10 Places We Know You Forgot to Clean

October 5th, 2011 by Caitlin Morgan| Posted in Apartment Guide, Apartment Interiors, Apartment Living, Healthy Apartments, Tips & Tricks | 1 Comment »

Sure, you clean up after parties or when things begin to look really dusty.  But is your apartment really clean?  There are all kinds of places that we never think to wipe down or de-grease.  The next time you’re doing a deep cleaning of your apartment, make sure you don’t miss these frequently forgotten spots.

1. Doorknobs

Doorknobs are well known for their propensity for harboring germs. True, you wash your hands as regularly as the next person, but the world is an icky place, and most people have at least one slobbish friend, the kind who comes over for dinner and leaves a spaghetti sauce trail on the way out.  And if you have kids?  Forget it.  Clean your knobs frequently to avoid viruses and bacteria.

2. Electronics

Think cruising the internet is all fun and games?  Think again.  Unless you LIKE fevers and cough syrup.  Remote controls, keyboards, mice, video game controllers…all harbors for germs and grime! Are we feeding your OCD paranoia?  Perhaps.  But we just want to keep you safe.  Just use some judgment, and don’t dump a lot of soap and water on these fragile items.  A cloth sprayed with a little all-purpose cleaner can be used to wipe them down.

3. Inside the Refrigerator

You’ll probably think of this particular chore when you start to smell last month’s tikka masala from the other room.  Instead, try to be a little more proactive.  You need that space to store this month’s tikka masala, although rotting food is a great way to beg off work for a few days of food poisoning, if that’s really what your into.  Check the back of the fridge and those vegetable drawers that you’ve been ignoring ever since you went on the Atkin’s Diet.  Clean the shelves and walls with an (all natural!) disinfectant while you’re at it.

4. The Oven

Come on, people!  Your oven probably has a self-cleaning setting!  This is not hard.  It is, however, sanitary.  If you’re really on a kick, scrub out the interior to have a SUPER clean heat trap.

5. The Drip Trays

Those little things under the stove burners—useful, but pesky when it comes to cleaning.  If you don’t relish the smell of old food burning, you should clean these (in the sink is easiest) at least once a week.  If yours are truly horrid, you can replace them.

6. Underneath Countertop Appliances

Insects and mice love crumbs.  You’ve probably read children’s books to that affect, so don’t act surprised.  Crumbs crop up quickly under everything from your toaster to your microwave, so move those to the side when you’re wiping down countertops, so you don’t inspire the new book “If You Give a Mouse a Crumb, He Moves into Your Kitchen with His 700 Siblings.”

7. The Dishwasher and the Washing Machine

Of course these appliances get dirty—their whole job is to get all the dirt out of your clothes and silverware, so there’s bound to be some damage.  Scrub out their interiors.  Or, run them on empty with vinegar for a less labor-intensive clean.

8. Blinds

When was the last time you got cozy with your blinds?  Probably never, given that they’re sharp pieces of plastic.  But there’s another good reason:  those suckers are Sneeze City.  Window blinds accumulate a great deal of dust and are rarely cleaned. Wiping them down with a damp cloth is usually all that is needed to clean them off and can help reduce allergens in the house.

9. Under the Bed

Just because there aren’t monsters under there (you hope) doesn’t mean there aren’t monstrous piles of dust.  Sweep or vacuum that stuff up frequently, especially if anyone in your household is prone to allergies.

10. The Walls

The walls are closing in!  …because they have so many layers of gross on them.  Never fear:  a damp cloth and a mild cleaner every six months is usually enough to keep them in their place.

Be clean!   And tell us all about it–here or on our Facebook page!