Spread Holiday Cheer Not Holiday Germs

With traveling, hosting, and holiday parties, germs are spreading faster than Holiday cheer.

Some of the biggest havens for germs are your kitchen and bathroom towels.

 

Here's a quick story from my homeland of Minnesota 

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video-on-demand/?autoStart=true&clipId=7292256 

 

With Norwex antibacterial microfiber towels, you can keep using the same towel over the course of a week without a worry.  And Norwex is running a few extra special deals for the rest of December.

 

Here's some extra specials going on right now that can help you in battling the most germ filled places in your home.
307105 Salmon Kitchen Towel $19.99 now only $16.99
307205 Salmon Kitchen Cloth $9.99 now only $7.99
303901 Hand Towel, Taupe $18.99 now only $16.99
309000 Bath Towel, Taupe $22.99 now only $19.99

Let's do latte kitchen towel & cloth set $24.99  ($5 off)

Face the day - bathroom towel, body pack, and tooth brush $53.99 ($6 off) 

 

If you can't get Norwex right now here's some more tips for keeping those germ havens at bay.

1. Wash all towels daily in hot water with vinegar in the wash (for more germ fighting power) and dry on hot

2. If you're having guests over, change the bathroom hand towel before and after the event

3. Keep separate kitchen towels for drying hands and drying dishes

4. Make sure your towels are hung so as to dry out as quickly and adequately as possible.  Germs love a most environment

5. Wipe down faucet handles often.  They get the brunt of the germs since that's where dirty hands go first and it's also the last place hands go before reaching for a towel. 

  

 Don't wait - these specials will be gone fast & if you order now, they might arrive in time for the new year!

How to Care for Microfiber

[Updated 7/21/2018]

In order for high quality microfiber like Norwex to keep it's cleaning edge (literally, the fibers have edges, which is part of why it scrapes the surfaces so clean), and to unclog any buildup from the surface or from within the microscopic spaces between and within fibers, special care must be taken to get it thoroughly clean without damaging it.

Suzanne Holt, who has been doing Norwex much longer than my 8 years has written her own recommendations, which I mostly agree with.  My kitchen cloths don't start to stink as quickly as hers - but I usually wipe up the first round of any mess with the dish cloth. It rinses very clean and is nearly impossible to get stinky. I use my microfiber for getting things truly clean, de-germed, etc.

Here's how I do it.

Day to Day
I rinse & hang cloths between uses sometimes with a little Norwex or other dish soap. I let my dirty microfiber build up and throw dry dirty ones into a pile and launder them in a microfiber only load (or with sheets or jeans - no cotton towels/ no linty items!!) about every 10 days in my front loader. I use Norwex detergent and do the sanitizing wash on my machine every other load of microfiber (about once a month) & I do a deep soak on occasion (about once every 3-6 months). 

Detergent
Never use bleach with any microfiber.  It destroys the tiniest, most powerfully cleaning fibers. 

Do not use fabric softener, it coats the fiber in a thick oil which causes it to repel instead of absorb water and reduces the grip of the fiber on a surface reducing it's superiority as a cleaning fiber.  This usually can be reversed through one deep soak or several launderings depending on how much fabric softener build up there is.

Use Norwex detergent ideally.  If not, then use a detergent that is free of the above (bleach and softeners) as well as free of fillers and dyes.  For your health you should avoid fragrances, but I also find that when I've used fragrances the cloths start to smell bad more quickly.

Deep Soak
Even though you may launder your microfiber often, you need to do a deep soak. Clean looking & clear rinsing microfiber will still get microscopic build up that can only be released by heat. To do a deek soak, boili a large pot of water, then place microfiber in, turn it off, add 1 tsp - 1 TB detergent, let sit for at least 10 minutes & swish around with tongs). Then I rinse each cloth out (carefully! they'll retain that very hot water) until the water runs clear.  Usually 4 or 5 times ringing out, then hang dry.

Drying
I dry Norwex microfiber in the dryer - usually on hot (do not do this with any other microfiber). No dryer sheets, ever.. it's fabric softener.  I sometimes take out the dryer balls b/c I want static build up (attracts more dust). I do not put my bathroom scrub mitt in the dryer or anything else with that plastic scrubby side b/c I've had one shrink on me in the past. 

It does seem for those that hang dry their cloths, they retain their color a little better, but it's a purely aesthetic thing.

For cheaper microfiber, drying is not recommend by manufacturer, however I have found that it turns out better if dried on low/no heat... it's the static build up thing again.