How Clean Is Your House’s Aggie MacKenzie talks cleaning hacks to combat the spread of germs
Watch: How Clean Is Your House’s Aggie Mackenzie shows how us how we should really be cleaning our toilet
Yahoo Lifestyle is committed to finding you the best products at the best prices. We may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change.
As we continue to live through the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to keep our house clean and stop the spread of germs.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "transmission of coronavirus occurs much more commonly through respiratory droplets than through objects and surfaces, like doorknobs, countertops, keyboards, toys, etc," however they go on to note that "current evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 may remain viable for hours to days on surfaces made from a variety of materials. Cleaning of visibly dirty surfaces followed by disinfection is a best practice measure for prevention of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory illnesses in households and community settings.”
Watch: How to clean your TV remote control
The World Health Organization says "high-touch surfaces should be identified for priority disinfection. These include door and window handles, kitchen and food preparation areas, counter tops, bathroom surfaces, toilets and taps, touchscreen personal devices, personal computer keyboards, and work surfaces."
In her recent videos, Aggie demonstrates how to keep floors, loos, shower screens and bath mats, upholstery and surfaces clean, and also how to make sure your food is stored safely once you bring it home from the supermarket.
The NHS recommends cleaning your kitchen and bathroom regularly as these are places where germs are more likely to spread.
Aggie adds “If you’ve had people visiting and you’re not sure if they’re well or not, or you just want to take a few precautions, a good idea would be to steam clean your upholstery.”
An absolute Aggie must-have is a microfibre cloth, she says: “microfibre cloths are covered with millions of tiny particles that when you use a damp cloth on a surface it acts as a magnet to dirt.”
She added: “You can wash them over and over again in the washing machine so you’ll always have clean cloths at the ready. There’s no point in ‘cleaning’ a dirty surface with a dirty cloth.”
The NHS states that “reusable cloths should be disinfected or washed at 60C (140F) after each use”.
Watch: Cleaning expert Aggie Mackenzie explains why you should be using a microfibre cloth for all your cleaning needs
Buy microfibre cloths: Lint Free Microfibre Exel Super Magic Cleaning Cloths | £8.59 from Amazon
Also a published author of both cleaning and cookery books, and a qualified yoga instructor, Aggie is an expert in creating the perfect clean home environment.
“These days it’s more important than ever during the pandemic to wash your fruit and vegetables when you get them home from the shops.”
She recommends storing all fruits and vegetables in a plastic container with a tight lid in the fridge to prevent any germs from getting into food.
Aggie advises us to be careful never to mix the cloths we use for the toilet with the cloths we use for cleaning the kitchen, which might seem obvious to some but is an absolute must for maintaining cleanliness in the home.
She even has a handy hack for getting rid of that persistent limescale on shower doors that always appear no matter how many times we run the shower water over it.
Aggie shows us how a bottle of vinegar and some kitchen roll can work wonders for a grubby shower, and she insists that we should be washing our bath mats once a week too.
Items like phones and remote controls are some of the most touched items in the house, so she shows us exactly how to keep a remote squeaky clean using just a cotton bud and some disinfectant.
Aggie also warns us against using the “dreaded string mop”, something she says is a total no-no for all households.
“They are filthy, horrible things, they are disgusting. You cannot clean a floor with a dirty mop.”
Although it may seem like a hassle, Aggie insists all you need is soapy water to clean your floor and she highly recommends a mop where you can attach a detachable microfibre head that you can then pop into the wash.
So ditch the old-school string mop for something more hygienic.
Buy a microfibre mop: Professional Microfiber Mop | £26.99 from Amazon
For more information on how to clean and disinfect your home visit the centers for disease control and prevention.
More of Aggie’s brilliant cleaning tips can be found on her website
