When it comes to cleaning the house, we usually attend to the same few chores — mopping the floor, vacuuming the carpets, wiping the tables and throwing dirty laundry into the wash.
While most people remember to clean their toilets and the living room, there are a ton of areas that tend to get overlooked in the cleaning process: for example, the area behind the refrigerator and the back of your TV console (don’t lie, you’re probably curious to find out how dirty it is right now).
Here are four household items that you’ve probably neglected to clean, and how often you should actually wash them instead.
1. Stuffed toys
Photo via Pixabay/Pexels
How often we wash it: never, because we don’t have the courage to wash our ‘chou chou’
How often we should wash it: once a month
The audacity to even think about washing our ‘bantal busuk’ or ‘chou chou’.
However, for the sake of your health and hygiene, washing your stuffed toys at least once every four weeks is a must, especially if the toy belongs to a kid who carries it around constantly and sleeps with it nightly.
To effectively kill bacteria, allergens and mites, stuffed toys should be washed in a washing machine at a minimum temperature of 60°C.
You may also choose to place them in a mesh bag so that your teddy can keep its shape.
Do remember to check the label first to see if it can be machine washed.
2. Bed sheets
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How often we wash it: once a month
How often we should wash it: once a week
We shed 500 million skin cells everyday, and we spend one-third of our lives rolling on our beds.
Imagine how many tiny dust mites are feeding off your dead skin on your sheets now?
Sheet slackers probably would’ve experienced and suffered under the hands (or should I say, claws) of these repulsive critters and their droppings — they cause allergies, asthma and itchy eczema flare ups.
Keep your body free of dust mite bites by washing your bed sheets every week in hot water, and even more frequently if you have pets that sleep on your bed, sweat heavily at night or feast on midnight snacks in bed.
3. Shoes
Photo by Sebastian Pociecha on Unsplash
How often we wash it: never, unless they’ve gotten caked with mud
How often we should wash it: every two weeks or whenever they start to look dirty
Unless it’s leather or formal shoes that require dry cleaning, your kicks can take a swim in the washer.
However, you’ll have to be extremely careful about the glue in your shoes. Set your washing machine to a gentle, cold water cycle with a slow or no-spin setting.
For added protection, place your shoes in a mesh bag separately from the laces and insoles.
Pro tip: Throw in a bunch of other floor items such as mats to lessen the impact and noise made by your shoes bouncing around in the washer.
4. Bath towels
Photo by Ivan Babydov via Pexels
How often we wash it: once every few weeks
How often we should wash it: after every three uses
We get it — why would anyone wash their towels so often?
After all, you're clean and fresh out of the shower when you use the towel, so technically, it won’t get dirty.
Unfortunately, that is not the case.
When you dry yourself, you're transferring dead skin cells to the towel.
Combined with the moisture absorbed, your towel becomes a breeding ground for germs.
One of the consequences of not cleaning your towels regularly includes spreading infectious diseases.
The best way to prevent nasties from thriving on your bath towels is to wash it frequently along with your regular clothes, and to let it dry completely between each use.
Also, never ever share a towel with someone whom you don’t know or who is possibly sick.
Get rid of the nasties in your household items easily by throwing them into the washing machine
After reading till here, you’re probably trying to recall when was the last time you washed these items and the amount of bacteria teeming within them.
If you’re feeling grossed out and want to get rid of the nasties ASAP, Hitachi’s Linear Smart Washer Dryer might just do the trick.
Tight, clean, fresh
This smart, all-in-one washer-dryer features a Wind Iron Technology which dries your laundry while smoothing out wrinkles.
Also, it fluffs up your 100 per cent cotton towels way better compared to sun drying them.
Photo via Hitachi
Imagine how brand new your bath towels are going to look after this.
Besides making your bath towels look brand new, Hitachi’s Linear Smart Washer Dryer is also able to clean and deodorise items that people usually avoid throwing in the washing machine such as stuffed toys and shoes.
You can wash these items without worrying about damaging them with the Air Wash feature, which produces heated and moisturised air that reduces bacteria and suppresses virus activities.
Photo via Hitachi
When it comes to vanquishing all the bacteria and germs, its 60°C Hygiene setting does the trick.
When you run a cycle in that mode, a built-in heater will warm up the water to 60°C, reducing all kinds of bacteria lingering on your items.
This function is especially useful if you have a newborn at home and have to do baby laundry — this mode will remove mites and allergens and suppress virus activity.
Get clean clothes in a matter of minutes
Singaporeans don’t like wasting time, and Hitachi knows that all too well.
The Linear Smart Washer Dryer prides itself on making your clothes clean and OOTD ready in the shortest time possible — it only takes 15 minutes to gently de-wrinkle and deodorise two shirts using their Steam Iron technology — very suitable for busy mornings before rushing out of the house.
Less effort, more result
With this washer-dryer, you can forget about eyeballing the amount of detergent and softener to use for different loads.
The machine’s Auto Dosing System (ADS) will automatically dispense the proper amount of liquids according to the load, and the route which the soap has passed through will also be cleaned each time.
Smart people deserve smart washing machines
Photo via Hitachi
How many times have you planned to wash something, only to put it off because you didn’t know what settings to choose?
With the Hitachi Linear Smart Washer Dryer, this headache is taken away.
Using the AI Wash feature, the machine automatically determines the washing method and duration depending on various conditions.
Now, you won’t have to worry about toggling the settings by yourself or accumulating a basket full to make your water bill worth it.
This makes doing laundry idiot-proof, with even lazy people like me being able to get clean clothes without a hitch.
Speaking of water bills, this washer-dryer has a water efficiency rating of four ticks.
This means that you will be able to save 43 per cent of water per wash compared to using a two-tick washing machine.
On top of this, this machine even automatically cleans itself after every cycle (which is why it didn’t make it to the above list of neglected items).
Of course, what is a smart washing machine without being able to control it remotely?
No matter where you are, you will be able to control your washing machine with the tap of a button.
When you download the Hitachi Washer app, you will get access to a variety of controls which include alerts for when your washing is done, seeing the duration left on a cycle, pre-selecting a time to start your washing operation and more.
Besides being highly functional, this washer-dryer is also perfect for those who are drawn to items that ooze with aesthetic value.
Photo via Hitachi
Free rice cooker worth S$159 when you purchase Hitachi’s Linear Smart Washer Dryer
If this front-loading washing machine sounds like your cup of tea, you'd be glad to know that there is a promotion going on right now when you buy directly from Hitachi’s website.
Originally priced at S$3,099, this washer-dryer is now selling for S$2,099 for a limited time only.
To sweeten the deal, Hitachi is also offering a free rice cooker worth S$159 with every purchase.
Price: S$3,099 > S$2,099
You can find out more about the Linear Smart Washer Dryer available at Hitachi here.
This sponsored article by Hitachi made the writer think about all the times her mother said she was living in a pigsty.
Top image by No Revisions via Unsplash