Woman spraying and wiping a surface

Grove's guide to household cleaning and disinfecting.

Last Updated: March 12, 2021

Discover everything you need to know about keeping surfaces sparkling with our guide to household cleaning and disinfecting every room in the house.

Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces in your home is an important task. Keeping surfaces clean helps prevent the spread of bacteria and germs, including the ones that cause COVID-19 and other illnesses. Many surfaces in the home are touched many times each day, such as light switches, doorknobs, faucets, and tables. These surfaces need to be cleaned every day. Other surfaces aren't touched as often, but they still need to be cleaned when they get dirty.




Kitchen

Bathroom

  • Spray the bathroom sink and faucets with a disinfecting cleaner. Allow the cleaner to sit on the surfaces for several minutes to kill germs. Then, wipe the surfaces dry with a clean paper towel.
  • Spray glass cleaner onto mirror surfaces, then wipe the cleaner off with a clean paper towel until all streaks are gone.
  • Spray all outer surfaces of the toilet with a disinfecting cleaner and allow it to sit on the surface for several minutes. Wipe the surfaces dry with a paper towel.
  • Clean the inside of the toilet bowl with a toilet bowl cleaning solution. Brush the solution over all inside surfaces, then allow it to sit for several minutes before scrubbing and flushing the toilet. Ideally, toilets should be cleaned daily.
  • Spray the tub and shower area with a cleaner designed to kill both mildew and germs. Allow the cleaner to sit on the surface, then rinse it off and wipe it dry. Clean tubs and showers once or twice each week.
  • Sweep the bathroom floor every day or every other day to remove debris. Scrub or mop the bathroom floor at least once per week using a sanitizing solution to kill germs.
  • Launder bathroom rugs once per week in the warmest water possible in the washing machine. Dry rugs in the dryer.

Bedrooms and living areas

Basement

  • Clean a concrete basement floor several times each year. Remove all objects first. Sweep it thoroughly to remove dirt and debris. Mix one cup of chlorine bleach with one gallon of warm water in a bucket and use a mop to apply the cleaning solution to the floor. Wash the floor with warm, soapy water next. Rinse the floor and allow it to dry completely before returning items to their spots.
  • Clean other hard surfaces in the basement and disinfect them. Use the same process as you used for the floor to disinfect and clean walls.
  • Spray disinfecting cleaner onto any hard furnishings in the basement, such as tables and shelves. Disinfect light switches every day or every other day with a cleaning spray or wipe.
  • Launder any soft furnishings, such as throws and pillow covers.

Looking for more home advice, cleaning how-tos, and sustainable swaps you can make at home? Grove has you covered with our buying and cleaning guides. And let us know how if you have any cleaning questions (or share your own tips using #grovehome) by following Grove Collaborative on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

If you're ready to make the transition to natural cleaning products, shop Grove Collaborative's cleaning essentials for the cleaning tools to tackle the job.