You want to sanitize your home, but you are unsure of the correct and best way to do so. You have a large family with pets as well. Your home is becoming a barrage of socks, dirty clothes and bad odors all around. The worst rooms in your home with regards to odors are the most commonly used like the bathrooms, kitchen, and bedrooms.

Marie Kondo and her organizing tips are everywhere on the internet. If you don’t know who she is, she even has a Netflix special too! Her mission statement is to tidy your space, transform your life. While that’s great advice, what about something more important that needs to be done like to sanitize your home? While she is super popular, her techniques aren’t exactly my cup of tea. I do believe in getting rid of things you don’t love in your home for sure, but minimalism isn’t my particular decor style.

Be sure to check out some of the other ways of sanitizing your home that you may or may not know about while leaving it smelling fresh and clean.

Professional carpet cleaning

One of the first things we need to do is think about our rugs. Checking with a professional carpet cleaner may be a good idea to start. Your rugs can be the number one reason your home is not fully sanitized. After my rugs are professionally cleaned, I always feel my house is too!

You know that one of the best ways to sanitize your home is to call a professional to deep clean your rugs. The dry cleaning will take away deep down dirt and dust that can catch in the fibers of your carpet. A professional can come in and advise on you on which cleaning method is best for your home. After deep cleaning your rugs, your home will become deodorized and sanitized and smell fresh and clean.

Use a sanitizing spray & wipes

As you buy the air freshener for your home, make sure that it also serves as a sanitizer. I don’t go a day without using my Lysol Disinfecting Wipes. I use them for every room in my home. They are perfect to sanitize your home and you can rest assured as they contain Lysol in them to kill germs too!

There are great brands that offer dual-purpose air fresheners that will deodorize and sanitize your home like Lysol Disinfecting Spray and I do use that daily too especially when someone has a cold. Remember that it should state the word sanitizer clearly on the bottle. As you use your sanitizing spray, be careful and direct the can away from your face. Also, do not inhale too long after cleaning and deodorizing your home with sanitizing spray.

Keep dirty clothes to a minimum

When you leave dirty clothes lying around for weeks at a time, even if they are in the laundry room, they will begin to smell. This odor will be carried throughout your home. Make sure and wash dirty clothes at least once per week for a smaller family and up to twice per week for larger families. Keeping dirty clothing to a minimum will always help in leaving your home sanitized and odor free.

Make sure that pets/cages are cleaned daily

If you have small pets that also live in your home, you will want to keep them and their cages cleaned daily. While this may require some work, it should only take you a short time to clean and deodorize your pet and his/her cage. Washing your pet and making sure that excess hair is not found around your home, will take away odors. Also, make sure and clean up any urine or other wastes that comes from your pet.

We recused the cutest poodle a few months ago named Ollie! He is the love of our lives, but I have to make sure I fully sanitize my home in ways I never had to before. I go the extra mile to protect my bedding too. I lay a towel down first as he loves to sit on my bed and look out the window. When you own a pet, it’s especially important for you to sanitize your home for you and your family.

Mopping your floor

There is nothing better at keeping a home clean than mopping the floors with a liquid cleaner. Mopping the floor allows spills from your family to be cleaned. It also takes away any dust that may have accumulated on your floors. There is a cleaning piece of equipment called a robot mop that works as a mop alone or as a hybrid mop and vacuum. When preparing your water for mopping, make sure that there is an additive liquid cleaner that will also sanitize your floors.

Dusting your furniture

One of my least favorite chores is dusting. That’s why I LOVE and use Swiffer 180 Dusters every day! They are a life-saver and that means I have to clean less too. While mopping and vacuuming your floors are important, making sure that dusting your furniture is as well. When dust builds up on your furniture, it can also leave an odor. Use scented furniture polish on your furniture to leave it odor free. This will help to deodorize and sanitize your furniture. You should be dusting a minimum of three times per week to keep your furniture dust and odor free.

Cleaning your curtains

While it may surprise you, but cleaning the curtains in your home can also make a difference. There are some curtains that have so much dust build up, that they have now become difficult to clean. Instead of taking them to the dry cleaners or washing them, you can take them down, take them outside, and give them a good shaking. I do this in between cleaning them and it makes a huge difference and saves me time and money too!

Your curtains can either be taken to a professional dry cleaner or be cleaned by you. Either way, making sure that the dust and debris build-up on your curtains are clean, will help in sanitizing your home.

After reading this article, you should have a good idea of some things to try in sanitizing your home. Keep in mind the size of your family. It may be just you live in the home, or you may have a small or large family. Either way, make sure and take note of the duration of time that a particular item or pets have gone uncleaned. Many of these things can and should be done daily to keep out unnecessary odors and leave your home sanitized for you and your guests.