Tackle this task for Friday in the Weekly Household Planner:
Wash/disinfect ALL trash cans
Trash can cleaning is never a pleasant task – face it! But it sometimes becomes very necessary. You can stay ahead of the ball if you do this task regularly as it is listed in the Weekly Household Planner.
Here are a few tips to make it easier:
BAG IT
Always use a trash bag/liner in cans – either kitchen/bathroom or bedroom. If you can avoid getting it all dirty and grimy in the first place, it will need less elbow grease in the end. Any garbage can that you have the ability to throw away food or other material that is wet or sticky needs to be lined. A teenagers bedroom for example is a must!
EMPTY
If you are following the Weekly Household Planner you are already taking the kitchen trash out daily. Keep it up! This keeps it from overflowing and allowing stinky items to permeate your room.
No matter how hard you try to keep your trash cans from getting too nasty, they will need to be cleaned and disinfected.
Here is your step-by-step:
Step 1: Empty your trash can.
Step 2: Rinse out your trash can with water, either in the bathtub, sink, or outside with a garden hose.
Step 3: Use your favorite disinfecting solution to wash out and disinfect the trash cans, or you can fill it partially with warm water and add a small amount of bleach and wash it out. Make sure that you allow the disinfecting cleaner to sit long enough to do its job, approximately five minutes. You may need to use a stiff brush to scrub any gunk out of the trash cans, and to get into the corners of the can to make sure it all gets clean.
Step 4: Scrub the inside with a stiff brush to remove any sticky residue or gunk. Make sure you get the corners of the can as well.
Step 5: Rinse the can thoroughly and turn upside down to drip dry. Make sure you let the can dry completely before placing a new bag in, otherwise you will just have created an area for more germs to grow – and who wants that?
Now, go for it!