{"id":27286,"date":"2018-10-31T08:27:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T13:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/?p=27286"},"modified":"2022-09-17T16:45:18","modified_gmt":"2022-09-17T21:45:18","slug":"healthy-home-tips-for-cold-flu-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/home-entertaining\/cleaning-organizing\/healthy-home-tips-for-cold-flu-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthy Home Tips for Cold & Flu Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part of what makes the fall and winter seasons so fun is the activities.\u00a0 During these months there is one event after another.\u00a0 This provides us with the opportunity to commune with our family, friends, neighbors, and communities.\u00a0 From pumpkin patches and hay rides to pictures with Santa, we get a lot of exposure to others.<\/p>\n

We also tend to see an increase in traffic to our homes with holiday parties<\/span><\/a>, deliveries, and trick-or-treaters.\u00a0 However, with all of that togetherness, we have a greater risk of catching a pesky cold or even the flu.\u00a0 So, how do we keep the germs at bay this season?\u00a0 Here are a few quick tips for a healthy home.<\/p>\n

A Healthy Home for You<\/h2>\n

Of course, the last thing you want is to feel under the weather when your favorite holiday events are happening.\u00a0 To help ensure that you don’t fall pray to germs we all know we should wash our hands frequently, avoid close contact with those who are sick, get plenty of rest, and eat a balanced diet.\u00a0 We hear this advice often.\u00a0 What is less common, however, is how to manage your household during this season.<\/p>\n

\"home\"<\/a>
Clorox Disinfecting Wipes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Healthy Home for Guests<\/h2>\n

If you’re like me and rarely get sick.\u00a0 It’s important to consider others.\u00a0 Not only other members of your family, but guests that come into your home.\u00a0 People’s exposure to germs and immune systems can vary drastically.\u00a0 For someone like me who works at home, I have less exposure than most.\u00a0 Simply because I require less trips outside of my home.\u00a0 For my husband, however, its a different story.\u00a0 He might interact with 50 different people during his day who may or may not be sick.<\/p>\n

Or, you may have a friend or family member that has a compromised immune system due to chronic illness or other issue.\u00a0 It’s these people you want to consider when you’re cleaning and maintaining your home during the cold and flu season.\u00a0 Just because your environment doesn’t make you sick, it could very well effect someone else.<\/p>\n

Health Home Tips<\/h2>\n

Here are a few tips to keep a healthy home this season for you, your family, and your guests.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. SANITIZE HOT SPOTS WEEKLY<\/strong> – Identify the places your fingers touch most often and make sure they’re not only clean, but sanitized.\u00a0 These are light switches, door knobs, the back of chairs, counter tops, cabinet and drawer pulls, faucets, the buttons on your coffee maker, appliance handles, and of course the toilet.<\/li>\n
  2. NO SHOES RULES<\/strong> – If you’ve just spent a good chunk of time cleaning and sanitizing your home, the last thing you want is for someone to track in who knows what on the bottom of their shoes.\u00a0 Beyond dirt, there’s bacteria.\u00a0 Keep it out of your home by setting up an entryway<\/span><\/a> area where people can place their shoes.\u00a0 Also, have some guest socks on hand in case they’re needed.<\/li>\n
  3. TRASH OUT<\/strong> – Take your trash out daily.\u00a0 Don’t let it pile up because you don’t want to go to the dumpster, garage, or side of the house in the cold.\u00a0 Decomposing food in your garbage will begin to smell.\u00a0 And while this may be unpleasant, the real risk is attracting bugs and mice.\u00a0 Bugs can bring all sorts of bacteria into your home that can make you sick.\u00a0 So, make the extra effort to get trash out of your home frequently.<\/li>\n
  4. WASH HAND TOWELS FREQUENTLY<\/strong> – Changing out or washing the hand towels in your bathroom is important.\u00a0 Let’s face it, not all of us “lather vigorously for 15 seconds” to kill that 99.9% of bacteria when we wash our hands.\u00a0 That means there’s a high potential for things remaining on your hands to transfer to your towels.\u00a0 To combat this, make sure you change up a few times per week.<\/li>\n
  5. CLEAN AFTER GUESTS<\/strong> – If you’ve just hosted a dinner party or had friends over to watch a football game its a good idea to re-sanitize areas guests frequented after they leave.\u00a0 I understand that if you just spent an hour cleaning your home in preparation for your guests, the last thing you want to do is clean again after them.\u00a0 However, its important to remember that new people can unintentionally bring new germs.\u00a0 So take a few second and grab your sanitizing wipes and hit the hot spots again.<\/li>\n
  6. MONITOR LEFT OVERS<\/strong> – Thanksgiving in particular may leave you with a fridge full of left over food.\u00a0 Make sure you promptly package and store food in your fridge or freezer to stop the growth of bacteria.\u00a0 If you don’t see yourself eating the item in the next 2 days, its best to place it directly into the freezer.\u00a0 That way you can store it safely for a longer period of time.<\/li>\n
  7. COVER BUFFET AND FAMILY STYLE DISHES<\/strong> – As lovely as it is to see a beautiful spread of colorful foods and desserts.\u00a0 Don’t leave them open to the air too long.\u00a0 Take a picture for Instagram and then cover them back up.\u00a0 Lots of people breathing on communal dishes is not a good idea.\u00a0 Buffet restaurants have sneeze guards for a reason, so take a cue from them and keep your food covered.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    That’s it for my healthy home tips.\u00a0 Please share this post with a friend if you found it helpful and follow Dianne Decor on Bloglovin’<\/span> for more content.\"Healthy<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Part of what makes the fall and winter seasons so fun is the…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":29918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24792],"tags":[21965,22722,22721,22720,22283,22182,22279],"location":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27286"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164749,"href":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27286\/revisions\/164749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27286"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diannedecor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=27286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}