Food, fun and catching up with family and friends….If you’re like most people, you’re looking forward to the upcoming holiday season. You might also be a bit more concerned than usual this year about preventing the spread of illness during all those family gatherings.
The good news is that with a little thought and preparation, you can enjoy the holiday season without catching more than your family’s share of bugs going around. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Step up your sanitation practices
Keeping everything nice and clean can be difficult if you’re hosting guests for family dinners and parties. While it’s easy to focus on decluttering your home, this year consider shifting your attention to what really matters – sanitizing high-touch, high-traffic areas. Use a high-quality disinfectant / sanitizer to clean door knobs, light switches, entryways, bathrooms, counter tops and anywhere else people gather. Make sure to follow the instructions carefully, especially if you’re using it in areas where children, pets and food will be.
Make it easy to stay clean
People are more likely to wash hands and use sanitizers when it’s easy to do. This can be as simple as making sure you have soap, paper towels, skin cleansers and disinfectants readily available. Carefully stock your bathrooms with everything your guests will need. Additionally, consider making a few stations around your house with extra sanitizing supplies. Your front entryway, rear entryway and hallway are good spots.
Upgrade your regular cleaning products
Cleaning more often might help you keep germs at bay, but it might also expose you to a lot more chemicals than you want. Fortunately, you don’t have to sacrifice cleanliness to protect yourself from unwanted chemical exposure. By switching out your hard, chemical cleansers with non-toxic, multi-purposes cleansers, you can safely keep up the extra cleaning routine.
Be sure to select something that is safe on all surfaces, as well as non-toxic to pets and safe around children and eating surfaces.
Communicate your sanitation plan
Once you’ve cleaned everything, stocked your home with plenty of disinfectant and created strategic sanitation stations, you still have one critical task – communication. You should let everyone know your expectations when it comes to things like wearing masks and using hand sanitizers. Let everyone know your own plans for limiting the spread of germs and encourage everyone to stay home if they aren’t feeling well. You can even have a video-party option for family members that are far away, or particularly vulnerable to illnesses.
Concern over germs and illness doesn’t have to ruin your plans for holiday fun, it just means you have to adjust. With these small changes, you can make memories that last a lifetime without worrying about passing out the latest flu!