microfiber towel and disinfecting spray a few times a week.
2. The Living Room
Even a beautifully-kept living room may be hiding much more dirt than meets the eye. Remote controls, video game controllers, and that box of matches you keep by the candles can harbor mold, yeast and bacteria, and carpets can hold more grime than a busy city street. Use a disinfecting spray to clean the items you handle in your living room and consider replacing carpet with hard flooring. And if you have an area rug, vacuuming and scrubbing the floor beneath it is a cleaning hack you won’t want to forget.
3. Kids’ Areas
Everyone knows that kids are germ magnets, but did you know that kids’ rooms and play areas in the home can get sick, too? Bacteria hides in the toys and teddy bears and gadgets they play with, and sometimes sneaky messes are lurking under beds and in corners. Engage your kids in weekly chores to help keep their spaces clean and help them develop a cleaning routine early on.
4. Pet Areas
Our pets are part of the family and, just like the human kids, they help create some of the dirtiest places in our homes. While cats and dogs who spend time outdoors can bring some pretty unsavory bacteria into the house, the real mess they make comes from what stays inside. Their food and water bowls need to be cleaned daily, and their toys cleaned weekly, to keep them from growing nasty things like staph, yeast, and mold. You’ll also need to devote extra time to scrubbing the areas surrounding your cat’s litter box.
5. The Kitchen
You may want to sit down for this. There are areas in your kitchen that likely have more E. coli than your bathroom. The ick factor is hiding in your sponges, dish rags, the bottom of the fridge and more. Despite being used for cleaning, the kitchen sink is especially prone to bacteria. You should regularly clean the surfaces in your kitchen with disinfectant spray and tackle the floors at least once a week. Don’t forget to take a microfiber towel to the knobs and handles of your oven, microwave and fridge.
Make Your Home Surprisingly Clean with The Simple Scrub
The Simple Scrub makes tools, pads, microfiber towels and cleaners to make home cleaning easier. The long handle of The Simple Scrub Original helps you clean hard-to-reach areas without strain, so you can tackle the toughest cleaning jobs in your house comfortably. Our microfiber towels and disinfectant spray form a cleaning dream team for the sneaky germs hiding out on your lightswitches and game controllers. We offer a powerful, natural cleaner-degreaser and a line of easy-to-change, reusable cleaning pads that are tailored to different cleaning tasks so you can tackle kitchen floors, wood floors, walls and bathtubs with just one easy switch, and no gross mop water.
Shop online today to banish hidden household grime with The Simple Scrub.