How to Clean those Most-Touched Areas

If you are Spring Cleaning, cleaning after illness in your home, or just looking for a quick batch-cleaning task, cleaning your home’s most touched areas is a great little project. I have these areas on my Rotating Cleaning Tasks (in Homekeeping Society and the Homekeeping Planner), but find that cleaning those most-touched areas are a great task for seasonal cleaning too.

If you’re trying to figure out if you are up for some spring cleaning, cleaning your home’s most-touched areas is the perfect way to start!

I find the most efficient way to clean those pesky most-touched areas is to batch them together. I go in order of the below list and do all of the light switches and switch plates, then move on to clean all the door knobs, all the kitchen handles, etc. This keeps me on task, I don’t miss anything, if a certain cleaner or cloth works better for an area I can use that for the whole house, and if I can’t get through the whole list in one go I can come back to the list.

MOST TOUCHED AREAS:

• light switches and switch plates
• door knobs
• bonus points for cleaning your doors
• kitchen appliance handles (fridge, dishwasher, oven)
• bonus points for cleaning your appliance fronts
• telephones (landlines + cell phones)
• staircase railings
• cupboard and drawer knobs and pulls in the kitchen
• cupboard and drawer knobs and pulls in bathroom(s)
• bonus points for cleaning your cupboard and drawer fronts
• TV remotes
• game controllers

HOW TO CLEAN:

Generally speaking, all you need is a little all-purpose cleaner and a microfiber cleaning cloth or bar mop towel to clean most of these most-touched areas. You can see my favorite DIY Cleaners here. All-purpose cleaner can be sprayed directly ON your cleaning cloth and then the area can be wiped clean. Spray, wipe, repeat.

All-Purpose Cleaning Spray

• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 10 drops of your favorite essential oil (lemon and clove is my favorite blend)

Mix in a spray bottle, spray liberally on surfaces and wipe clean with a soft cleaning cloth (I prefer microfiber or bar mop towels – you can find them here).

Door Knobs + Pulls, Light Switches, Remotes

When cleaning areas like door knobs, light switches, and remotes/game controllers, I’ll usually pour a little rubbing alcohol on a cotton cloth or bar mop towel and wipe. This will kill the germs and clean the area easily.

Doors and cabinets

When cleaning doors and cabinets I like to mix up a little cupboard and cabinet cleaner. This simple recipe will tackle most cupboards and cabinets but this post goes into a couple more recipes.

Cupboard + Cabinet Cleaner

8 cups warm water
2 tablespoons liquid Castile soap
3 drops lemon essential oil

Mix all ingredients in a bucket. Work from top left and scrub your way down to the right using a microfiber cloth or bar mop towel. Be sure to wring out your cloth frequently and well.

Ready to get started? I’m pretty sure if you start with a little spring cleaning you’ll find that it’s not as hard as you thought it might be to get started!

You can see all of my Spring Cleaning Favorites here on my Amazon Favorites page too! Looking for more Spring Cleaning content? Go here for everything from this year’s Spring Clean with Me Challengeand more posts I’ve written in past years – I love chatting about Spring Cleaning!

HERE’S YOUR CHECKLIST TO GET STARTED:

• FOLLOW: Make sure you’re following along on Instagram @CLEANMAMA
• SUBSCRIBE: If you haven’t subscribed to the blog – you can do that by putting your name and email address in the FREE PRINTABLES PAGE
• DOWNLOAD + PRINT: Once you get the password (you only need to enter your email address in ONE time), grab the Spring Cleaning Checklist on the FREE PRINTABLES PAGE – this is what we are following for the month of March.

Want to add this list to Cozi + Clean Mama? Click the button below!

Don’t have the Cozi + Clean Mama app yet?  Cozi is the #1 family organizing app. Sign up for your FREE account first. Cozi + Clean Mama adds Clean Mama Daily Tasks and Clean Mama Weekly Tasks to your shared family calendar and sends automatic reminders for all tasks! Click here to find out more and download Cozi + Clean Mama. 

TELL YOUR FRIENDS: Spread the word on your social media and tag me so I can share too! Cleaning is always more fun with friends!

WATCH FOR A NEW POST EVERY MONDAY: Every Monday for the month of March I’ll lay out the plan for the week, tell you how I’m approaching Spring Cleaning and then I’ll have a post or two during each week that helps with the tasks for the week. Make sure you’re following along on Instagram for DAILY updates from the Clean Mama HQ (my house).

SPRING CLEANING IS THE MONTHLY FOCUS FOR MARCH: You can find the Monthly Focus in the Homekeeping Planner and in the Homekeeping Society subscription. If you want to work with a small group, join Homekeeping Society for the support!

SPRING CLEAN WITH ME SCHEDULE – I’ll link the posts as we go!
WEEK 1 : Prep Week + the Laundry Room
3 DIY Cleaners to Spring Clean Your Whole Home
How to Clean a Laundry Room
5 Must-Have Spring Cleaning Tools
WEEK 2 : Dusting + Wiping
WEEK 3 : Kitchen Deep Clean
WEEK 4 : Windows + Bathrooms
WEEK 5 : Beds + Floors