Healthy Home

Knowing when to leave the room, try a new cleaning product, or seek professional medical assistance could be the difference between a pleasant cleaning experience and a crummy one.

These days, “better safe than sorry” might also mean disinfecting sparingly, or in some cases, not disinfecting at all.

Odds are you’ve heard by now that your phone is… well, kind of disgusting. Here are some quick statistics: According to TIME, most cell phones are dirtier than a toilet seat—and in one study, high schoolers phones were found to have more than 17,000 gene copies on their phones’ screens. Phones are gross (even if you don’t bring your phone into the bathroom).When it comes to getting rid of germs quickly, most of us reach for a container of disinfecting wipes.

If you stockpiled disinfectants last year at the beginning of the pandemic, now’s a great time to check your stash.

It can ruin the surface and, if you forget to wipe it dry and turn on a burner, you release toxic gas into the air. Yikes.

According to experts, some parts of our infection prevention routine are still as important as they were last spring. Other practices aren’t as significant as we thought.

I had been opening drawers, digging through closets, and organizing basement corners I hadn’t touched in months — it was so obvious.

Regular sponges are basically small rectangular germ incubators, but this silicone options doesn't gross me out at all.

No matter how thoroughly you're cleaning your kitchen, chances are you're forgetting this one sneaky spot.

Whether its composed of stainless steel, thick plastic, or aluminum, here is what our experts say about water bottle care.

Recently, the luxury mattress experts over at The Saatva Company took a shameless look at what other people do in bed. As it turns out, surveying couples about their sleeping habits yielded some rather surprising results. We can get to the responses about sex and mattress preferences later, but first things first: Of the 1,500 participants, the 962 who use a duvet actually prefer to clean all the toilets in their home over washing and reassembling the bed covering and its contents.

New evidence from the CDC found many people are cleaning incorrectly—and engaging in unsafe cleaning behaviors.

If you find relief in spraying and wiping down every possible surface right now, don't forget to focus on disinfecting these five things, as recommended by an epidemiologist.

“I always recommend that you change your mask like you change your underwear: daily."

Household bleach can be an effective way to stave off germs, including the novel coronavirus, but you need to make sure you follow expert instructions.

Good hygiene isn’t just about washing your hands and wearing a mask.

As with all disinfecting, it makes sense to take a targeted approach.

It's probably one of the most underrated cleaners of all time. But, as always, there are a few things to watch out for.

Are donation centers open during the coronavirus crisis? What about charities like homeless or women’s shelters? We've got all the answers.

To learn more about the best (and most hygienic) laundry practices during a pandemic, we spoke with a laundry expert.

You can’t always predict when a cough or sneeze is coming on. And you definitely can't control roommates who won't take their health seriously.

Yes, grocery store hauls require a whole other level of vigilance right now.

Even if you have access to a washer, you might want to take this extra maintenance step just to be sure you’re not sleeping in a literal bed of germs.

Researchers are only beginning to understand how long the novel coronavirus can survive on surfaces, but here's what we know.

We’ve got good news for you: You probably don’t have to spend all day disinfecting.

You know you should wear gloves to clean, but knowing and doing are two very different things.

Here's a condensed version of the health agency's recommendations for how healthy people should be cleaning their homes right now.

Knowing how easily and quickly I could wash up turned a switch on in my brain that kept committed to hand-washing.

Some people are taking sanitizing matters into their own hands (pun intended). Here's why that won't work.

Brand loyalty is great, but the best product is the one you can find (or already have at home).

I recently tested name brand dryer sheets against two other fabric softening alternatives, and while the difference in softness was significant, it wasn’t enough to convert me to start buying dryer sheets. I know too much.

You wouldn’t dream of leaving your sheets unwashed for weeks at a time, but the sofa never really gets that sort of deep clean.