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You do your best to keep your home clean. Maybe you even have a daily or weekly cleaning or washing schedule. Awesome! But how often should you actually be vacuuming your floors, sanitizing countertops, etc? Let’s take a look at what some of the gurus have to say.
1. Your Sheets
Bed sheets should really be washed weekly, in hot water. Dust, sweat, and other undesirables can build up quickly. Who wants to sleep in all of that? A moderate to high dryer setting is also recommended to kill the maximum number of germs. Also, wash your pillows themselves every few months.
2. The Family Dog
Giving your dog a bath isn’t the most pleasant of chores — for either of you. The good news is, you can do it on an “as needed” basis. Dogs with longer hair who are prone to oily skin might need a bath as often as once a month. Others with thicker, but shorter coats may only need it a few times a year. When you’ve been camping or your pooch starts to pack a smelly punch, it’s probably time.
3. Your Favorite Jeans
Most of us like to get a couple of wears out of our jeans before washing. After all, nobody likes putting them on straight out of the dryer. If you wash them too often, they’ll wear out faster, too. You can probably get 4 or 5 wears out of your jeans before washing, unless you get them dirty. Wash them inside out in cool water, and line dry for best results. CEO of Levi’s, Chip Bergh, would actually rather you not machine wash them at all. Who knew?
4. That Fabulous Face
How many of us tend to skip out on a thorough face washing every night (raising hand here)? But it daily washing really is essential to keep your skin looking and feeling its best — not to mention keeping acne and clogged pores away. If you have oily skin or don’t wash your pillowcase often (see #1), you might want to wash in the morning, too!
5. Your Unmentionables
Okay, we are talking about bras here: the over-the-shoulder boulder holder. How often do you wash your bras? You actually don’t need to wash them with every wear. In fact, you can probably get 3 to 4 days out of each wash. Just make sure you have a good rotation, and don’t wear the same one two days in a row. Waiting at least 24 hours will give the elasticity time to bounce back. You’re welcome!
6. Grout
Hooray! Grout usually only needs a good cleaning once a year. You can even make your own grout cleaner!
7. Those Gorgeous Locks
Everyone is different, but the usual recommendation is to wash no more that every other day. You want to strike a balance between keeping it clean and stripping it of natural, beneficial oils. Dry shampoo is a good option if your hair tends to get oily.
8. Vacuuming
As a rule of thumb, vacuuming should be done at least weekly, and even daily in high-traffic areas. Use your attachments for corners and edges regularly. Vacuuming can actually have a big impact on the quality of air you’re breathing, so keep that in mind. You probably also want to have carpets professionally shampooed yearly.
9. Polishing Furniture
You probably have at least a few pieces of fine wood furniture in your home. While you certainly dust it often, it should only be polished about once a year. Spray polishes can actually damage your finish and leave build up, so experts recommend a good paste wax annually.
10. Washing the Washer
You may not realize that about 60% of washing machines are harboring bacteria. Gross! You wash clothes to get them clean, don’t you? Underwear and kitchen towels can actually contain E. coli and salmonella! Wash these and other germy items separately, in hot water with bleach. Doing so will eliminate the germs in both the materials and your washer. Also, you should run a cleaning cycle (built-in or do-it-yourself style) on your washer as often as your manual recommends.
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