We all will remember 2020 forever as we experienced the worst pandemic of our times. The pandemic changed our habits and our lives in such a drastic manner that these new habits will stay with us forever.
Arguably, the critical change came in the way we clean. Earlier, cleaning involved using a dust cleaner and getting our places sparkling when guests came over. Now, cleaning is about properly disinfecting surfaces. Here, we discuss the major cleaning lessons we learned in 2020, and we will continue to follow them in 2021. Thanks to 2020, our cleaning routines will never be the same.
Change 1: Using scientific dust cleaners to tackle static electricity:
The critical change in terms of cleaning happened in our mindset. We started to look at cleaning from the scientific perspective and figured out the real reasons behind things getting dirty. Regarding dust, we found out a surface attracts dust because of static electricity.
When static electricity or a static charge is present, dust from the surrounding area is attracted. Sometimes, dust from many meters around the charged object moves towards the static charged material or object.
We understood that cleaning with conventional materials has limitations as they do not tackle static electricity. Hence, we learned to use dust cleaner equipment such as hand-operated dust removal guns, blower operated dust cleaner, and an air-knife with static eliminator.
Change 2: Changes in washing our hands:
We all realized in the early stages of the pandemic, most of us don’t know the proper way to wash our hands. We learned that we need to wash our hands at least for 20 seconds. Very few of us did it the right way, but now that we know and have learned it, expect most people to wash their hands for more than 20 seconds in the coming times too.
The hand sanitizer hogged plenty of limelight in the early stages of the pandemic. However, we all realized that a sanitizer is a convenient solution when we are not at home, but it is not a replacement for our traditional hand-washing with soap and water.
Change 3: Changes in disinfecting a surface:
Before 2020, disinfecting was a vague process. Our disinfecting process was limited to rubbing a cleaning wipe along the surface. But this year, we learned how critical contact time is. We realized that all our disinfecting wipes or sprays come with specific labels on them. These labels indicate how long the spray needs to sit on a surface to kill the most germs possible. 2020 taught us not to dry off the countertop until the recommended contact time is up.
Change 4: Understanding what is a high-touch surface:
We heard several terms frequently in 2020. ‘High –touch surface’ is one such term. Although some of us knew what it meant, this year, we all got familiar with it. ‘High-touch surfaces’ are the surfaces that people touch frequently. Thus, these surfaces have more chances of having germs. We realized that surfaces like countertops, light switch plates, steering wheel, and game controllers fall in this category. Expect people to pay more attention while cleaning these surfaces in the upcoming days.
Lesson 5: Changes in cleaning our grimy shower door:
As we spent more time at home this year, we noticed certain things that need extra cleaning. We realized our glass shower doors are full of soap scum, and that makes them look dirty. Some of us searched for the secret to make them spark and figured out a homemade cleaning spray created from that bottle of white vinegar in our pantries works wonders. 2020 changed the way we clean our daily shower doors. Now, thanks to the homemade cleaning spray, our daily showers have become more spa-like.
