Your home should be a safe haven. While shelter-in-place orders remain ongoing, keeping your home clean and as virus-free as possible is essential.

Here are some tips from the Monster Aid team on how to keep your fortress clean and germ-resistant for the safety of you and your family.

1. Leave Shoes At The Door 

When making those essential trips to the grocery store, you’re probably aware of the things you touch with your hands -- but sometimes, we forget about our feet! 

When returning from any outing, try leaving your shoes outside before entering the house. That way, you won’t trek germs inside. You can spray them down with antibacterial aerosol or wipe them off if you need to bring them in.

2. Sanitize Those Surfaces 

Remember our blog post about the lifespan of a virus on different surfaces? Now that you've got an idea of how long viruses can survive on various surfaces, you know that it’s best to sanitize surfaces on the daily, especially in commonly traveled areas like the kitchen, living room, and the bathroom. 

We know cleaners are hard to come by nowadays. Luckily, the CDC has posted an effective recipe for a homemade cleaning solution: 

• 4 teaspoons household bleach
• 1 quart water
• Shake in a spray bottle and spray on surfaces.

Don’t forget doorknobs, TV remotes, and your phone and car keys!

3. Disinfect Your Packages

It can be hard not to tear into packages that you’ve been waiting on, but cardboard can harbor a virus for up to a day, and plastic for three days. Disinfecting your packages with an antibacterial solution prior to opening them can help prevent bringing avoidable germs into your home.

4. Do Laundry Often

Keeping a constant laundry cycle going could help keep germs off your fabrics. When you come back from an outing, try to change out of those clothes right away and start a load of laundry. Regularly washing bath towels and the rags you use to dry your hands is also a great practice.

5. Wash Your Hands

Ah, the golden rule of quarantine. While we spend time at home, we probably touch more surfaces than we can count. Combining frequent hand washing and surface sanitizing can maximize the fight against bacteria in your home.

You're On Your Way to Becoming a Lean, Mean, Cleaning Machine

We hope these tips will help you keep your home as virus-free as possible. Stay tuned for more tips from Monster Aid on getting through COVID-19 together.