For most of us, the dirtiest place we can imagine in the house is the toilet seat. Some of us even live in the perpetual fear that Hussain or Vishal will randomly visit your house and screen your dirty toilet on national television.
But guess what, there are other places in the house that are way, way dirtier than your loo – and some of them are actually rather uncomfortably close to your food/mouth. Here’s giving your inner germaphobic a gentle nudge towards paranoia!
1. Your office table
Think about it – your hands, your colleagues hands, crumbs of snacks make your desk a super comfy place for the bacteria to grow. As it turns out, that amounts to about 400 times the bacteria on your toilet seat.
2. Keyboards
When was the last time you actually sat down and cleaned your keyboard? Never, right? You shouldn’t be surprised when you find out that your keyboard has about 200 times the bacteria on your toilet.
3. Your phone
You breathe on it, put your dirty hands on it, put your sweaty face against it, and you lend it to your friends. All of that and never getting washed/disinfected = 10 times more bacteria that the toilet. Well, at least it’s not as bad as the keyboard and table, right?
4. Menu cards at restaurants
The average menu card has about 100 times more bacteria than your toilet bowl. Doesn’t that make for an appetizing meal?
5. Your tooth brush!
As it turns out, every time you flush your toilet, fecal bacteria fly out and settle down in different corners of your bathroom. So basically, you clean your mouth with your own poop twice a day. Good luck with that!
6. Carpets
Carpets house about 4000 times more bacteria than your average toilet seat, and humans shed about 1.5 million skin cells every hour. So not only are you hosting a party for the bacteria, you’re also providing them good food!
7. The T.V. remote
Here’s a reason to let your dad/sibling/mom/friend keep the remote. It’s handled by everyone, it falls on the floor ( and carpet!) and it’s been found to be one of the most conducive environments for the flu virus to grow in. Still want the remote back?
Via familylivingideasblog.blogspot.com
8. Light switches
Let’s all agree that your hands are one of the dirtiest parts of your body, and you use them to turn switches on and off all the time. The same switches that have been flipped over and over by all the other people. The same switches that never get washed, and have about 217 bacteria per square inch.
9. The kitchen sink
Before you call the toilet dirty, look into your kitchen sink. Every day you put your dirty dishes in there, leaving them to fester until the maid comes and cleans it all up. Well guess what, all the uneaten food particles on your plate are slowly converting into bacteria feeding gunk even as you read this. Apparently, your sink could be dirtier than your entire bathroom put together.
10. Pillows
Dead skin cells, dust mites, sweat, drool, pollen and fungal spores – all hanging out together in a conducive, comfortable environment. What a lovely thought!
11. Your mattress
Fun fact: your mattress will be double in weight in ten year’s time because of all the dust mites and dust mite poop it collects over time. I’m not even kidding.
Via vagabondurges.wordpress.com
12. Money
We’ve all seen this one in disinfectant ads. A single note of currency can contain up to 200,000 bacteria. Good luck not falling sick after that!
13. Your keys
Same reason. Who has ever thought of cleaning their keys?! So they just sit at the bottom of your bags/in your pockets and soak up all the dirty bacteria.
14. Shower heads
You’d think all the water coming out from your shower would keep it nice and clean. In reality though, the warm wet insides of a shower head is a great place for bacteria to flourish.
15. Your handbag
Let’s make a quick list of what your bag contains – keys, food, your phone, money… get the picture?
16. Kitchen sponges
While you’re using your scotchbrites to clean up all the goo on your utensils, your sponge itself is acquiring more and more dirt. The fact that they’re usually wet all the time and fairly close to the kitchen sink doesn’t make things any better!
17. Curtains
While you dust, clean and vacuum your house; your curtains hang in there and soak up all the bacteria and dust mites. Typically, these get cleaned only once in a couple of months, and as you’ve figured by now, that only makes it worse.
18. Your gaming controller
Remember what happened to your T.V. remote? Long story short, your gaming controller actually has 5 times more bacteria than the toilet bowl.
19. The chopping board
While you’re showing off your masterchef skills on your chopping board, you’re also accommodating more bacteria into it like a pro. And if vegetables and fruits were not dirty enough, raw meat has plenty of salmonella to poison you with.
20. Stuffed toys
The next time your Boo gets you a cute little teddy bear, don’t make it out to be a sweet gesture. Sweat, drool, skin flakes and a perfect little place for the bacteria to grow puts your plushies anywhere between twice to 400 times dirtier than the loo. It’s not love, it’s a murder weapon.
21. Saunf!
The fact that you’re regularly shoving poop-level dirt into your mouth by your own hands voluntarily shouldn’t come as a shock after you figured out the deal about your tooth brush. It’s mostly just kept right next to the money, in the open; and handled by EVERYONE with their dirty, germy hands! *hyperventillate*