Debunking Common House Cleaning Myths Circulating During COVID-19!
As we know that Coronavirus can survive on surfaces for quite some time, I’ve found different cleaning myths circulating around the internet. Everyone is trying to find the best techniques to ensure that their house or their workplace is germ-free. The other day, I couldn’t find disinfectant in any supermarket because people are purchasing it in bulk. Howmuch, the online grocery store in Lahore, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi comes to my aid during such times, not going to lie!
Anyway, as I was cleaning my room, I realized that there are so many traditional techniques, imparted to us by our families, that are useless and frankly, just make things worse! And so, today, let’s have a look at the common cleaning myths that have been passed to us through generations!
Bleach is the Best!
No, it’s not! It is common for a lot of people to associate the smell of bleach with cleanliness. Well, this is just a myth! Bleach’s function isn’t even to clean! It doesn’t remove dirt off surfaces, it can disinfect, kill germs and whiten stains though. So, if you need to whiten your shirt or disinfect bacteria from meat, go for bleach but cleaning your bathtub and faucets with it, isn’t the way to go.
Cleaning and disinfecting are the same.
This is another cleaning myth. Cleaning is the process of removing dust, dirt and grime from surfaces while disinfecting involves the threat of bacteria and germs to be removed. They both do go hand in hand though. It is best to clean a surface before disinfecting it so that every corner of the surface can be disinfected. When there is dirt on a surface, a disinfectant can’t reach every part of it.
Newspaper is your best friend while cleaning glass surfaces:
This theory hits home for me. Growing up, wetting newspaper to clean glass surfaces is what I used to do until we found out it was just a myth! The fact is, the wet newspaper makes cleaning very difficult as it can tear down very easily. Furthermore, the ink used on newspapers can be transferred to the surface when you are cleaning it, so it does more harm than good! If you want to clean the surfaces well, then use microfiber cloths instead. Glass cleaners are specially made to clean glass so spray some of it on the cloth, clean the surface and watch the magic happen!
Feather dusters dust:
We all love to use those soft, fluffy ‘feather dusters’ to dust, right? Well, let’s stop. Feather dusters just spread around the dust, and don’t clean it. If you really want to clean dust, use vacuum cleaners with tiny nozzle attachments that can suck up the dust particles. Pro-tip is to attach a slightly damp cloth at the nozzle so you can have shiny, dust-free, clean surfaces as a result! All the dust will be attached to the fabric which you can wash later!
Vinger is the jack of all trades when it comes to cleaning:
Yes, vinegar can cut through dirt and kill off bacteria from a surface, but only when it is used with full potential because it is acidic in nature! The common trend is to put a capful of vinegar in a bucket of water, which dilutes the acid so much that it becomes useless. You should also keep in mind that the acids in vinegar can easily damage wood and natural stone surfaces!
It’s better to manually wash dishes than use dishwasher:
One of the most widely believed myths is that manually cleaning dishes is much better than using a dishwasher. Dishwashers do a great job of cleaning your dishes and even save you a lot of water, as compared to cleaning them one by one by hand. Dishwashers also heat water when they clean the dishes, meaning they sanitize the dishes as they clean it! So, choose dishwashers over manual cleaning and save your time, energy and water!