I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but chances are you’ve been cleaning incorrectly for most of your life. If you’re anything like me, then cleaning the kitchen bench simply means spraying your favourite surface cleaner – whether it’s Ajax, Dettol, Pine O Cleen, Earth Choice or home brand product from Coles or Woolworths – and immediately wiping it away.
Cleaning expert Christy’s CleanTok, who regularly shares hacks and tips on social media, recently shared a video revealing that one of the biggest no-nos when it comes to cleaning is to immediately wipe away disinfectant. Instead, you’re supposed to spray it on the surface and leave it for a few minutes so it can work its magic
“It is important to let the disinfectant sit for 5-10 minutes for the actual disinfectant to work. It needs the time to kill bacteria,” she tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “This is definitely one that people overlook.”
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A quick look at the back of most surface cleaner bottles reveals that this rule is clearly listed in the directions for use. For example, Pine O Cleen’s disinfectant multipurpose cleaner recommends spraying hard non-porous surfaces “until thoroughly wet” and letting it stand for 10 minutes before wiping to disinfect and deodorise.
If you simply want to do a general clean without disinfecting, however, the instructions say you can spray the soiled area and wipe without waiting.
“There’s a difference between disinfectant and surface cleaner,” Christy adds. “The disinfectant kills bacteria while surface cleaner cleans away dirt and grime, but it doesn’t kill bacteria.”
How to properly wipe surfaces
Another important tip from Christy is to wipe surfaces in an S or Z motion instead of circles for a proper clean.
“It is recommended to wipe in S or Z motion to collect the dirt and bacteria from the surface. When wiping in circles, you are just spreading the bacteria around in circles,” she shares.
She also recommends when cleaning electronics to spray the cleaning product onto the cloth before wiping, rather than spraying directly on electronics.
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To help others get on top of their household chores, Christy has recently created two cleaning checklists that people can either print or download to use digitally.
These include a Sunday reset checklist and an ultimate cleaning checklist which breaks up every cleaning task that you need to do weekly, biweekly, monthly, seasonally and yearly.
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