Originally published August 23, 2019. Updated September 2026 with a summary, next steps and answers to common questions.
With kids officially back to school and the weather (supposedly) cooling down soon, it looks like fall really is just around the corner. And while we all look forward to the pumpkin-everything, football games, beautiful colors, and those go-with-everything boots, one of the downsides of the changing seasons is that it’s often the kickoff for another less-anticipated season: Germ Season.
It seems almost inevitable that at some point during the awesomeness of autumn you or your kids (or everyone) will get sick.
Want to do your best to avoid the fever chills of fall? Try house cleaning!
Cleaning your home regularly can dramatically help reduce you and your family’s chances of getting sick, especially when you target the dirtiest places in your home. According to the Society for General Microbiology (who knew!?), bacteria can divide every twenty minutes in your home. That means, a thorough cleaning once a week (or more) will not only help prevent flu and cold season hitting your home, but, if it does, on the bright side you’ll have a clean home to rest at while you binge watch all of your favorite shows (or documentaries or nominated flicks).
What are the dirtiest, most germ-laden places in your home that need deep cleaning?
1. Your Kitchen. Even though you hope your kitchen is the cleanest place in your home, the truth is that it’s the dirtiest – even more so than your bathrooms (!). The National Sanitation Foundation (yep, that’s real too) reported that “more than 75 percent of dish sponges and rags had Salmonella, coli, and fecal matter compared to the 9 percent on bathroom faucet handles”. So, when you use your sponge and rags to wipe down other surfaces, you’re actually doing way more harm than good. To help prevent dangerous germs and bacteria from making you and your family sick, you should use disinfectant wipes (especially on the places you touch regularly – like faucets and handles) and change your dish towels regularly. You can also kill bacteria on your sponges by getting them wet and then heating them in your microwave for a minute. At Sandia Green Clean, we’re incredibly careful to never cross-contaminate towels and rags in your home, which is why we use a color coordinated system.
2. All the Places You Touch. Okay, this category is broad but it’s an important one to remember when cleaning your home. Places like doorknobs, handles and switches are breeding grounds for germs and bacteria, which means they need to be cleaned regularly. While most of us think it’s the bathroom fixtures (faucet, door knob, light switch, toilet) that has the most potential for being dirty, the truth is that all of these highly-handled places in your home need to be cleaned all the time. The easiest way to clean them? Disinfecting wipes or a simple vinegar solution. (Just be sure not to reuse the same wipe or rag throughout your house.)
More places that need your attention in house cleaning
3. The Bathroom. As expected, the bathroom is one of the dirtier places in your home, but probably not in the places you might expect. While keeping your toilet clean is important, other places (like your drains and faucets) also collect and grow germs and bacteria. Another smart habit to develop is replacing all of the towels in your bathrooms at least once a week and your toothbrushes every three months. During germ season, you should be cleaning all the surfaces touched in your bathroom once a day, and then deep cleaning once a week. (Of course, if you have Sandia Green Clean helping you, all you have to do is the super fast surface disinfecting each day!)
4. Your Personal Items. And then there are all of these personal goodies that act like public transportation for germs and bacteria. Your cell phone, keys, wallet, purse, lunch bag – they all carry a shockingly high amount of mold, yeast, and fecal contaminants. And, because most people have a personal attachment to their remote control, we’ll include that in this category as well. Disinfecting each of these items every single day can help your family stay healthy all year long.
About Sandia Green Clean
Sandia Green Clean is proud of its top-of-the-line cleaning services in Albuquerque that allow you to get back time – something that very few of us feel like we have much of. Learn more about Sandia Green Clean at https://sandiagreenclean.com