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With all the craziness going on right now, people are concerned about germs! We are sharing the best ways to keep germs out of your home today, and these are tips you can and should be using all year.

The last few weeks, we have had a surge of views on some of our posts. In particular, this DIY hand sanitizer recipe.

After reading some concerning comments, I realized we needed to have a relevant post to help people as much as possible.

The Best Ways To Keep Germs Out Of Your Home

I am still recovering from knee surgery, and trying to keep up with all the activity online. It has been tough, and there has been quit a bit of confusion around the topics of disinfecting. Join me on instagram for more behind the scenes updates.

First of all, I strongly urge everyone to follow the CDC for accurate and relevant information. On Chemistry Cachet, we have always shared CDC based facts on cleaning. Years ago, people who get upset when I said the CDC does not list vinegar as an acceptable disinfectant. I urged people to use rubbing alcohol for home options. This was an unpopular opinion when this blog started 5 years ago. Now, everyone wants this information!

The facts remain, the CDC has a few options you can use for disinfecting. Remember, disinfecting is NOT THE SAME as cleaning. You can clean with many things, but true disinfecting is different. 

This post we shared on bleach was popular, but one of the biggest questions people had was why is bleach still used? Because the CDC has shared information that bleach is one of the only things to kill certain protein based viral/bacterial strands. 

Anyways, this introduction leads us to some simple things you can start doing now to keep germs out of your home. 

We can’t control everything, but this is a starting point.

First, Check Out This Flu and Cold Survival Kit In Case Sickness Has Hit Your Home Already!

This post has some great items to stock up on and keep on hand for the sick season. Check this out first!

Now, here are some top tips to keep your home safe from germs. If someone in your family gets sick, these easy tips can make a difference. Or just basic ways to keep germs out of your home. 

1. Make People Take Off Their Shoes or Wear Shoe Protectors In The Home

When you are out and about, the number of germs on your shoes is crazy! I show this TV show WAY back in the early 2000s when I was in high school about germs. These doctors tested germs in a lady’s home. The germs that came from shoes into the home was shocking. It made an impact on me 20 years ago, so I have always been concerned about shoes. I make everyone in my house wear designated house shoes! I recently bought a huge pack of these shoe covers. These are a good idea if workers come into your home. They can just throw them away when they leave your house!

This is a good place to start, but keep outside shoes away from inside areas.

2. Keep Alcohol Wipes In Your Purse, Around The Home, and In the Car

This past week, I have received dozens of emails with this exact question. What should I be using to wipe down surfaces? There is mixed information out there. Hydrogen peroxide, while it is great, isn’t as stable as rubbing alcohol. It makes it hard to use while traveling. The safest option is pure rubbing alcohol.

This is another thing I have done for years. The dirtiest things we touch are door handles, gas pumps, car doors, and the list goes on. Keep alcohol wipes around your home. Be sure to wipe off common surfaces  as often as you can. You need to wipe off your cell phone, steering wheel, or anything else when you are out. This is something you can do in between cleaning and washing your hands. It isn’t 100% effective, but it is a good way to sanitize quickly. You can also use Lysol wipes or Clorox brand wipes, but these are impossible to find right now. Alcohol will be safer for those with skin issues.

I make my entire family wipe down their phones with alcohol wipes when we have been out! After thoroughly washing your hands, wipe down your phone next. You probably touched your phone while you were out running errands, so it can be dirty too.

Side Note: All the rubbing alcohol is probably sold out of stores and online right now. It will restock, so keep an eye out for it. In the meantime, vodka can be used to disinfect. Read this post about rubbing alcohol vs drinking alcohol for cleaning.

3. Keep Soap In All Bathrooms and Kitchens To Encourage Hand Washing

You have probably been hearing so many things about hand washing the past few months, but it is the best way to get germs off your hands. My primary care doctor, who has been my doctor since I was a baby, always tells us to wash our hands for 20-30 seconds to ward off getting sick. He has said this to us for decades, but it is true. Wash your hands often. Simple hand washing can protect you from so many germs. We have soap in all the bathrooms and near all the sinks so people can always use it!

Any soap you have on hand will do. Just wash THOROUGHLY and make sure to go up high on your arm.

4. Clean Commonly Touched Areas

Front doors, door handles, faucets, etc get the germs from anyone touching them. If you have had people over, your you come in from outside, these areas get dirty! Be sure to clean off these surfaces often using a good disinfectant or pure rubbing alcohol.

Side note: How to Disinfect and clean??

If you aren’t sure your cleaner disinfects everything, spray the surface with pure rubbing alcohol first, then follow up with a cleaner. You can also clean thoroughly with your favorite all-purpose, then follow up with pure alcohol spray. Microfiber cloths are a great option for this or paper towels. The paper towels are a good idea because you can throw them away and not worry about washing. The more environmentally friendly option is microfiber. Read this post on microfiber.

5. Make Sure Air Filters Are Clean And Invest In Air Purifier

Germs and allergens can get trapped in your HVAC air filters. If they are dirty, they don’t do as good of a job, and these things can enter back into your home. Always keep these things replaced on schedule. You can also look into an air purifier for your home. It plugs into an outlet, and is good for small areas. This is a really good option for those with asthma or respiratory issues. Having clean air in the home is also good for keeping germs out of your home.

6. Shampoo If You Have Been In Highly Populated Places

You might be thinking what?? I recently read an email about this from Dr. Schultz with BeautyRX. It was such a great tip! He says hair can be a germ reservoir. If someone coughs or sneezes, it can get in your hair. It will stay there for awhile too.

Keep long hair pulled back when you are out, and shampoo often. I am in the habit now, when I get back from the doctor or PT, I wash my hair. I keep it pulled up in a ponytail away from my face too.

7. Wash Clothes Often

I read another article that germs can stay in clothing fabric for up to 12 hours! If you are going out, wash your clothes when you get home! You don’t need anything fancy for this. Just your regular detergent and a regular cycle on your clothes works!

8. Clean AND Disinfect

I had a quick side note under number 4, but let’s go into a little more detail on this.

This is an important thing to talk about because it is crucial in our environment right now. All of our DIY cleaners clean great! Disinfecting is hard to know about unless it’s tested. Scientist work decades on testing and creating specially formulated products to specifically kill virus or bacteria strands. For instance, you can read the back of a store-bought disinfectant product, and it will tell you exactly what it kills “H1N1, rhinovirus, etc” How do they know? They have the opportunity to test it on these illnesses in a lab. You can’t do that for anything homemade. 

You can specifically test how well homemade cleaners clean because it shows up right away as you use it. So, remember this! It’s not to say DIY cleaners don’t disinfect, it’s just to be aware that you don’t know. This is why I like to do some extra steps. You also can’t test the exact percentages in DIY cleaners. You can do the math, but there are many other factors. How fresh the ingredients are, measuring devices, climate, etc play a factor too.

Does this mean you can’t use anything homemade? No, it just means you need to take this  into account.

The best thing to do with any cleaning product is to use it thoroughly and correctly! Keep this in mind too, even store-bought cleaners might not get all the germs out! It can be user error, or  another factor, so be cautious to use everything properly.

Two Step Process To Disinfect

Here is what I like to do.

Step 1: Clean as your normally would. Again, I really recommend using microfiber clothes to get up extra germs. Also try paper towels if you have those on hand.

Step 2: Come back over the surface and spray with pure undiluted 70% rubbing alcohol. Why 70%? It is more effective at penetrating viral strands than 91%. But use what you can find at this point. Let the alcohol sit for a minute, then wipe with a clean microfiber.

If you want to be extreme, you can then wash the surface with a surfactant like dish soap and water. But that is being a little “gung ho” as we say in Texas. But hey, this is the world we live in right now, so do what you think is best on that. Believe it or note, the EPA talks about this very thing when it comes to disinfecting!  Skip to page 25 of this document for information on cleaning than disinfecting.

What about Bleach?

Bleach is very effective at killing pretty much all germs. You can dilute it according to the CDC’s recommendation.

As we have said, bleach isn’t an option for many people, and my family can’t be around it, so we have to use other things.

DO NOT mix bleach with other things especially alcohol. Only mix bleach with water!

What about hydrogen peroxide?

Hydrogen peroxide can be great around the home. We have a great post about using it for cleaning. The thing about hydrogen peroxide, it isn’t very stable, so it will continue to degrade once a bottle is opened. It isn’t a good option for traveling, so keep this in mind. If it is the only thing you have right now, then use it. Also, our DIY Lysol spray is a great choice for a peroxide based disinfectant.

Additional Tips To Safe Stay and Keep Germs Away From The Home

Do the best you can, and that is all we can do right now. I have received so many concerned emails about this, and it is a scary time. I just continue to pray and ask God for wisdom. We can’t control everything in our surroundings, but we can do the best we can.

Eat right, stay calm, rest, and take care of yourself and your families.

If you have to work right now, just follow the tips above to keep germs out of your home.

I am among those with a compromised immune system, and I just had surgery, so I am being extra cautious. But, I have to go to PT and continue to follow up with doctor.  My grandmother is 90 years old, so she is staying inside, and I will continue to stay away from her while I have to be out and about.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and get well wishes as I continue to recover from surgery. Thank you for understanding!

We will continue to publish new posts as I work on things 🙂 – Alexis

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