Unlikely Places You Didn't Know You Should be Cleaning

About Nicole Pajer

Nicole Pajer is a Los Angeles-based freelance published in The New York Times, Woman's Day, AARP, Parade, Wired, Glamour, People and more.

You sweep and mop your floors. You dust off your coffee table and take out the trash. But there are places that many of us may be missing in daily, weekly or monthly cleaning sprees. It’s not always intentional – there are so many nooks and crannies in a home, and it’s easy to overlook certain spaces. But leaving some things off your cleaning list can lead to unwanted bacteria and even mold in your home.

We talked to some cleaning experts to get their take on the top places people aren’t cleaning but probably should be, plus their advice on how to properly sanitize these areas.

1. Light switches and door handles

Think of how many times a day you switch lights on and off and open and close doors. Then think about everyone you share your home with doing the same. And what about visitors? Servicemen? The list goes on and on. “These surfaces get touched a hundred times a day but barely ever wiped down and are full of germs,” says Ahmed Mezil, CEO of North American cleaning company, Hellamaid. Grab a disinfectant wipe and give these surfaces a rub down every once in a while.

2. Under furniture

Many people vacuum and dust around furniture but forget to get underneath it. “Out of sight, out of mind, until you finally move your couch and find a dust bunny civilization!” says Mezil. Many vacuums have stick attachments that allow you to get into these harder to reach places. And for under furniture, try a broom with a dry sweeping cloth, like a Swiffer.

3. Underneath stove knobs

“We’ve cleaned countless stovetops and one thing we’ve noticed is that, while the rest of the stove and the knobs are relatively clean or are seemingly given a wipe down every now and then, the grease and grime underneath the knobs are rarely tackled,” says Delah Gomasi, Managing Director of cleaning service, MaidForYou. With the inevitable cooking spills and splatters, there’s a lot of buildup underneath stove knobs that you wouldn’t know about until you remove them. It’s not necessary to clean these spots every time you wipe down your stove but Gomasi highly recommends addressing the grime and bacteria underneath the knobs at least once every two weeks.

4. Shower curtains and liners

“Mold and soap scum build up fast, but most people only clean the tub,” says Mezil. This debris and bacteria can make its way onto your shower curtains and liners, causing them to harbor bacteria, mildew and mold spores. Mezil recommends wiping down vinyl liners to disinfect them and throwing shower curtains in the wash.

5. Remote controls

You grab your television remote to change the channels – sometimes after petting your dog, picking up something you see on the floor or even after blowing your nose. And your housemates are doing the same thing. And pushing buttons causes everything on your fingers to transfer onto all those little remote control buttons. Thus, remote controls, says Mezil, are one of the germiest things in the house, especially in shared spaces. “A quick disinfecting wipe does the trick,” he says!

6. Fridge gaskets

The rubber seal around your refrigerator door is one of those things that almost never gets attention. “Although it’s rarely considered when cleaning the fridge, it should be because if you look closely between the folds, you’ll find quite a bit of gunk and debris trapped inside,” says Gomasi. She notes that the seal provides a damp and humid environment for bacteria to grow and thrive due to the built-in heating element that keeps the gasket warm and damp. Peel that seal back and clean in its crevices.

7. Ceiling fans

People often forget to look up high during their quick cleaning sessions, but fan blades can get dusty. “Dust adds up on fans like crazy, then it gets blown right back into the air every time you turn it on,” says Mezil. You also want to clean the blades of other fans too, like the portable one you have plugged in next to your bed or office desk. Just remember to unplug those first so you don’t accidentally reach inside when they get turned on. Keep these clean and you can be breathing much cleaner air in no time!

8. Your toaster tray

You toast bagels, waffles, bread and beyond. But anyone who owns a toaster knows that little breadcrumbs fall down the crack into the bottom of the toaster. How often are we really cleaning those out though? “The crumb tray of a toaster is another one of those ‘out of sight, out of mind’ places that people don’t know they should be cleaning,” says Gomasi. “We clean kitchen appliances quite often and have seen first-hand how the crumb tray is almost never emptied and cleaned out.” This, she notes, is actually really dangerous because it’s a potential fire hazard to allow crumbs to accumulate in the tray for too long. “If your toaster is being used daily, I strongly suggest you empty the crumb tray once a week if not sooner,” stresses Gomasi.

9. Window tracks

“This one is rather surprising because it’s not hard to spot debris filling up in the window tracks yet many homeowners don’t think to clean them,” says Gomasi. Window tracks, she adds, are exposed to all kinds of outdoor debris including dust, dried leaves, twigs, and even dead insects. And as the tracks get dirtier, the windows get harder to slide. “Depending on where you live and how often your window tracks are accumulating debris, I would advise vacuuming the tracks with a crevice brush 1-2 times a month,” she says.

10. The tops of doors

Just like your ceiling fans, this area in your home can be harboring lots of dust. “This is certainly a very unlikely place anyone would think to clean but it’s definitely necessary,” says Gomasi. “You never get to see how much dust and debris is sitting at the top of your doors until you get up on a ladder and look right at it!” Most homeowners will wipe the front and back of a door and even the door frame because these are all visible areas, but in Gomasi’s experience, the top of the door is often neglected. “It only takes a couple of seconds and all you need is a damp cloth to effectively clean the tops of the doors in your home,” she says.