Cold and flu season is upon us and honestly, I have been dreading it. Taking care of sick children can be hard when you’re sick too, so I try to be as proactive as possible in keeping germs out of our house. With that being said, I’ve been battling a sinus infection and my immune system can’t handle any other germs. I’ve been following my kids around and disinfecting everything. If you want to keep your families healthy during cold and flu season, here are tips on how to keep your home germ free.
Change Your Kids Out of Their School Clothes
Every day when Annabelle comes home from preschool school, she knows to wash her hands. She changes out of her school clothes, which are usually dirty from the playground anyways, and we keep school shoes by the back door. The germs she could be bringing inside our house range from slightly scary to frightening as we are all still traumatized from the two day vomiting virus she wore in a few years ago. We used this spray to kill any remnants of the virus, but we are still scarred by the memories.
Wipe Down Commonly Touched Areas
Another way to kill germs is by wiping down handles for the door, cabinets, toilet, faucet, etc. If you think about how many times those areas are touched in your home on a daily basis, it is shocking. Remote controls, the toothbrush holder, While wearing a pair of plastic gloves, wipe down everything with disinfecting wipes. If you don’t like to use harsh chemicals in your home, there are plenty of natural ways to disinfect your home, like vinegar or essential oils.
An item I never forget to clean is in my daughters’ bathroom: the step stool. The girls (and their friends) use this frequently when washing their hands or using the bathroom. Sometimes the step stool finds its way around the house too, so I make sure to wipe it down whenever I can.
Clean Toys in the Bathtub with Bleach
There are a few ways I keep my daughters’ toys clean. For a deep clean, I soak the toys in Clorox ® Regular Liquid Bleach. I mix 1/2 cup of Clorox ® Regular Liquid Bleach with 1 gallon of water (I fill it up 1/3 of the way) in the bathtub. Then I add washable colorfast toys or anything non-porous, hard and plastic to the water. After letting the toys soak for 5 minutes, I rinse them with fresh water and allow the toys to air dry.
Wipe Down ALL the Toys
For toys that cannot soak in the bathtub, I like to wipe them down with a disinfecting wipe or homemade cleaning spray. I use a mixture of vinegar, water, and Thieves essential oil. The dollhouse is one of the most played with toys in our playroom by my daughters and their friends, so I’m always wiping it down. Who knows what germs (and random snacks) are hiding in that house sometimes?
It helps to spray down commonly used areas as well with a disinfecting spray. There are so many options for disinfecting sprays to kill germs from the flu and cold for your home. I used this spray after we had the Norovirus in our house – it kills the puking bug and it’s great to have on hand.
With cold and flu season at its peak during the winter, use my cleaning and disinfecting tips to keep your family happy and healthy.
This post is not sponsored and all opinions are my own.
The post How to Keep Your Home Germ Free During Cold and Flu Season appeared first on Confessions of a Northern Belle.