8 Uncommon Cleaning Hacks for the Flu Season – Germaphobe Approved

Beyond a regular cleaning schedule, you can cut the germs, allergens, and moisture in your home during flu season with a few less-obvious tactics: keep the temperature and humidity a little lower (bacteria, dust mites, and mold all thrive in warm, damp air), ventilate well, stir up less dust as you clean, and use tools like steam cleaners and antimicrobial copper on high-touch surfaces. Here are eight germaphobe-approved hacks — with the safety caveats that matter.

1. Lower the temperature

Warm rooms help bacteria grow and multiply, so nudging your thermostat down a degree or two helps slow them. It’s the same logic hospitals use — operating rooms are kept cool (around 65-69°F) partly to limit bacterial growth. The USDA notes bacteria multiply fastest in the “danger zone” between about 40°F and 140°F.

A cooler home has other perks: a bedroom around 60-67°F improves sleep quality, and mild cool exposure activates calorie-burning brown fat, which research links to metabolic benefits.

2. Balance the humidity

Humidity is the amount of water in the air — 50% relative humidity (RH) means the air holds half the moisture it can. Moisture drives microbial growth: the bacteria, dust mites, and mold most common in homes flourish above about 60% RH.

Hospitals keep operating rooms below 70% RH, and you can manage your home’s level with a dehumidifier that has a built-in monitor (a “hygrometer”) — useful because temperature fools our sense of how humid it actually is. Aim for roughly 30-50% RH. A dehumidifier also cuts dust mites, mold, and mildew. Just clean it regularly, or it becomes the warm, damp habitat you’re trying to eliminate.

3. Ventilate your home

Good airflow prevents stagnant pockets of humidity (especially in bathrooms) and stops pollutants — dust, microbes, and gases like carbon monoxide and radon — from building up.

When weather allows, open windows and let the house air naturally; when it’s too hot or cold, run fans to keep air moving. Still, enclosed air turns musty and gives bacteria, mold, and fungi a stable place to multiply, so even a fan or two makes a difference (and eases the dehumidifier’s job).

4. Limit what you stir into the air

Much of what you breathe indoors is what gets kicked up by daily activity. Dropping onto the sofa puffs out a cloud of dust and allergens; squeezing air out of a trash bag aerosolizes whatever’s on its contents; flushing with the toilet lid up sprays fine particles around the room (worth a thought given how close your toothbrush sits).

So move less air as you go: turn on the extractor fan when cooking or bathing, cover coughs and sneezes, close the toilet lid before flushing, and when cleaning, mist surfaces with a fine spray of water before dusting to keep dust down. Don’t shake out bedding — roll the sheets up and carry them to the basket. Small habits, big collective effect on air quality.

5. Add a houseplant or two

Houseplants release oxygen and modestly take up some indoor pollutants. Their real-world air-cleaning effect is small (you’d need a great many to rival a window), but they help a little, look good, and lift mood. The easygoing options below ask only for the occasional watering.

One important caution: several common “air-purifying” plants are toxic to cats and dogs. If you have pets, choose carefully — the ASPCA poison-control line is 888-426-4435.

Spider plant — hardy, low-maintenance, and non-toxic to pets. Keep in bright, indirect light, water sparingly.

English ivy — elegant and good in a bright bathroom, but toxic to cats and dogs if ingested, so keep it well out of reach (or skip it with pets).

Chrysanthemum — colorful and sun-loving, but toxic to pets — avoid if you have animals.

Boston fern — loves cool, humid, indirect-light spots like bathrooms, and is pet-safe.

Snake plant — nearly indestructible and tolerant of most light, but mildly toxic to pets if chewed.

6. Consider UV light — carefully

Sunlight itself reduces some surface bacteria, so opening curtains and blinds helps freshen rooms (though modern window glass filters out most of the germicidal wavelengths). The germicidal range of UV is around 254 nm — UVC — which damages microbes’ DNA.

Consumer UV “sanitizing wands” and UV-equipped air purifiers use this principle. Treat their “kills 99.9%” claims with some skepticism — effectiveness depends heavily on distance, exposure time, and direct line of sight, and many cheap devices underperform. More importantly, UVC light is hazardous to skin and eyes: never look at the lamp or expose skin, and keep these devices away from children and pets. In-duct HVAC UV units have mixed evidence; weigh them against proven steps like ventilation and good filtration.

7. Steam clean (almost) everything

Steam cleaners sanitize with heat and no harsh chemicals — great on showerheads, faucets, glass, ceramic, sealed tile, cutting boards, trash cans, and high-touch spots like door handles. The heat also loosens stuck-on gum and wax and kills pests like dust mites and bed bugs.

Keep the cleaner moving, and wipe down afterward — steam kills bacteria and loosens grime but doesn’t remove the dirt, and you’ll want to mop up condensation so you’re not leaving moisture behind.

Warning: never steam-clean electrical appliances or outlets, or porous/heat-sensitive surfaces like unsealed wood, marble and natural stone, brick, or painted walls — the heat and moisture will damage them.

8. Use copper or brass on high-touch surfaces

Copper is naturally antimicrobial: EPA-registered antimicrobial copper alloys have been shown in testing to kill more than 99.9% of bacteria like Staph, E. coli, and MRSA on contact, and they don’t wear out. Copper won’t stop germs arriving from other surfaces, but copper (or its alloys, brass and bronze, which share the property) makes a smart material for frequently-touched fixtures — faucets, doorknobs, switch plates, sinks — especially in kitchens and bathrooms. Note that to keep the antimicrobial effect, these surfaces should be left bare (unlacquered), which means they’ll develop a natural patina over time.

Fighting germs can feel never-ending, but these changes shift the odds in your favor — and most keep working continuously, improving your home’s air and hygiene well beyond flu season. Take a proactive approach and you make every future cleaning easier, while enjoying a fresher, healthier home year-round.