• Home
  • About Me
  • Contact Me
  • Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, & Disclosures
  • Terms
  • Our Books
  • Shop
    • Shop
    • Cart
    • Help

A Cultivated Nest

Helping You Manage Your Home and Life on a Budget

  • Frugal Living
    • All Frugal Living
    • Frugal Kids Activities
    • Budgeting Printables
  • Cleaning + Organizing
    • All Cleaning + Organization
    • Organizing Tips
    • Cleaning Tips
    • DIY Cleaning Products
  • Freebies
    • Resource Library
    • All Free Printables
    • Budget Printables
    • Home Decor Printables
    • Home Management Printables
  • Budget Decorating
  • Recipes
    • All Recipes
    • Breakfast Recipes
    • Snack Recipes
    • Appetizer Recipes
    • Drink Recipes
    • Dinner Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
  • DIY + Crafts
    • All DIYs
    • Kids Crafts
    • DIY Beauty Products
  • Gardening

10 Things You’re Not Cleaning That Might Be Putting You at Risk

By A Cultivated Nest Team

A lot of people think that cleaning is all about keeping your home looking nice. But it’s actually about much more than just maintaining your home’s aesthetic appeal! Cleaning things in your home actually keeps you safe and healthy! From simple things like preventing allergies, to more critical protection like preventing fires or E. coli, keeping your home clean is really important! If you’re forgetting to clean certain things, you may be putting yourself in a potentially dangerous situation (to be a bit dramatic)! Here are 10 Things You’re Not Cleaning That Might Be Putting You at Risk!

Cleaning your home is actually about much more than just maintaining your home's aesthetic appeal! Cleaning things in your home keeps you safe & healthy! If you're forgetting to clean certain things, you may be putting yourself in a potentially dangerous situation ( to be a bit dramatic)! Here are 10 Things You're Not Cleaning That Might Be Putting You at Risk! | Cleaning tips | deep cleaning | home organization | homemaking

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to Amazon and/or Etsy, which means that I may earn a small commission from some of the links in this post. Please see our Disclosure Page for more information.

Definitely put these on your cleaning schedule!

10 Things You’re Not Cleaning That Might Be Putting You at Risk

1. Reusable Water Bottles

Water bottles are one of those things that for some reason many people forget require cleaning. After all, all they contain is water, right? Well, anyone who’s had a humidifier or pet fountain can tell you, water holding things get dirty, too. It doesn’t take long for a red colored deposit to show up in the corners of continually wet things. Left alone even longer, you’ll see algae start to grow! So if you keep re-filling your water bottles without cleaning them out every now and then, expect to see something growing! We use a bottle brush to clean ours. There are also cleansing tablets that you can buy to clean your bottles. Here are some tips for cleaning your water bottles.

2. Dryer Vent

When was the last time you cleaned your dryer vent? Not the lint filter, the actual vent that connects to the back of the dryer. If you haven’t cleaned it in the last year, then you’re putting yourself at risk! Dryers’ lint filters actually don’t catch all the lint from your laundry. You may have noticed this if you ever pulled out your lint filter, only to see lint that had built up around/behind the actual filter. If your dryer’s vent gets too clogged with lint, air won’t be able to pass through it easily. This will cause heat to build up in the vent or exhaust duct and create a fire! According to the U.S. Fire Administration, there are 2,900 dryer fires every year. 34% of those fires are caused because people didn’t clean them.  Here’s a dryer vent cleaner that we’ve used and liked Dryer Duct Cleaning Kit

3. Bed Pillows

Yet another of the many things you’re not cleaning is likely your pillow forms! Pillows get dirty easily, from oils from your face, hair product, sweat, and even drool. If left unwashed, they can become wonderful hosts for dust mites and fungi, which are especially bothersome to allergy sufferers! So don’t just clean your pillow covers, clean your pillow forms too! Here’s post that shows you how to clean your pillows in the washing machine.

4. Laundry Hamper

Few people remember to clean their laundry hamper! Yet we all dump dozens of dirty, sweaty, oily clothes into our hampers every week. All of that dirt and oil doesn’t just stay on your clothes! Some of it rubs off on the basket itself, creating a potential bacteria carrier.

5. Bath Mats

Bath mats are another common household item that doesn’t get cleaned often, but really should. After all, think of how much time your bath mat spends being wet, surrounded by steam, and trapping condensation underneath itself. That’s a recipe for bacteria, and maybe even mold! So make sure to wash your bath mat weekly in your washing machine (most bath mats have care labels so be sure to check your’s before washing).

6. Remotes

Have you ever thought about how dirty your TV, stereo, and DVR remotes are? People touch the remotes all the time, leaving behind oils from their hands, maybe food grease and crumbs, and more. It’s even worse if someone has been sick in front of the TV, clutching a remote the whole time! So make sure to disinfect your remotes ever week or so, to kill the many bacteria that are living on them! Here’s a good article on how to clean your remote control.

7. Kitchen Sponges

If you never clean your kitchen sponges then you’re creating a nice wet place for bacteria to flourish. And then you’re using those sponges to “clean” your dishes and counters? All you’re doing is spreading bacteria, possibly including especially dangerous bacteria like Salmonella! So make sure to clean your sponges every few days, especially after wiping down a counter after working with raw meat. We put our kitchen sponges in our dishwasher (with a regular load of dishes) to disinfect them. We also use  the microwave to disinfect them (1-2 minutes on high with the sponge wet). Be sure to toss your kitchen sponges after a few weeks (depending on use).

8. Kitchen Handles and Appliance Buttons

Some other things you’re not cleaning (but should be) are the handles and buttons of things in your kitchen. This includes the hardware on your cabinets, the handles to open your fridge, the buttons on your stove, and more! These easily become breeding grounds for bacteria because not only do people touch them all the time, but they often touch them with hands that were just touching uncooked food (even raw vegetables can have bacteria on them)! So to prevent any food-borne illnesses, clean the handles and buttons in your kitchen.

9. Purse

If you set your purse down on the floor in public restrooms, you’re not the only one. But have you ever though about how many bacteria are hopping onto your purse when you do that? On top of that, purses collect dirt, oils, and germs from being carried, brushing against things, and being touched. So make sure to wash or wipe down your purse every week! How To Clean Your Purse

10. Smartphones and Tablets

Some of the more surprising things you’re not cleaning that are putting you at risk are your smart gadgets, namely your smartphone and tablet. Just because they have hard surfaces doesn’t mean they’re impervious to germs! On top of that, many people use their smart gadgets while on the toilet, or directly after when they haven’t yet washed their hands. That means your phone and/or tablet could be really dirty (despite looking clean). To keep them from spreading anything gross, make sure to disinfect them every week.

Keeping a home clean without some sort of schedule is kind of impossible.
That’s why you need a Cleaning Binder!
It’s full of handy cleaning schedules to make it easy to keep your home neat!

Do you already clean some of these things?

You May Also Be Interested In: 10 Things You’re Forgetting To Clean In Your Bathroom

10 Things You're Forgetting To Clean In Your Bathroom

10 Things You're Not Cleaning That Might Be Putting You At Risk - Cleaning your home is actually about much more than just maintaining your home's aesthetic appeal! Cleaning things in your home keeps you safe & healthy! If you're forgetting to clean certain things, you may be putting yourself in a potentially dangerous situation ( to be a bit dramatic)! Here are 10 Things You're Not Cleaning But Should! | Cleaning tips | deep cleaning | home organization | homemaking

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Clean and Organized Home, Organizing my nest Tagged With: Cleaning Tip, Deep Cleaning Tips

« Cute Spring Chick Cupcakes
2 Ingredient Homemade Mica Lip Balm »

Comments

  1. At Rivercrest Cottage says

    March 5, 2017 at 9:44 am

    Thanks so much for this post. I’ve been nagging the husband to clean the dryer vent and he keeps saying he did already (yeah, 3 years ago!) I followed your link to Amazon and will be ordering several tools to help with the cleaning of the vent and the dryer lint area inside the dryer. I was especially excited about the connection to my vacumm hose that I found at the site your link took me to. So thanks again! I feel safer already knowing it’s on its way.

    • Manuela Williams says

      March 5, 2017 at 10:34 am

      That’s great! Thank you so much for using our link to Amazon. Let me know which tool you think works the best!

  2. Sammy D says

    March 30, 2017 at 9:14 am

    I always assumed that my bath mat would be almost “self-cleaning” as it is regularly in hot soapy water. I just lifted it up and was almost embarrassed by the mold underneath! It went straight in the bin and I have ordered a new one. Thanks for the tip!

Visit the A Cultivated Nest Shop

Check Out Our Books!

Welcome to A Cultivated Nest

Visit the Free Resource Library

Stay Up to Date!

Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on all our new posts, plus our shop announcements. As a subscriber benefit you'll get access to our resource library!

Subscribe

Connect With Me On

Pinterest Twitter Mail

Looking For Something?

Disclaimer + Disclosure

A Cultivated Nest makes no claims of “expert status” and the owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the use of the information found on this website. Posts may contain affiliate links. A Cultivated Nest is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. A Cultivated Nest is also a participant in the Etsy affiliate program via Awin. This means that I may earn a small commission from some of the links in my posts. Please see our Disclosure Page for more information.

Search the Archives

Looking for Something?

Popular Posts

  • 15 Mind Blowing Command Hook Hacks You Need To Know
  • 15 Genius Recipes that Use Egg Roll Wrappers
  • 20 Frugal Ways to Use Dawn Dish Soap

Copyright © 2023 Nest Media GA LLC | All Rights Reserved