7 High Traffic Surfaces to Clean During Cold & Flu Season
As we enter into cold and flu season, it’s good practice to prioritize cleaning “hot zones” at home. Otherwise called — commonly touched surfaces.
You’ll want to give some extra love and attention to these areas. It’s where the dirt, debris, and bacteria like to hang out.
Hitting these areas with an effective all purpose spray and a towel, will help make your space look and feel cleaner. It will also reduce germs significantly. Know what areas to pay extra attention to so that you can effectively clean your space.
Before we dive in: let’s talk technique.
🧺 Towels: while the default for many of us is the use of paper towels, they’re actually not that effective in the scrubbing process (not to mention, paper towels significantly contribute to landfill waste). Instead, prioritize the use of terry cloth cleaning towels. The fabric naturally has little micro scrubbers in them, which helps aid in the scrubbing process.
✨ Method: instead of spraying directly on a cleaning towel, spray the cleaner directly on each surface. This saturates the surface vs. the towel, making it more effective. The purpose of your cleaning towel is to lift the cleaner + dirt, to polish it dry. When scrubbing any surface, the wetter the better; spray generously.
Here’s the commonly touched surfaces to look out for:
1: On and around door knobs
While this area may be obvious to many of us, it can easily get overlooked in the cleaning process. Thoroughly spray directly on the knob and the doorknob surround.
2: Tabletops, coffee tables, and side tables
Often, these areas get high traffic use. Coffee tables often house our coffee + tea cups, journals, books, and other miscellaneous items that we might set down on a day-to-day basis.
When cleaning: take all items off of the surface (or move to one side to clean, then move to the other side to clean the rest), wipe down the surface, then return items wiping each object down as you return them.
3: Light switch covers
In most cases, I recommend spraying directly on the surface. Since we’re dealing with electrical components, let’s not. Instead, spray the corner of your towel. Wipe down the light switch plate cover with the saturated corner of the towel, then, buffer clean with another part of the towel that’s dry.
4: Desks
Do a tetris move and shimmy any books and papers to one side (organize items on the surface as you go). This should clear an area for you. Spray the all purpose spray directly on the surface, then, wipe clean with your terry cloth towel. Move items to the other side of the surface (that you just cleaned) to spray and wipe the other side. Wipe down any items on the surface, as needed.
5: Entry areas where shoes, keys, purses are dropped off
This could include any console tables, coat racks, or other entry surfaces that might get high traffic.
6: Dresser drawers, medicine cabinets, and cupboards
Think: anything that has a drawer pull or place to open / grab. Similarly to door knobs, these are areas that you’ll want to clean the circumference area surround. You might notice greasy fingerprints in some areas close to drawer pulls and knobs (such as the kitchen).
7: Walls in high traffic areas
Think of areas that might be a touch point - maybe the hallway on the way to the bathroom? Or any area that one might lean down to grab something and then put a hand up on the wall to get back up. A great time to look for these spots is when you’re dusting — you’re working your way around a room strategically, putting your eyes on every surface.
