Sanitizing your home is always a good idea, but it is especially important to sanitize during a public health crisis like the current coronavirus pandemic. There’s a good chance you’re already in the habit of wiping down your kitchen counter and dining table, but you should really be doing much more. Germs, bacteria, and viruses can gather in all sorts of unexpected places. To keep your household safe, make sure you sanitize these frequently overlooked surfaces.

Door Handles

All it takes is a moment of reflection to realize that door knobs and handles are among the most touched surfaces in the home. A single sick person can easily infect an entire household just by going from one room to another. To keep this from happening, use cleaning products like a UV-C sanitizing pen on your door handles every day.

Coffee Tables

We often fail to associate coffee tables with eating since, supposedly, it’s at the dining table that meals are meant to be taken. We all know, however, that casual dinners in front of the TV are extremely common in the modern era. This means you should treat the coffee table like your dining table, wiping it down regularly to keep it sanitized for meals. While you’re at it, wipe down any side tables or nightstands as well. Many people tend to put food and drinks on these surfaces too. 

Light Switches

Any time a person enters or leaves a room, they’re likely to touch the light switch. All this contact on a single point makes the switches serious accumulators of germs. While wiping a switch after every contact is excessive, you should at least sterilize them at the end of every day.

Computer Keyboards

If you have a shared computer in your home, then you should be sure to sterilize the keyboard on a daily basis. People tend to touch their faces while typing or surfing the web. This makes computers habitual spreaders of disease. Even if you’e the only one using your keyboard, make sure to regularly keep it sanitized. 

Bathroom Counters

While we all know that bathrooms host plenty of germs, we often underestimate just how infested the area can become. Every aspect of “doing your business” is potentially problematic, and flushing your toilet can send germs far and wide. By sterilizing the counters every day, you help limit the potential for harmful spread.

Electronics

Your phone or tablet screens are hot spots for germs and bacteria. Think about how many times a day you pick up your phone and swipe through social media. Each time you do this you are exposing your fingertips to germs you pick up throughout the day. Make sure you sanitize them. Wipe down your screens everyday, if not multiple times a day, especially after going out. 

Sterilization and proper hygiene are your biggest weapons in the fight against germs and disease. For the duration of the current pandemic, you need to be extra diligent about cleaning the oft-forgotten spaces mentioned above. Once you’ve gotten into the habit of keeping the whole home clean, you’ll probably never abandon it.