First of all, I understand that nearly everyone is freaking out right now and I do understand the perceived need for sanitizing your home and your hands, etc. However, we need to STOP what we are doing and take an assessment. How will what I am doing now affect my family in the long-term? Stop over-sanitizing and use these five better ways to clean and sanitize to protect your family!
On a regular basis, I see people squirt hand sanitizer onto their children’s hands right before they eat. Their children, then proceed to eat a sandwich with their hands, thus, ingesting the sanitizer. While these parents think they are being vigilant in keeping their children healthy, they are more likely suppressing their children’s immune systems by killing off all the good bacteria in the gut.
The truth is that the over-use of sanitizing wipes, hand sanitizer, etc. will have long-term effects on our bodies and our children’s bodies. So, please stop over-sanitizing!
A couple of years ago, I listened to a microbiologist professor explain (with petri dish samples) that bleach is only sanitary until it comes into contact with something unsanitary. He showed that while bleach is sanitary in the bottle, once it comes into contact with an unsanitary surface, the surface actually just makes the bleach unsanitary instead of the bleach making the surface sanitary, like we all think it does. Now, obviously, there are claims to the contrary as well, but it is definitely something to think about. After all, why couldn’t it work that way? If that’s the case, you’re really wasting your time with the bleach. There are better ways to clean and sanitize.
So, if sanitizing wipes, hand sanitizer, and bleach all cause more issues than the problems they solve, what’s a mom to do?
Here are Five Ways to Clean and Sanitize Your Home:
- Use Hot, Soapy Water—Yep, we’re going to back to the good ol’ days where soap and water worked for everything. It’s still true! Just use hot, soapy water. Essentially, it will kill as many germs as any anti-bacterial soap, sanitizing spray, or wipes. Stay on top of your dishes; Wipe down your cooking and prep surfaces with soapy water. Wipe down the door handles on your car, and your garage/house doors. A deep clean of your bathroom with some hot, soapy water will make you feel great!
- Boil Your Toothbrushes—This is a big one that people often forget! Several years ago, a mom I knew was having the WORST time with a strep throat cycle moving from one kid to another. By the time it cycled around, it was back to the first kid. I asked her, “Have you boiled or replaced your toothbrushes?” I could practically see the light bulb in her brain! It was something she had completely overlooked and it solved the problem!
- Use a Combo Spray of White Vinegar and Peroxide—If you don’t feel like hot, soapy water is enough; or there are places you can’t reach well with it; or maybe you just don’t have time to fill the bucket right now and get to work; you can keep a spray bottle with two-parts vinegar and one part peroxide in it. This will sanitize any surface better than most sanitizers.
- Tea-Tree Oil—This has many anti-bacterial properties and it smells serious too! I used this spray when my husband casually mentioned to me, “Oh, and I think I may have had bed bugs” after getting home from a foreign country. Yeah. If you think I don’t ever freak out…think again! Our entire house smelled like tea tree oil! Thankfully, it turned out that he hadn’t had bed bugs, and he learned the valuable lesson—that that is not a casual thing you mention AFTER you bring all your luggage inside!!
- Fresh Air—Open the windows and let some air in! I know it may be cold outside, but getting some fresh, crisp air into your home will do great things for the mind and the body. You can let it get a little chilly in your home—it will be okay! Once you close things back up, grab a blanket and get cozy on your heat register!
We do need to take precautions during this viral outbreak, but truthfully, we should be doing these things all during the cold and flu season in order to stay well. Let’s be careful, as a nation, not to compound a problem with other problems—the serious issues that too much sanitizing can lead to with gut and immune health. If we are not more careful, the next time a pandemic rolls through, EVERYONE will have compromised immune systems! The last thing we need is for even more people to be at risk!