by Deborah Michelle Jordan

Created on: August 30, 2008   Last Updated: October 07, 2008

It's important to clean our homes and work spaces on a regularly scheduled basis - not only to ensure that they are neat and feel comfortable, but to make sure germs don't have time to setup their own housekeeping!

Office Environment
People spend a huge amount of time in their personal space at work - it is quite literally, a home away from home. It's tempting to say that we are too busy to concern ourselves with office cleaning - that the work the cleaning crew does on the floor and in emptying the trash is enough. It's not.

The ductwork in an office building circulates dust and germs very efficiently, which can make us tired or sick. Here are some ideas on what to clean, in order of frequency:

1)Furniture and equipment should be dusted at least once each month;

2)Items that are handled frequently by yourself should be cleaned with a disinfecting cleanser or spray; every two weeks - examples include the telephone, keyboard, adding machine and mouse;

3)Items that are handled frequently by someone other than yourself, should be cleaned with a disinfecting cleanser or spray once a week - examples include guest furniture, doorknobs, desktops, etc; and,

4)Used food products must be thrown away daily and no food stuffs should be left open.

Home Area
Our lives are hectic. Cleaning often becomes a low priority, in the face of so many responsibilities. It's easy for a busy family to let things get out of control. For this reason, it's important to develop an ongoing schedule for what needs to be cleaned and how often. The number of people and pets living in the home is directly related to how often major cleaning activities should be done each month. The following method is suggested to arrive at this figure:

1) Count the number of adults and children living in the home;

2) Add one more for each additional child under the age of twelve;

3) Add one more for each adult living in the home that does not work outside of the home;

4) Add one for each pet that is allowed to roam freely in the house; and,

5) The resulting subtotal should be divided by two - this number is called the cleaning factor.

The cleaning factor is the number of times each month, that floors must be mopped and/or vacuumed; the bathrooms and kitchen thoroughly cleaned; and the house dusted and straightened up. This number represents a bare minimum number of times that the house needs to be cleaned.

For example, the cleaning factor for a family of four, with two indoor cats and two small children, would be four, meaning that the house needs to be cleaned four times a month or in another words, once a week.

If members of a household are committed to straightening up on a daily basis and taking responsibility for picking up their own things, the cleaning schedule will ensure that the home is clean and tidy. Remember, the thing about cleaning is, if you keep it up regularly, it takes very little time.

Most of us, don't look forward to cleaning, but it's the healthy thing to do for ourselves and our families. Too many bacteria and germs make their way into our workplace and our homes, not to view cleaning as a priority.

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