A Cleaning Schedule for Household Items
Cleaning and replacing household items is vital to promote better health. Besides promoting better health in your home, replacing your old household items with new ones, especially carpets, pillows, and curtains, improves the house appearance making it more attractive even to your guests. Numerous things in the house need to be changed occasionally. On the other side, there are quite a few things that you may be replacing too often, yet they may serve you a little longer. Here are a few guidelines to ensure your household items ranging from carpet all the way to furnace filters will be cleaned or replaced on a timely basis.
1. Carpets
Changing carpets will entirely depend on whether or not you keep pets in your living room. Usually, they are replaced after ten years, but if you are a pet keeper, you need to replace the carpet sooner. This is because pet urine brings about health issues such as asthma and allergies. You may opt using a vacuum cleaner to get rid of the urine stains but the carpet may not last for a longer duration. It will fade over time, losing its original look. Therefore, replacing it with a new design may be a great idea to get your living room looking attractive all day. You may also consider a neutral carpet if your wallpapers are bright.
2. Sheets
When it comes to bedsheets, weekly washing is needed to prevent bacteria from building up. Bedsheets do not require replacement as long as they are not torn. Beds are supposed to be a relaxation point, but if you fail to wash your sheets often, then germs and dirt will most likely build up. So how often should you wash your sheets? Changing your bed sheets once a week is recommended to keep a healthy life and also ensure that you get quality sleep.
If you need to get bedsheets that will last for a long time, it is important that you buy quality sheets. They may be expensive but are a greater choice since they are likely to serve you for a longer duration as compared to the low-quality brands.
3. Furnace filters
Several factors will impact how long a filter will last. For instance, the amount of dirt in your home, allergens in the air, and whether you are a pet keeper can help you decide when to replace. Normally, one to two-inch filters are replaced every three months, four-inch after every six months, and lastly, five-inch filters after one year.
Changing your furnace filters regularly ensures that the air in your home is free from dust and any other contaminants. A full filter is usually less effective in that it will not be able to deter additional dust from entering your house.
4. Pillows
You probably use pillows for over eight hours per night, which means you are breathing in dirt, dust, and body oil, which might be harmful to your health. If you use plain pillows in your home, then you need to replace it after six months. For memory foam pillows, replacement should be done every eighteen to thirty-six months.
You should also remember to wash your pillowcases as you clean other laundries.
5. Refrigerator filters
This requires replacement every six months to protect yourself from chemicals and metals contained in water. If water is not well filtrated, then chlorine and lead could build up. Changing refrigerator filters is a bit expensive, but it is worthwhile in the long run.
Regular maintenance of your refrigerator is ideal for keeping it operational and avoiding huge investment costs on making future replacements.
6. Couch
Since replacing couches is a bit pricey, replacement should be done every three to five years if it starts losing its rigidity. A sunken lounge tends to cause chronic health problems such as back pain and poor posture, so replacing them with new ones will prevent this.
7. Wall insulation
Replacing wall insulation should take place around twenty to eighty years, but the replacement should be done regularly for older homes.
Generally, every household item requires thorough cleaning and changing from time to time. Every household item requires a different timeframe for replacement. For bedsheets, though, replacing is only done if there are wear and tear.