How Often Do You Clean Your Home?

Work. Family. Errands. Life. You’re already busy, so cleaning your home can feel like an afterthought. How often do you clean your home? How frequently should certain chores be done so that you can avoid common at-home viruses and bacteria?

Let’s dive into all the dirty details — pun intended.

How Much Time Do People Spend Cleaning?

So many of us tend to think that we don’t do enough to keep our homes clean. On the contrary, we spend a significant amount of time each week making our homes sparkle and shine. According to the 2018 ACI National Cleaning Survey, Americans spend roughly six hours each week cleaning — although one-third of us wonder if it’s enough and if we’re even doing it correctly.

Here are a few more interesting findings from the National Cleaning Survey.

Approximately 28% of Americans spend more than seven hours each week cleaning their homes.
26% spend between three and four hours per week cleaning.
10% spend less than one hour cleaning each week.
26% deep clean the most.
74% opt for light cleaning most of the time.

Where do you fall here? Are you part of the 28% who’s cleaning for more than seven hours throughout the week… or are you in the quiet 10% who keeps cleaning to a minimum?

Next, let’s talk a little more about the most important chores you can be doing and how often you should do them.

What Needs to Be Cleaned the Most, and How Often?

It probably goes without saying that some things in your home need to be cleaned more often than others. Let’s break it down.

Your Kitchen

There are a few things in this room that you should be paying attention to. Let’s start with your kitchen sink sponge.

Research out of Germany discovered 362 species of bacteria on a single sponge. That means 45 billion per square centimeter! Much of this bacteria is harmless, but replacing or at least disinfecting your sponge should still be done every few days.

We know that tossing your sponge in the trash multiple times a week can get expensive (not to mention it’s bad for the environment). If you want to disinfect it, either drop it in boiling water or the microwave (when it’s damp) for a couple of minutes.

Next, let’s talk about the towels. You’re using these to dry your hands and possibly your dishes. True, those things were (hopefully) cleaned with soap first. But towels can still accumulate a ton of bacteria. And if they don’t have the opportunity to fully dry, it’s going to be even worse.

Swap these out for fresh towels at least once a week. If you’ve handled raw meat, replace the towel immediately afterward.

It’s a similar story for your kitchen sink. Disinfecting this daily is the smartest move, since it’s all too easy for germs to build up — germs that can land on you when you go to wash your hands and water splashes. If you’ve had raw meat in the kitchen, definitely clean the sink right after, regardless of whenever you happened to do it last.

Your Bathroom

You already know that your bathroom is going to be one of the germiest places in your home — naturally! This means you want to be diligent and clean it on a regular basis.

Research says that your toilet might be home to close to 34,000 units of bacteria, so let’s start there. While the inside bowl is the biggest culprit, the seat, lid, and handle are also guilty. Clean your toilet at least once a week. Also, get into the habit of closing the lid when you flush. When you flush the toilet, thousands of tiny, contaminated droplets are released in the air, and they can land on surfaces up to six feet away!

Next up? Your bath and shower. This one, you can likely spread out to once every two weeks. However, be mindful of your shower curtain, which can grow mildew and cause health issues. You might consider wiping/spraying it down once a week. Once you can no longer keep it clean, throw out and replace the inner liner.

Side note: After showering, think of cracking the window in your bathroom and get some fresh air in there. This will help prevent mold.

The Floors

Vacuuming tile or hardwood floors can happen once a week, although you might want to do it more frequently if you have pets. Aim to vacuum carpeting more often, because the fibers more easily trap dirt, dust, and pet hair/dander. Thus, carpeting is more likely to agitate your at-home allergies.

As far as mopping/washing goes, this will largely depend on the traffic in that area. For the kitchen and bathrooms, you might be best off mopping once a week, because they tend to get a lot of traffic and they can house so much bacteria. For other areas in your home, once every other week (and even once a month) will be enough.

You might also consider investing in a high-quality air purification system, like Sans. With our four layers of protection, Sans will trap the particles floating through the air in your home, big and small. This means your carpets, floors, and surfaces will stay cleaner, and reduce the frequency you’ll need to dust your home. And, importantly, the air you breathe will be more pure and safe.

High-Touch Areas

Throughout the day, every day, we’re constantly touching things without even realizing it. Think of how many times you pick up your phone throughout the day. How about the doorknobs? Your computer keyboard and mouse? The handles to the refrigerator and oven? The knobs on your stovetop? Your coffee pot? Your keys?

And just imagine that every time you touch these items, you’re transferring germs and bacteria from one place to the next.

We know — it sounds gross. That’s why it’s great to get into the habit of wiping down these items at the end of each day. It might seem like a lot of extra work, but you can do it in a matter of minutes, and it will really make a difference in the cleanliness of your home (and in your health).

When it comes to keeping your home clean and germ-free, Sans will be your best ally. Shop with us today.