I know I have disinfected my high traffic areas, have you?

We all seem to get into a fall cleaning mode. Before we hunker down and close our homes to the cold Alberta weather we seem to get an urge to do some major fall cleaning/ purging. Getting rid of all the excess ‘stuff’ and doing a deep clean before a season’s change is a great feeling. Colds and flus seem to come hand in hand with the weather change and I try to avoid these at all costs. One of the chores I make sure is at the top of my list is to disinfect all our handles!! Yep, cupboard handles, door handles, appliance handles etc. All those things we use daily and don’t even think about. Maybe you clean these often in your regular routine like I do after washing dishes with my dishcloth or some such but a good disinfectant scrub is something I make sure I do a couple times a year at least.

Or have you thought about your workplace?? How many people are in and out of your workplace using all those handles and door knobs? I just recently finished a good fall scrub down of all our handles etc. here at the office but don’t stop at just handles. In an office setting there are so many other things we use all day but don’t always think about, the telephone for example, that can always use a good wipe down. Or the keyboard, mouse and stapler. Always a good idea to disinfect those as well, especially if you share your workspace with others!

I really like Thieves cleaner for these chores as I know it kills everything and it has a great scent to boot! If you have the essential oil on hand but maybe not the cleaner, just make your own. I just use the classic citrus or thieves and vinegar recipe that seems to be a growing staple for the cleaning cabinet. For a citrus disinfectant, save your orange and lemon peels and put them in a jar, cover them with vinegar to soak for a day or so. This brings the oils out of the peels and infuses them into the vinegar. Throw the peels away and strain the vinegar to remove any bits. If you don’t use all of the vinegar solution in the first batch of cleaner just make sure it is strained well and save the solution for the next batch.

Fill a spray bottle mostly with water but leave room for about a ½ cup, depending on the size of your spray bottle, of your vinegar solution or plain vinegar. Add around a ½ tablespoon of Dawn or Dr. Bronner’s castile soap. The soap and vinegar don’t always love each other so play with your ratios until you find an amount of each that mix well. If you like, add Thieves Essential oil or for that matter any essential oil that you love for a fresh scent!