10 dirtiest places and things everyone forgets

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

There is no toilet on this list, but there is another familiar item from the bathroom.

1. Keyboard

More than 500,000 bacteria live on the keyboard within one square centimeter. This is due to the fact that people, sitting down at a computer or laptop, do not even think about washing their hands. Everything that you bring from the street settles in a dense layer on the keyboard. Add dust and crumbs to this. The result is an ideal breeding ground for pathogenic microbes.

What to do

First, wash your hands every time you go home. Secondly, do a general cleaning of the keyboard at least once a week. More often if you are not the only user of the device.

Unplug the keyboard, turn it over and, gently tapping on the back, dislodge any dirt stuck between the buttons. You can use a regular hair dryer to blow out dust and debris. Use tweezers as an aid.

Then prepare a mild soapy solution (dilute a few drops of detergent in a glass of water). You can wipe the keys and the space between them with a lint-free cloth or a clean toothbrush. After the procedure, wipe the keyboard with a dry cloth.

2. Mobile phones

During the day, a cell phone ends up in many dirty places: it lies in the pocket from where the money has just been taken out, or on the desktop, which there is always no time to wipe. They take the phone with unwashed hands after shopping, metro, public transport. In a word, he carries on himself a huge number of all kinds of microbes in a day.

What to do

Be sure to completely disinfect your mobile phone once a week. Find a special place for it in your purse, purse or backpack. Wipe your smartphone with special cleaning wipes as often as possible.

Take a microfiber cloth at home, apply a few drops of antibacterial hand wash to it, and then wipe down your mobile device. To keep your phone as clean as possible, use your headset outdoors and in public places.

3. Drainage hole in the sink

The sink siphon is the most favorable breeding ground for bacteria. As a rule, housewives pay attention to his condition when the drain is clogged or an unpleasant odor appears.

What to do

Prepare a special solution and pour the resulting mixture into the drainage hole for 20-30 minutes. Pre-wrap a rag in polyethylene and plug the drain with it. The solution can be prepared in several ways:

• Dissolve one teaspoon of baking soda in ½ cup of hot water.
• Mix ½ cup of white vinegar 3-9% and a teaspoon of lemon juice.
• Mix ½ cup white vinegar 3-9% and a teaspoon of baking soda.

The accumulated fatty deposits are cleaned with a saturated salt solution (3 tablespoons of salt per 1 glass of hot water). After cleaning, flush the drain with a powerful jet of hot water.

Try to keep your kitchen clean. Change sponges and towels frequently, wash refrigerator handles, and use five separate cutting boards for meat, fish, raw vegetables and fruits, boiled foods, and bread.

4. Toothbrush

A toothbrush can become a breeding ground for more than 100 million bacteria that are harmful to the body. And this is absolutely natural, because we brush our teeth every day, removing plaque and food debris. After a while, the brush literally becomes overgrown with bacteria.

What to do

Toothbrushes should be replaced with new ones every three months and stored upright.

To decontaminate, you can dip the brush in a mouthwash that contains alcohol for 30 seconds. You can also immerse it in boiling water for a couple of minutes or wash it in the dishwasher by placing it on the top shelf. Rinse the brush with hot water after use.

5. Keys

The surface of the keys contains as many bacteria as the button for calling the elevator. We never wipe the keys and always take them with dirty hands. They fall in the entrance or on the street, are stored in dirty pockets and bring an incredible amount of infectious bacteria into the house. Some give them to children as toys, which is unacceptable and dangerous for the child's health.

What to do

Once you get home, wash your hands first and then thoroughly wipe your keys (including the car keys) with antiseptic wipes. Make it a rule to keep your keys in your housekeeper to keep bacteria from spreading throughout your home.

6. Wallet and money

On average, one banknote contains about 30,000 bacteria per square centimeter. The older the bill, the more it carries infections: helminths, Koch's sticks, pathogens of tuberculosis and meningitis. By paying with money, people exchange bacteria.

What to do

After each contact with money, wash your hands or wipe them with a special disinfectant. Keep your money in your wallet, not in your clothing pockets. Do not leave bills on the dining table, in the hallway, do not throw them on the bed or sofa. Choose a permanent location for your wallet and periodically wipe it down with antiseptic wipes.

7. Carpets

There are 4,000 times more bacteria on a square centimeter of an ordinary carpet than on the same area of a toilet bowl. The fleecy surface of the carpet becomes an excellent place for the accumulation of all kinds of bacteria, dust mites and dead skin particles.

What to do

Vacuum your carpet regularly. To remove stains and dust, dissolve 2 teaspoons of ammonia in 1 liter of water. Clean the carpet with a brush soaked in the mixture. Then ventilate the area and let the carpet dry.

Regular baking soda can also do deep cleaning on carpets and rugs. It can be used both dry and in the form of a solution (dissolve a tablespoon of soda in a glass of water). Apply the mixture to the carpet and let it sit for 40 minutes, then vacuum it up. So you not only get rid of dirt, but also update the color of the coating.

8. Hallway

This is where you first bring thousands of germs from the street straight into your apartment. In addition, pets often like to be here, which then carry bacteria to furniture, tables, windowsills and carpets.

What to do

First of all, get a special hallway rug that will absorb dirt and street dust. Take off your shoes on it, and then go on.

Once a week, the mat should be cleaned with hot water and detergent. Tidy up your shoes as soon as you get home. Wipe the floors in the hallway daily with a solution mixed with any disinfectant.

9. Curtain for the bathroom

Bacteria multiply more actively in a humid environment. Bathroom curtains are especially prone to the ubiquitous mold. But usually they are never cleaned, believing that the soap solution that gets on the curtains is enough to disinfect.

What to do

It is recommended to tidy up the bathroom curtain once a month. It is better to replace curtains made of polyethylene with vinyl ones. They are less likely to develop mold. In addition, they can be machine washed at 40 degrees (no spinning or drying). Polyester curtains can be wiped down with a sponge.

Soak the curtain and the fittings in salt water. This will help get rid of the mold. If the curtain is made of water-repellent fabric, it can be soaked in a mild bleach solution containing chlorine. Wipe the curtains dry after each use and ventilate the bathroom more often.

10. Dishwasher and washing machine

Despite the fact that both technologies are designed to maintain order and cleanliness, they themselves are a source of germs.

What to do

Clean the dishwasher door seal every six months with a specialized cleaner recommended by the manufacturer. To prevent mold from forming, wipe dry the chamber, door, gaskets and coarse filter daily.

Wash the bottom of the machine door and the space between the gaskets regularly. Leave the dishwasher open until completely dry after use.

Once a month, rinse the drain filter of the washing machine with detergent under running water. Keep the powder tray clean.

Sometimes use any oxygenated bleach to get rid of mold and bacteria. Or, you can wash cotton tea towels by pouring 100 milliliters of disinfectant into the powder compartment.

For complete disinfection of equipment, you need to thoroughly rinse all removable parts (filters, powder tray, drain hose), as well as door seals, at least once a month.