While you may actually think your toilet seat, no matter how clean is the dirtiest place in your house, you will be shocked to learn that it may actually be one of the cleanest places in your home.
For one, you wash your toilet regularly and more often than some other items. Here are a few of the dirtier items.
Your computer keyboard
Clicking away at your computer in between eating meals may actually be responsible for an illness you picked up. When British researchers swabbed 33 keyboards in a London office, they found that they harboured up to five times the germs of a toilet seat. To prevent this, wash hands, and surfaces, often.
Your Handbag
your handbag carries everything, including germs. When British researchers studied 25 handbags, they found that the average handbag is three times dirtier than an office toilet seat. Handbags used regularly were 10 times dirtier.
Handles carried the most bacteria, but even items inside the bag were grimy-hand and face creams were the dirtiest, along with lipstick and gloss. Keep your bags off the ground, and regularly wash cloth bags when possible. For plastic or leather bags, use disinfectant wipes.
Your Kitchen Cloth or Sponge
When Arizona researchers collected 1,000 dishcloths and sponges in kitchens, they found that 10 percent contained salmonella. Each square inch of their surfaces contains about 134,630 bacteria, 456 times the number on a toilet seat.
Dishcloths and sponges harbour the largest amount of E. coli and other feacal bacteria in the average home, mostly because they aren't replaced as often as they should.
To prevent this, each week, toss dishcloths in the washing machine and sponges in the dishwasher, or heat in the microwave (while damp) for 30 seconds.
Your TV Remote
It may surprise you, but the device you use for changing channels may contain an unbelievable variety of bacteria. Anything that's been on your hands before you started surfing collects on your remote.
Also, your remote collects dust sitting on your couch, gets sat on, and may even have crumbs on it, if you like to eat in front of the TV. Grime can get stuck in the nooks and crannies between the buttons, so cleaning it can be a challenge.
Every now and then, wipe down your remote using a bit of dish soap or an antiseptic wipe. Make sure to get in between the buttons.
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