Home is often considered a place of safety and comfort but you must be aware of hidden dangers lurking in your kitchen, bathroom and even in your bedroom. Don’t start panicking just yet, all this dangers can be prevented and avoided and in this article we will give you tips on how to keep your home safe and free of bacteria.
Bacteria in the dishwasher
Just try to count how many dirty dishes you put in your dishwasher every day and you will realize that the dishwasher itself also needs cleaning. Dishwashers are often infested with fungus and mold which can have serious impact on your health. We advise you to clean your dishwasher every month and you will be sure that it is clean and safe to use. There are many dishwasher cleaning products on the market but we will present you a method that is far more effective but requires a little bit more effort. Remove the baskets and trays from the dishwasher and clean them with mixture of hot water and vinegar. Also use hot water and vinegar to clean inside the dishwasher. Acid from the vinegar will clean all of the dirt and it will prevent fungus, mold and bacteria for at least two or three months. For scrubbing hard stains use a hard brush or an old tooth brush, but first moisten all surfaces with hot water and vinegar and leave it for about 10 minutes. Don’t worry, you don’t have to do this every month. Detailed cleaning is needed three or four times a year but every month put half a cup of vinegar in the dishwasher and let it clean itself.
Escherichia coli in the laundry
Dirty laundry can be a place for many bacteria and especially Escherichia coli. This bacteria is found in 30 percent of washing machines in the USA and most importantly this bacteria can survive washing on low temperatures. To get rid of this bacteria you will need hot water. For washing your white laundry on high temperatures you can use bleach because it destroys 99,9 percent of pathogenic bacteria by comparison with regular detergent which destroys 92 percent of bacteria. For colored laundry be sure to use bleach that doesn’t hurt the colors. If you have a dryer always use high temperatures for at least 45 minutes. If you wandered why all this is necessary you probably don’t know that dirty underwear can have up to one million fecal bacteria invisible to the naked eye. Don’t start to panic now, just make sure that your dirty laundry doesn’t stay unwashed in the basket longer than two days and once a week put half cup of bleach in the washing machine and let it clean itself.
Mattresses and pillows in the bedroom
Almost all of our mattresses and pillows have mites which feed themselves with dead skin from our bodies. Although mites aren’t dangerous, their feces are and it can cause serious allergies same as dust or ambrosia. If your nose is oozy or plugged, if your eyes are itchy or you are sneezing in the morning then you most definitely have mites and you are allergic to their feces. Once again hot water is the key but obviously you can’t put the mattress in the washing machine. For cleaning mattresses and pillow care we recommend a Steam Cleaner. It is a safe way to destroy mites and bacteria without using any chemicals. You should also put your pillows on the fresh air at least once a week and your mattresses at least once every three months. Normally you have to regularly change your sheets and covers and with recommended cleaning of pillows and mattresses your bedroom will be free of mites.
Slippery surfaces in the bathroom
Because of the materials from which our bath tubs and showers are made, their surfaces can be very slippery. Every year more than 200.000 people end up in hospitals because of injuries in the bathroom and 14 percent of them are very serious injuries and some of them with fatal outcome. Because of that it is important to put anti-slippery carpets in your bathrooms. But beware, anti-slippery carpets can become even more dangerous than a floor without carpets. Those kind of carpets provide excellent shelter for bacteria because there is always moisture underneath them and when those bacteria dwell they become very slippery and with very unpleasant odour. You have to clean the bottom part of your bathroom carpets at least once every two week to prevent that.
Drugs and cosmetics
Don’t get confused now, properly stored drugs and cosmetics are certainly not dangerous, but in most cases we don’t follow the rules considering the storage of cosmetics and medicaments. First of all, don’t keep you medicaments in the bathroom, medicaments must be stored in dry spaces and bathroom is the last place for medicaments storage. Medicaments lose their efficiency when they are stored in damp places and they can also develop toxicity. Also, drugs in the bathroom are in reach of children and there can be serious consequences if a child take one of your medicaments. More than 500.000 people every year are being hospitalized because of using old or wrong medicaments. It is normal to keep cosmetics in the bathroom but we must always keep track of the expiry dates because old cosmetics can do great damage to your skin also.
