Overloading your dishwasher

Stacking dishes or putting too many utensils in your basket could impact your appliance’s ability to reach items with soap and water- meaning they wont get clean. Even worse: If you pre-wash your dishes, you might not notice.  

Using Dishsoap on your cutting boards

When it comes to wooden chopping blocks, soap and warm water don’t always cut it. After using one to slice and dice meat and poultry, soak it in a bleach solution to prevent cross-contamination when preparing your next meal.  

Neglecting Your Biggest touch points

Faucets, handles and door knobs are some of the most-touched areas in your home- so it makes sense that they’re also the germiest. Take to ‘em with a disinfectant wipe on the daily to keep germs at bay.  

Spraying Furniture with Polish

When you spray furniture directly it creates build up that’s tough to remove and attracts even more dust. Avoid this, spray your cloth with the cleaner then rub the cloth on the dusty surface.  

Using the Same Rag Everywhere

Streaky surfaces? You might be over-using your cleaning cloth and spreading germs while you’re at it. Even if your towel doesn’t look old, it should be replaced daily since it’s used on high-traffic (read: dirtier) areas.

Using a feather duster

It only spreads dust from one surface to another. Try a microfiber cloth instead, which will grab and hold onto particles.  

Not Dusting your Windows

Before washing them, that is. If you forget to tackle the dust on your sills, any window cleaner that drips onto the frame will become a muddy mess of dusty liquid (yuck). A vacuum or microfiber cloth can tackle it nicely.  

Storing a Wet Loo Brush

Well hello, breeding ground for bacteria! Instead of just dropping your wet brush into the holder, set it across the seat so it can drip-dry over the bowl before putting it away for good.  

Forgetting Your Rubbish

If you notice an unpleasant odor (especially in your kitchen), it might mean you haven’t been cleaning your trash can enough. Wipe it down once a week with a cleaner containing bleach to keep nasty smells under control.  

Rushing Your Tile Cleaner

Give tile cleaners a few minutes to work before wiping them away. Letting them sit helps dissolve grime, so less scrubbing is required.  

Ignoring crumbs in crevices

Before you take your keyboard with a disinfectant wipe, make sure you turn it over and tap out food crumbs first- or else you’ll be stuck with an even bigger mess.  

Using dish soap for everything

While this grease-fighting product is powerful, it leaves streaks behind on surfaces that aren’t plates and cups. So you should steer clear of using this liquid soap on your car windows and mirrors.Pouring  

Too much Fabric softener

We get it: You want to sleep on the softest sheets possible. But using more product than is recommended by the manufacturer will have the opposite effect: Just pouring it in usually adds too much and that can make fabrics stiff and scratchy, or even greasy, and reduce towels’ absorbency. 

Using Dirty Sponges

These cleaning superheroes won’t, in fact, be that helpful if you don’t sanitize ‘em every few days (and replace them every month). To do this, soak your sponge in water, place it in a microwave dish, then heat it on high for a minute.  

Using Too Much Laundry Detergent

Raise your hand if you’ve ever poured in a little extra detergent for an extra dirty load of laundry. Well it turns out if you use too much, the cleaner and your stains might not rinse out of the clothes. Yikes! 

Keeping Toothbrushes in the dark

Sure, the medicine cabinet might seem like a safe, germ-free environment, but the lack of light actuallt makes it a breeding ground for bacteria. Instead, keep your brush out in the light- just make sure you close the lid on the toilet when you flush.  

Overlooking reusable bags

Especially grocery bags, which might have lingering food bacteria on them. You should treat them like any other fabrics in terms of care, but just turn them inside out before tossing them into the washing machine.  

Washing Windows When Its Sunny

The heat will cause your window cleaner to dry before you finish cleaning, leaving streaks in its wake. Cloudy days are better.  

Forgetting  To Clean Your Vacuum

Forget this step and you’ll end up pushing dirt around.  

Tossing Certain Tools in the Dishwasher

Since garlic is so sticky, bits of the food might get stuck in the crevices of your garlic press after you use it- so you should always hand wash your tool to ensure it’s clean for tomorrow’s dinner prep.  

Ignoring Super Germy Remotes

These are handles by a lot of people everyday, and need a good wipe with disinfectat wipe weekly.  

Forgetting to Clean Your Dishwasher

The sad truth is sometimes food gets stuck around your dishwasher’s filter, which might make it smell. So about once a month, you should remove the filter, rinse it thoroughly, then run a cycle with a machine cleaner.