Hidden germs are lurking everywhere, from your keyboard to the kitchen sink. Discover how to clean your everyday items the right way.
Words by Tori Oliver | Photo by Unspalsh
Ditch the dish sponge
Dish sponges and rags are bacteria hotspots for yeast, mold, and the bacteria family that brings us E. coli. Surely you’re on top of replacing your sponges, what, every month? Every two? Experts recommend replacing your sponges every one to two weeks. Try a bamboo dish brush to save money and reduce waste. It will retain fewer food bits and less bacteria.
Press decline
It makes sense that your phone, which you carry with you from the gas station to the dinner table, sees its fair share of the world’s germs. But cell phones are far dirtier than you think. Like, 10 times dirtier than a toilet seat. Still feel like scrolling, knowing you’ve got a public restroom’s worth of bacteria at your fingertips? A simple swipe of a disinfectant wipe or microfiber cloth and you are good-to-scroll.
Everything but the kitchen sink
While your sink works great for cleaning bacteria off your hands and dirty dishes, it can’t do that unless
you clean the sink itself. Many people defrost raw meat products in the sink or rinse a used cutting board with nothing more than water, creating a reservoir of salmonella. To sanitize your sink, try a baking soda based cleaner. Or, make your own using a mixture of baking soda and white vinegar.
Ctrl + Alt + Delete
As the lines between work and home start to blur, and eating lunch over your computer becomes the norm, it’s no surprise your keyboard is crawling with bacteria. Keyboards contain 186 times the colony forming units as your dog’s saliva-soaked squeaky toy. While blowing away crumbs may feel like cleaning, you should also sanitize with a disinfectant wipe.
