Not a day passes without you cleaning your home? Have you ever thought that you might be over-cleaning, which might cause you and your items more harm than good? Well, if you have, then we’re here with a couple of signs that might confirm your theory. Otherwise, who knows?
You might find out that you’re good-old cleaning schedule isn’t needed, after all, and you can FINALLY relax! After all, why wouldn’t you consider taking a break and even giving yourself more time to read your favorite book or binge that new Netflix show? Here are a couple of tell-tale signs that you’re cleaning waaay too much.
Clothes
If you spend a lot of time in your laundry room, there’s a chance you might be washing your clothes way too often. After all, the wide majority of clothes can be easily worn more than one time, except for underwear, socks, workout gear (the kind of workout that makes you all sweaty, of course), and anything else that is worn close to the body.
Those should be washed after every single use, yes. It’s important to mention this, as washing some clothes way too often might shorten the lifespan of their fabric. Besides, you could also over-wash your clothes by adding too much laundry detergent, which will only cause additional problems to your washing machine and your clothes.
Dirty dishes
Did you know that if you skip rinsing your dirty dishes before you place them in the dishwasher, you will save water and time, and they’ll be even cleaner? It’s well known that all these dishwasher detergent powders, liquids, and even tablets, have all kinds of enzymes that attach to food particles to dissolve them.
But if you rinse dirty dishes, the detergent is completely wasted, because it won’t be able to cling to anything. Even so, it’s still highly important to scrape away big chunks of food before loading your dishes into your dishwasher.
Ceiling fans and lighting fixtures
Even if a clean light fixture looks way better and brings more light, you’re definitely overdoing it if you clean those fixtures every single day. Naturally, what you will find in household dust is definitely horrible: from bits of mold, fungus, and chemicals, to dead bug parts.
Even so, there’s really not enough buildup of dust in only one day that could cause you a lot of harm. Ceiling-mounted lighting fixtures should be dusted only once a month. Plus, if dust triggers asthma or any other allergy symptom in you or anyone else in the household, dusting only once a week is also fine.
Winter outerwear
If you wish to save more money on your dry cleaning bills, then send your winter coats and accessories to the cleaners, or consider washing less often. A maximum of twice a season should be more than enough for any coat and outerwear.
Plus, make sure you spot unwanted clean stains on your coats soon enough, and that you properly hang your coats after each wear. Also, take into consideration that you could wash various types of winter coats at home, faux fur included.
Bedspreads, quilts, and comforters
Bedcoverings are a bit difficult to clean, mostly because of their size and weight. If you don’t eat on your bed or don’t have any pets, you don’t have to wash them every week. Instead, you could simply clean them at the end of every season. Also, make sure you check the fabric care tag to see if your bedding can be washed.
If you don’t have a front-loading washer, take the bigger items to a laundromat. For only a couple of dollars, you will instantly have clean linens in less than an hour. However, if you love sleeping in with your pets, make sure you cover heavy bedding with your favorite sheet and then toss it in the washer.
Curtains and drapes
You don’t have to frequently clean your curtains and drapes, as gravity tackles the dust anyway. Besides, thorough cleaning once a year should be more than enough, as long as it’s properly done. However, if dust worries you, you can simply take down the drapes and toss them in the dryer, and select the air-only cycle.
This way, you’ll get rid of all the unwanted dust, and even eliminate a couple of wrinkles. Make sure you don’t select the heat option, as some fabrics or linings might shrink. As for your kitchen curtains, those should be washed more often, indeed. They usually catch grease rapidly.
Carpets and upholstered furniture
Did you know that using way too much shampoo and over-wetting your carpets might seriously damage them? Excess shampoo attracts soil, while over-wetting might weaken and promote mold and mildew growth.
If you really want to take care of your carpets and upholstered furniture, they have to be professionally cleaned. Luckily, you only need to do this once a year, simply by using steam and proper cleaning products.
Anyway, the annual cleaning is in addition to vacuuming your carpets and upholstered furniture, at least once a week. It’s highly important to regularly vacuum carpets and upholstered furniture, as the dust might get into the fabric.
Furniture slipcovers
Slipcovers will definitely give the furniture a fresh new look, and they’re much easier to clean than upholstery. However, it’s a bit impractical to remove and replace some complex slipcovers, and you might run the risk of shrinking or even damaging them if you wash them too often. Unless the fabric has an accidental stain or your pet sheds on your slipcovers, there’s really no need to wash them every week. If you notice a spot, just wash it right away and that’s it.
Bath toys
While kids might need a daily bath, bath toys can definitely skip a good cleaning. If you occasionally rinse the toys with some clean water and dry them off, a thorough cleaning wouldn’t be required more than once a month. If, however, you notice that your toys have mold, the best thing to do is toss them in the trash.
Bed pillows
Bed sheets and pillowcases should be washed on a weekly basis since they come in contact with your skin and body oils. But bed pillows? They don’t need as much attention. They could be easily washed every 3-6 months. Washing a bed pillow way too often might wear out the filling way too quickly.
Memory foam might also break down, and other materials involved might shrink. In fact, some pillows aren’t even suitable for home care, and can only be taken to dry cleaning, so it’s highly recommended to read the tag. If you really want to wash less, you could always get pillow protectors, which are specially designed to keep out dust mites and other unwanted allergens.
Oven
Cleaning the oven shouldn’t be on your weekly priority list, especially if you have an oven with a self-cleaning function. If you use the self-cleaning mode way too often, it might expose you to various fumes that the whole process releases, carbon monoxide included. Instead, if you wipe up those spills right after, you could easily wash your oven two times a year.
If you enjoyed reading this piece, you might also want to try: 9 Ways to Create Gorgeous Accent Walls in Any Room
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