- Kitchen floor around the sink – When washing dishes, contaminated water can splash around and get on the floor, accumulating more bacteria than inside the kitchen trashcan! Make sure to wipe down the floor and toss kitchen mats in the washing machine once a week.
- Cutting board – Your ordinary cutting board can be host to more than 200 times the bacteria than a toilet seat. Choose non-porous boards (plastic, not wood), and make sure to wash them thoroughly with soap and hot water.
- Shelves and drawers in the fridge – These small spaces can be petri dishes for food contaminants like E. coli, salmonella and listeria. Make sure to wash them thoroughly, especially the areas where meat and cheese are stored.
- Computer keyboard – This everyday tool is host to five times more dirt than the toilet seat! Wipe it down with antibacterial spray – same with the computer mouse, TV remote and light switches around the house.
- Bathroom faucet handles – This germ trap carries more bacteria than the keyboard, mouse, remote and light switches combined. Make sure to clean it a few times a week, especially with children and/or house guests around.
- Toilet paper roll dispenser – Not surprisingly, since the dispenser is used before hands are clean, it can get contaminated quickly and has 100 times more bacteria than the toilet.
What areas in your home do you think have the most germs? Are there any places you make sure to clean WITHOUT FAIL?
View Comments (5)
I am forever cleaning the handles on the fridge and freezer doors! I also clean the outsides of my spice bottles a lot. The thought of someone placing raw meat into a pan and then grabbing spices to season it with their nasty germ infested hands gives me the heebee geebees! Yecchhh! :)
Ooh, you are so right! I'm such a germophobe in the kitchen, because there's just so many ways for bacteria to run wild before you know it!
Feeling pretty good - I generally hit all those spots pretty often! My big spring cleaning items that hasn't been done yet is dusting the tops of the kitchen cabinets...and all the little stuff up there.
Good for you! Yeah, I have yet to get to the out-of-the-way dusting either...not exactly my favorite chore. :(
Most of these are givens and I wipe them down on a frequent basis, not just during spring cleaning.