Interesting Facts about Cleaning

Cleaning is an activity that is both tedious and practical. But there are more adjectives that could be associated with it. How about ‘fun’ and ‘distressing’? Yes, there are some things about house cleaning that could both entertain you and raise the hairs on your neck. People rarely ever think about the process as a whole, and maybe that is the smart thing to do. If you stop and think about the small details, you might either find them too interesting to stop thinking about or too horrifying to consider, and how can you ever focus on getting the home clean now? But aside from that, you can get educated about some of the small things the house cleaning process can teach you.

So here are some interesting facts about cleaning to both make you laugh and give you the goosebumps.

•    FUN: Prolonged cleaning equals less calories. That’s right – if you clean long enough and spend enough effort doing it, you start burning those calories. 100 calories evaporate for each hour spent with the vacuum cleaner, so do it frequently and you can stay in shape.

•    DISTRESSING: 70-80% of dust is actually dead skin flakes. Cleaning suddenly takes a whole new aspect, doesn’t it? It is true, though – human body cells die out and fall off constantly and since they are microscopic, they just randomly fall off and mix with the dirt in your home to create most of the dust. And this means dusting is actually a literal cleaning up after yourself.

•    FUN: When life gives you lemons… make germs go away. Some people are aware of this, but not nearly enough to be common knowledge: lemons have anti-bacterial properties. Slice a lemon in half, rub it on a surface and that surface is disinfected. The citric acid in lemons kills germs and bacteria with ease, so it can be a really good surface cleaner… despite being sticky at times. Same goes for oranges and grapefruit, though at a much lesser degree.

•    DISTRESSING: Your kitchen sink houses more germs than a toilet seat. Surprise, surprise, your kitchen sink is dirty. Makes sense if you think about it, considering how many things you clean there: your hands, food waste, tools, dishes, fruits and vegetables, some people even do hand laundry there. And many people rarely clean the sink after they are done with the cleaning. That makes for quite a lot of germs.

•    FUN: Most people spend about 80% of their time inside. Yes, that is a fun fact, because sitting on your sofa and watching TV is fun. Though it is less fun that you are making a huge mess while doing it. Indoors is where most of the bacteria gathers – because of food leftovers, or dust, or because you brought it in from outside and never vacuumed. Being a couch potato is fun, though it can be also damaging.

•    DISTRESSING: The average office worker goes through over 10 million bacteria every day at work. This fact makes home offices look very appealing. Think about how many bacteria can gather in a home. Now think about how many people go to your work. Now think about how many things those people touch in the office. A shared printer has the germs of every one of your co-workers, so your health and cleanliness is at the mercy of their own. This makes you appreciate the janitor’s job more, doesn’t it?

Suddenly home cleaning  and office sound like much more important tasks, right? You need to be aware that dirt is everywhere and it assaults you all the time and the only thing keeping it at bay is your cleaning regime and your immune system. Fortify the former to stop bothering the latter.