One chore not to neglect: Clean your cleaning tools

There’s not much that’s more satisfying than crossing a handful of tedious cleaning chores off your to-do list. But before you give yourself a (well-deserved) mental highfive for scrubbing the tub, vacuuming the rugs or wiping the crumbs off the kitchen counters, there’s one more thing you need to do: Clean your cleaning tools.

It’s an oft-neglected task, says Zeynep Mehmetoglu, co-owner of Maid Bright in the D.C. area, because “you’re just like, ‘Oh, let me get this clean and just walk away.’You just want to clean as fast as possible and move on to something else.”

But not cleaning your cleaning products can negate all the time you took to clean.

“If you are not cleaning your tools, you’re also kind of spreading the dirt,” says Becky Rapinchuk, founder of Clean Mama. “There’s a reason to clean the cleaning tools, and that is so that we’re not spreading germs around.”

Ultimately, Rapinchuk says, “it’s really not that difficult to clean them. You just have to know what to do.”

Here’s how she and other cleaning experts suggest disinfecting and caring for some common cleaning tools.

Toilet brushes

A toilet brush, says Rapinchuk, who’s based in suburban Chicago, is “the grossest thing to clean.” After you’re done scrubbing your toilet with the brush, she says, don’t just return it to its holder. Instead, flush the toilet a couple of times with the brush still in the bowl to ensure the brush is clean. Suspend the brush over the bowl, with the toilet seat holding it in place, and use a spray bottle to squirt hydrogen peroxide on the bristles. Leave it there until it’s dry, then put the brush back in the holder. “It’s super easy,” Rapinchuk says. “You don’t have to touch anything.”

Vacuums

Vacuums are the power tools of cleaning, but they require a little attention to keep them running smoothly. Jarelle Flibotte, owner of Jolly Maids and Cleaning By JMF in Barre, Vt., recommends that, after every use, you unplug your vacuum, examine the underside of the brush and cut along the indentation by the brush with a small razor or pair of scissors to remove accumulated hair that can slow the brush down. You should also inspect the filters weekly, she says. If they are made of foam, rinse and air-dry them. (High-efficiency particulate air, or HEPA, filters should be changed about once every six months.)

James Rothstein, owner of the Maid Man in Chanhassen, Minn., says he sprays the tubing and attachments with a multi-surface cleaner, then wipes them down.

Mehmetoglu recommends emptying the dust bin on bagless models each time you vacuum. To keep your vacuum functioning well, find a small air compressor, such as the type used to clean computer keyboards, and spray the inside of the bin and the vacuum’s surrounding parts and crevices to ensure dust does not accumulate. “This has happened to me, where the vacuum will stop working if you don’t clean the parts, because there is no bag trapping all of that dust,” she says. If your model has a bag, change it according to the manufacturer’s instructions – or before it becomes full. If your vacuum isn’t picking up dirt, there’s a good chance you need to change the bag.

Microfiber cloths

Carlos Soto and Joanna Krzesinska, a married couple who own ChicProClean in Chicago’s northwest suburbs, say they use microfiber cloths more than anything else in their cleaning arsenal. The cloths are workhorses, Soto says, and they can withstand hundreds of washes.

A word of caution, though: Don’t mix them with other fabrics in the wash. If they’re thrown in with towels and cotton shirts, “all the lint is going to get inside the microfiber,” Soto says. “It’s going to clog up the pores, and it’s going to shorten the length of how long the microfiber cloths will be usable.”

And never use fabric softener or bleach when washing microfiber cloths. Instead, Krzesinska says, pour a cup of white vinegar and a teaspoon of dish soap in with the laundry detergent. “It deodorizes the microfiber, too,” she adds.

Once they’re washed, airdry them or use the medium heat setting on your dryer, Soto says.

Sponges

Flibotte and her cleaning technicians scrub sponges with a small brush, then toss them in the dishwasher. Soto also uses the dishwasher to clean sponges. He puts them on the top rack and uses the sanitize cycle.

Brushes

Danielle Steiner, owner of Steiner Cleaning in Minnesota, says she throws her scrub brushes in the washing machine with hot water and laundry detergent. To keep them from banging around inside the machine, she suggests tossing them in with cleaning rags.