10 Things You Own and Need to Clean Immediately

Cleaning the obviously dirty things in your life is easy. Eventually your hair reaches a point where it can go no further without shampoo (or can it), and it’s impossible to ignore a dirty kitchen counter, but the hidden spots of your house are a little harder to scrub, and way easier to forget about. But that doesn’t mean you should just abandon them. A clean home is a much healthier home, if only because playing detective on smells, mold, and various unidentified spots isn’t exactly a charming way to spend a Sunday otherwise set aside for lounging in pajamas all over your living room.

Here are 10 things you need to be paying more attention to, and how exactly you can start this new, timely part of your extremely clean life.

YOUR SHOWER LINER

For something used in the process to get us clean, we definitely don’t pay enough attention to our shower curtain’s own sanitation. Mold, mildew, and general grossness pile up quickly here, since the bottom edges are constantly getting wet and left behind. Clean your liner with baking soda, bleach, or vinegar every couple of weeks to ensure maximum spa-like vibes in every shower.

YOUR DAILY BAG

Your purse, your backpack, your four to five tote bags because sometimes you just need more room – whatever you’re lugging your life around in on a daily basis, you probably need to clean it. Try to empty it out and wipe it down once a week for a portable peaceful state of mind — you’ll be shocked at how much lighter you feel when you’re not carrying 17 empty gum packets with you at all times.

MAKEUP BRUSHES

Technically, you should be washing and disinfecting your makeup brushes daily. But that’s a little intense, so try a quick spritzing cleanser after every use, and a more intense bath weekly or monthly depending on use (concealer and foundation brushes, for example, need a deep cleanse weekly.

YOUR SHEETS

In things we thought were obvious: wash your sheets every week! You sleep in them, and probably also read in them, watch TV in them, wait around for like 20 minutes to an hour before actually getting out of them every morning, and maybe even eat in them (no judgment) on a daily basis. So cleaning them on a weekly basis shouldn’t be that out of reach. Our best advice is having more than one set of sheets, which can feel incredibly fancy and very adult, but is going to make your life a whole lot easier and frankly much more luxurious.

YOUR BRA

We know, we know. Washing bras is a hassle that takes you right back to the dark ages. But trust us when we say: you need to wash your bra more often than you do, because it’s probably gathering stuff you don’t want, like smellsor germs. The good news? You can machine wash a bra. Just be extra careful and always air-dry, no matter what.

YOUR JEANS

It hurts to hear this right after the bra, but sometimes the truth is painful. The silver lining is that how often you should actually wash your jeans is way up for debate. Some people say it’s every four to five wears, some people say it’s literally never. Be on the safe side by finding somewhere in between — about every six to 10 wears — and keeping the grime at bay.

YOUR PILLOWS

Pillows are hard to clean, but super necessary to, since they can attract fungi and dust mites, which are just not the things you want crashing in your bed. Wash your pillows every three to six months to maintain the dreamiest bed situation possible — just throw them in a gentle cycle on their own (run them through the rinse cycle twice), then dry them on low with tennis balls to maintain maximum fluff.

YOUR COMPUTER

That machine you use for every single thing in your entire life? It’s somehow not spotless. Invest in a dusting clothfor quick swipes on a daily basis (pro tip: get as many dusting cloths as possible and use them all the time), butnever use any products on your laptop. A damp (not soaked, not even wet) cloth on your keyboard and screen is fine — just make you turn everything off before you clean.

ANYTHING YOU CAN’T SEE

The bottom of your desk is probably disgusting, as are the backs of your drawers, the furthermost corners of your refrigerator, and the last few racks in your closet. Take time once a month to clean out all the spaces you never think about, whether that means doing some hardcore scrubbing, figuring out which clothes you can finally get rid of, or just dusting every single surface in your entire home. Committing yourself to a monthly deep clean is an instant refresher, so don’t skimp — turn up some music, put on those hideous gloves that make you just want to attack the shower floor with a brush, and go for it.