5 Things At Home That You’re Cleaning Way Too Often

Posted by on Feb 21st, 2019 in Home | 0 comments

If you’re someone who doesn’t like doing housework at all, there’s good news – your list of chores is about to be so much smaller.

Enter the concept of “over-cleaning”: while it’s important to keep everything clean and tidy, cleaning certain items too frequently can wear them down or make them more prone to the build-up of dust, dirt, and even bacteria.

Here are five things at home that you’re paying too much attention to when cleaning:

1. Wood furniture
Shelves, tables, and chairs are easily the first places you would think of when it comes to cleaning and dusting, and this is usually not a problem with plastic furniture.

However, if the ones you have at home happen to be made of wood, over-cleaning with water and cleaning products can actually lead to damage and warping in the long term, especially if you clean them frequently.

2. Jeans
Jeans are actually made to withstand long periods of time without being washed, and break down and start to lose their shape when cleaned too often.

But the good news is you can clean your jeans without a single drop of water: place them in a canvas bag and put them in your freezer overnight. This will kill the bacteria from skin cells without damaging the fabric itself.

3. Pillows
While your pillowcases should be replaced every week, you can most likely forgo washing the pillows themselves for three to six months.

If you need to have your pillows cleaned, send them to a laundry service or have them tumble-dried in a washing machine on low heat. You can do this twice a year so the pillows will keep their shape longer.

4. Pantry
If you have a pantry of canned or preserved foods at home, you can rest easy since you only need to clean it and take note of any expired food items once a month. Unlike your refrigerator, your pantry houses items that are airtight or dry, and will likely to last you a long time.

Instead, your refrigerator should be the main point of your focus when cleaning since it stores foods that are easily perishable.

5. Oven/microwave
While it’s important to regularly scrape your oven or microwave to make sure that no food scraps stick and accumulate, you can probably skip out on the deep-cleaning and do it only once every four months.

When you do deep-clean your oven or microwave, be sure to only use water and gentle dish soap, and avoid continuously lathering it using harsh commercial cleaners. You should keep this in mind particularly if you have a self-cleaning oven at home.