3 Tips For Creating A Clean & Safe Haven During A Pandemic
This article is in partnership with The Home Depot.
It was July 2020. We were four months into our diligent, safer-at-home practices when it happened. Our air conditioner broke. In Florida. In summer! It was almost comical. We'd been very careful—not eating out, not going out, soaking produce, letting delivered packages sit for days on end downstairs (it became more of a superstition than anything) and disinfecting all the delivered groceries, twice--but now, we'd have to break the barrier. We'd have to let someone, from out there, in here! It would be a first, as we hadn't ventured out since March! But I was ready.
I wasn't fearful, I was just being careful, I told myself as I placed the call to request a repair man. But when he showed up later that day, peering at me through the glass window on the door, without a mask, I almost freaked out. But I did ask him if he had one. He pulled a crumpled paper mask from out of his shirt pocket and reluctantly put it on before entering our home. Thankfully, he had paper booties for his shoes, but pretty much touched everything with his bare hands on his way to and from the faulty unit which was located on the third floor, and at one point, even asked to use our bathroom!
When everything was back in working order and I walked him out, I closed the door behind me and immediately jumped on the internet and began researching smarter, safer, pet- and kid-friendly solutions for keeping my house clean during a pandemic. With the help of The Home Depot, a trusted source to alleviate home safety concerns, here's what I came up with:
1. Passive cleaning.
Have you invested in robot vacuum cleaners?! The clouds parted. The sun shone through. It was a miracle. They're quiet, they're effective, they disinfect the floor so I don't have to. It's my lazy way to obsess. And for that, I'm thankful.
Option(s): Roomba iRobot vacuum
2. Clean hands.
You know how you can't wash your hands without touching the sink? THAT! I was fully aware of this when I went into that bathroom after the repair man left. Also, I have two kiddos, 10 and 3, and the handles on our sink are definitely grimier than they should be. I've been heavily researching touchless, motion-sensing faucets, and you should, too!
They're classier and chicer than the ones you find at the airport (I miss the airport), and will match any décor. You'll still have to wipe it down regularly (especially if your kids, like mine, go H.A.M. with the toothpaste), but the fewer touch points, the better! Of course, we use our favorite soap and a 20-second scrub to get those germs. And we're all packin' hand sanitizer for anytime we're on the go.
Options: U by Moen Essie Smart Faucet, H&B 22oz Antibac Lav Sage Hand Soap, Zep Liquid Spray Hand Sanitizer 32oz
3. Safe cleaning.
My daughter is an environmental advocate. Nothing comes in the house without her scrutiny, and because of it, I'm even more careful to make sure that everything we use is eco-friendly or preferably sustainable, and/or reusable. During the pandemic, I've come across and used cleansers that were potentially bad for my family's health and the environment. After much research, I found info on concentrated vinegar. It's an effective solution for cleaning and a safer alternative to traditional cleaning products and one of many conscious (albeit smelly) ways to keep my home clean.
Options:Harris Vinegar Concentrated-30 128oz, Frost King Sanitizing Wipe 25 Count
Courtesy of The Home Depot
At The Home Depot, we make sure your shopping experience is safer and more convenient!
1. BUY ONLINE OR PICK-UP IN STORE:
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2. DELIVERY:
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3. THE HOME DEPOT APP:
The Home Depot App has Image and Voice Search, Product Locator, Augmented Reality, and Project Calculators. And you can browse and buy over one million products from wherever you are. This is how to do more on the go!
How are you keeping your home safer and clean during the pandemic?
Featured image courtesy of The Home Depot
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ItGirl 100 Honors Black Women Who Create Culture & Put On For Their Cities
As they say, create the change you want to see in this world, besties. That’s why xoNecole linked up with Hyundai for the inaugural ItGirl 100 List, a celebration of 100 Genzennial women who aren’t afraid to pull up their own seats to the table. Across regions and industries, these women embody the essence of discovering self-value through purpose, honey! They're fierce, they’re ultra-creative, and we know they make their cities proud.
VIEW THE FULL ITGIRL 100 LIST HERE.
Don’t forget to also check out the ItGirl Directory, featuring 50 Black-woman-owned marketing and branding agencies, photographers and videographers, publicists, and more.
THE ITGIRL MEMO
I. An ItGirl puts on for her city and masters her self-worth through purpose.
II. An ItGirl celebrates all the things that make her unique.
III. An ItGirl empowers others to become the best versions of themselves.
IV. An ItGirl leads by example, inspiring others through her actions and integrity.
V. An ItGirl paves the way for authenticity and diversity in all aspects of life.
VI. An ItGirl uses the power of her voice to advocate for positive change in the world.
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Bianca Belair Opens Up About Her Mental Health And Self-Care Practices As A WWE Star
Bianca Belair has earned her title as a SmackDown superstar within the WWE. Now, the wrestling champion is opening up about how she stays on top of her mental and physical health.
In conversation with ESSENCE, the former RAW Women’s Champion discussed the importance of prioritizing her mental health and how she maintains her mental well-being overall.
“Mental health is everything,” Belair told the publication. “I think everybody focuses so much on the physical. You go in the gym and you’re training and you’re working hard and you’re sore. You feel good about yourself. But mental health is just as important.”
For Belair, prioritizing moments of rest is a key component of her mental health practices, due in part to her demanding schedule that keeps her “on the go.” She shares how her career, coupled with the expectation to focus on performing and pleasing fans, can lead to mental exhaustion from giving so much to others.
“I’m constantly so focused, grinding, I’m constantly performing; where you go out there and you’re smiling and you’re meeting fans and you’re putting smiles on fans’ faces, sometimes you tend to forget about yourself and you become mentally exhausted or you give so much of yourself to the world,” she says.
She adds, “When you get to your home life where you have your loved ones, the ones that truly matter and that are going to be there, even when everything’s said and done, you don’t have anything for them. You don’t have anything for yourself. So I get mentally exhausted just from being physically exhausted.”
In April, Bianca Belair spoke at WWE World on how she plans to stay ahead of the competition amid her many career achievements within the wrestling industry.
“My work speaks for itself. I’ve done a lot of things that no one can ever take from me. I’ve main-evented WrestleMania, I’ve made history,” she said. “I only want to step in the ring with who thinks they are the best because that’s the only way I can be pushed to be even better.”
Belair, 35, concluded by dispelling the misconception that self-care requires extravagant activities like spa treatments, highlighting the simplicity of activities like resting and watching favorite shows in bed as valuable forms of self-care.
“I have to remember to do things that I enjoy,” she says. “I think that mental health and self-care sometimes has a misconception when people think that it’s this extravagant thing where you have to go to the spa, you have to get cucumbers and put them on your eyes and get massages. Sometimes I just need to sit down and decompress, lay in my bed and do my guilty pleasure and eat in my bed and watch all my shows.”
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Featured image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images