Statistics say that you will catch anywhere between two to four colds this winter. Chances are, after the hustle, bustle and sleepless nights of the holiday season, you're getting over one right now. Take a few steps to rid your most-touched technology of germs, helping prevent spreading the bug.
Think about things you touch every day. There's nothing that gets more action and close (really close) attention than these household devices—especially when you're home sick recovering from a seasonal sickness.
Your Phone
The more tasks your super-smart phone is able to tackle—communication, games, organization—the more time you spend gripping it in your hands and holding it up to your face. To disinfect your phone without damaging it, coat a cotten pad or swab with rubbing alcohol and wipe down the outside of your phone.
Bonus: The next time you're sick, remember to use your phone on "speaker" as much as possible. Keeping the phone away from your face will seriously help prevent the spread of germs.
Your Computer Keyboard
Between entertaining yourself with cat videos and looking up the menu for the deli up the street, your computer or laptop keyboard probably saw some action while you were sick. And thanks to the nooks and crannies between keys, germs have lots of space to hide. Unplug your keyboard from the computer (if you can—laptop owners should fully shut down their machines) and wipe it down with a damp disinfecting wipe. Make sure the wipe is just barely damp, not dripping wet. Wring it out before taking it to your keyboard.
Bonus: You probably were exposed to cold germs before you came down with symptoms and decided to take a sick day from work. It's a good idea to disinfect your office keyboard when you get back in the office. Do it before you catch up on emails.
Your TV Remote
When you camp out on the sofa for a day of rest and recovery, what is on the coffee table next to you? Tissues and the TV remote, right? Grossly enough, you're catching germs with both of them. Using a disinfecting wipe or spray, wipe down your TV remote for a clean slate and healthy home.
Bonus: Clean all your remotes. Even if you never touched the surround sound or Apple TV remote, you might keep them stored with the others. Wipe them each down with a disinfectant, plus the caddy or container you store them in.
(Images: 1. Flickr user Eduardo O. licensed for use under Creative Commons, 2. 5 Parts of Your Home Tech You Probably Never Clean)
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And throw out your toothbrush. It's full of cooties.
doorknobs, fridge door handle, toilet handle, faucet knobs. also, work phone receiver. everything is gross.
Don't forget light switches and your car's steering wheel...
I think a lot of these are kind of pointless: after you've had a cold and you're on the mend, most of the bugs you've scattered around have either died/lost the ability to infect others, or already gone on to better and brighter things, working their magic on someone else. It is the steps you take preemptively, WHILE you are still sick and potentially scattering your germs and viruses here and there, that will help not infect those around you. Cleaning never hurt anyone, so if you need to clean up everything post-sickness to make yourself feel better about it, that's fine. But this is all pretty pointless if you already let yourself infect a bunch of things other people are going to touch while you were sick.
Clean your beddings
I work in a public library and my department is in charge of the public computers. We keep a dish of those individually wrapped alcohol swabs intended for disinfecting the skin before injections, for people to use to clean the key tops and mice. We use them, too, when any of us is under the weather. (I always wipe down the keyboard, mouse and phone when I think I'm sick. Sadly, most people really can't take off work the whole time they have a cold, but we do what we can.) The swabs are small, just damp enough to disinfect without dripping, and fairly cheap. Since we started making them available, we are convinced we see fewer sick patrons -- but maybe we are dreaming!
You actually cant recatch a cold from yourself. You will be immune. Thats why it is so hard to find a cure, it is slightly varied everytime you catch it.
Caseyinto is right. No reason to throw out a perfectly good toothbrush. The beauty of a virus is that once you have it, your body has already produced antibodies specifically for it and you can't get it again.
The best way to avoid colds and flu is to just wash your hands before you eat and avoid touching your face, especially your eyes, unless your hands have just been soaped up and cleaned. Avoiding touching your face can actually keep you cold and flu free for years on end.
Kinda pointless- this germ obsession is causing more trouble that protection. That's why kids these day's have so many allergies and folks not getting immune to 'normal' germs; all because of over-sanitizing. Cleaning is good; getting obsessed with germs not.
Diet makes a huge difference in health and catching colds - keep diary and sugar at a minimum and forgo eating wheat and gluten.
I have not had a cold in 4 years due to such a diet ......
if no one else uses your phone and computer you don't need to disinfect. you already had that cold.