Germophobes...you can nuke your sponges!

[:)]

Date: 1/22/2007 9:15:45 PM
Author: widget
LOL...at first I misread your title and thought you were addressing ''gemaphobes''. I thought to myself, you won''t find many of those around here!

Thanks for the tip..

widget

LOL! I thought the EXACT SAME THING!!!

Great tip!

 

[Miranda]

Date: 1/23/2007 12:48:25 PM
Author: TravelingGal
OK, I don''t mean any offense here...but barring a really nasty funked out sponge, what do you think is going to happen to you by using them? Is it just a mental thing? We always used sponges when I was growing up. I still use them now as I do all my dishes by hand. No one that I know has ever gotten some bacterial illness from sponge use. I''m not being facetious here...I''m actually curious, as all your sponge aversions has made me think I am missing something.

Either way, I think I''ll replace mine with a new one today.

I think I would collapse...or my hands would fall off...or I''d vomit (see GAD thread - I''m not making fun, I seriously fall into the pattern of being frightened and I have the what if bug as well). For me, yes, it is a mental thing. I''ve just heard too many stories and read too many health reports that relate cross contamination in the kitchen and stomach ailments (vomiting and other not so fun stuff). I have 3 kids. When they are ill, the world is not a happy place. I try to avoid all illness if at all possible.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 1/23/2007 11:24:09 PM
Author: Miranda
I think I would collapse...or my hands would fall off...or I'd vomit (see GAD thread - I'm not making fun, I seriously fall into the pattern of being frightened and I have the what if bug as well). For me, yes, it is a mental thing. I've just heard too many stories and read too many health reports that relate cross contamination in the kitchen and stomach ailments (vomiting and other not so fun stuff). I have 3 kids. When they are ill, the world is not a happy place. I try to avoid all illness if at all possible.

Aw Miranda, we don't want you to vomit, so definitely stay away from the cesspool sponges! I think with kids in the house, I'd probably be more cautious, but it's jut TGuy and me, and we're pretty resilient.

 

[butterfly 17]

Well, I haven''t tried nuking my sponge, but ever week I take a bowl put a little Clorox and water and soak my sponge in it. I don''t really change my sponge that often, every couple of months and only when I notice it starting to flake off the edges.

The bleach thing is great!

 

[Beacon]

Because of this thread I went and rechecked my little faucet head filters. In one bath room that we don''t use that much I checked and it was gross. So, before cleaning it out I got my handy diamond loupe. Ok, this is so PS I know.

Well - it ws too much for me - so gross! I got my husband over, he thought it was gross too. Biology class! I am going to go to my city and find out about this. Now I don''t want to use the tap water AT ALL.

But I am happy I learned about the sponge thing.

 

[TravelingGal]

OK, the state of the sponge matters...

Nuked for 1 minute. Before the minute was up, it smelled like burning old wet rag. The sponge didn''t smell nearly as bad before it went in the nuker!

It went from nuker to trash. I won''t stop using them, but I will replace far more often!!!

 

[diamondsrock]

I''ve nuked my sponge before and it smelled horrible!!! So now I just run through the dishwasher and replace them often anyways. I usually replace them every other week or sooner if they are gross.
I hate dirty sponges! Pet peeve of mine.

 

[Mara]

haha well i think it is good to be educated on the whole sponge, germ thing and all that...but really...there is such a thing about being too paranoid about germs. greg likes to tell me about all the super germs that are breeding in the waters right off where all the sewers run into, apparently all the anti-bacterial stuff we use is flowing down to the waters and then in that breeding ground super germs who are resistant to the soaps are growing. grossness. but i believe it! germs will always find a way to perservere. what about the movie theatre chairs, anyone see the oprah about that? talk about a breeding ground for germs! i always try not to let my hair touch the seat or if we go to the movies i put my hoodie up so that it touches the movie chair not my head etc.

however, for the most part...the way i look at it is .... i am pretty clean and i use antibacterial soap and all that but i TRY not to get too paranoid. and so far i'm pretty okay...i mean unless my latest abdominal upset has to do with some germ i picked up from our sponge, hehe. which who knows. but bottom line is that the past is a great predictor of the present, and i use that mantra on things like this too...aka if you have not gotten ecoli poisoning previously from a sponge or touching a door handle or whatever then chances are GOOD you won't have it happen in the future. not 1000% of course. but just thought i'd throw that out there. i try to remember that when i feel myself getting all OCD about something...haha. obviously no don't go stick your hand in the public toilet but in general...just wash your hands, don't touch your eyes, keep your sponges pretty clean or replace, watch the raw chicken etc etc.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 1/24/2007 3:56:23 PM
Author: Mara
haha well i think it is good to be educated on the whole sponge, germ thing and all that...but really...there is such a thing about being too paranoid about germs. greg likes to tell me about all the super germs that are breeding in the waters right off where all the sewers run into, apparently all the anti-bacterial stuff we use is flowing down to the waters and then in that breeding ground super germs who are resistant to the soaps are growing. grossness. but i believe it! germs will always find a way to perservere. what about the movie theatre chairs, anyone see the oprah about that? talk about a breeding ground for germs! i always try not to let my hair touch the seat or if we go to the movies i put my hoodie up so that it touches the movie chair not my head etc.

however, for the most part...the way i look at it is .... i am pretty clean and i use antibacterial soap and all that but i TRY not to get too paranoid. and so far i''m pretty okay...i mean unless my latest abdominal upset has to do with some germ i picked up from our sponge, hehe. which who knows. but bottom line is that the past is a great predictor of the present, and i use that mantra on things like this too...aka if you have not gotten ecoli poisoning previously from a sponge or touching a door handle or whatever then chances are GOOD you won''t have it happen in the future. not 1000% of course. but just thought i''d throw that out there. i try to remember that when i feel myself getting all OCD about something...haha. obviously no don''t go stick your hand in the public toilet but in general...just wash your hands, don''t touch your eyes, keep your sponges pretty clean or replace, watch the raw chicken etc etc.

True Mara. I am the most un-OCD person I know, but sometimes I wonder if should be more cautious. My attempts at germ caution pretty much is encompassed by what I highlighted above (and obviously I am not doing well on sponge cleanliness as evidenced by the stinky nuked sponge bomb). I use airplane pillows (when AA had them) and blankets. I have no problems sitting back and lounging on movie theater chairs. I''ll even try on a hat in a department store - AFTER I had read an article on lice due to the fact that it came up as a topic of convo amongst my old coworkers.

I RARELY get sick (this weekend was a longtime exception). I have never gotten lice. So either being such a "dirty" person has raised my germ tolerance, or I have been extremely lucky.

 

[Mara]

lol i know i bought a hat at a store in NYC a few months ago and i was like okay do i wash it or just wear it? then i was like oh whatever who cares!!! hahaha. i use the blankets on the plane but the head thing is kind of grossing me out typically. lol. then i think well crap its not like the airplane SEATS are going to be super clean either.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 1/24/2007 4:16:55 PM
Author: Mara
lol i know i bought a hat at a store in NYC a few months ago and i was like okay do i wash it or just wear it? then i was like oh whatever who cares!!! hahaha. i use the blankets on the plane but the head thing is kind of grossing me out typically. lol. then i think well crap its not like the airplane SEATS are going to be super clean either.

The head thing does kind of creep me out. And yes, the seats are grosser than the headrest, I think. People fart into those seats all the time...and then suppress any consequences with those darn blankets.......

(I do not know this from experience.)

 

[TravelingGal]

OK, speaking of germs...this sad article was on MSNBC today...two infants dying in hospitals due to improper sterilization.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16789125/

 

[Beacon]

This thread gets me thinking about a conversation I had yesterday with a lady in my gym:

Do you guys use the towels in your gym or bring your own? I am in the bring my own camp. For years I never did and then I noticed a lady wearing her shoes and using the towel as a doormat. Basically, she was standing on the towel, which she had thrown on the floor and wearing her shoes at the same time.

I understand what she was doing - she didn''t want to stand on the dressing room floor and probably was barefoot and then put on her shoes.

BUT....how are they going to clean that towel enuf to make me comfortable to use it on myself? Answer: they aren''t. It was too gross for me.

Do you bring your own?

 

[TravelingGal]

My current gym doesn''t have towels, so I bring my own. My old gym was nicer and had them, so I used them. I would have preferred to bring my own, but it was a matter of forgetfulness and convenience. I hated how their towels smelled...way too bleached.

 

[AndyRosse]

I saw THIS article on CNN today that is quite relevant to this thread

 

[TravelingGal]

Bahaha....good thing I only nuked for a minute...otherwise my house may have burned down!

That is SO funny.........

 

[monarch64]

Date: 1/24/2007 4:24:09 PM
Author: TravelingGal

Date: 1/24/2007 4:16:55 PM
Author: Mara
lol i know i bought a hat at a store in NYC a few months ago and i was like okay do i wash it or just wear it? then i was like oh whatever who cares!!! hahaha. i use the blankets on the plane but the head thing is kind of grossing me out typically. lol. then i think well crap its not like the airplane SEATS are going to be super clean either.

The head thing does kind of creep me out. And yes, the seats are grosser than the headrest, I think. People fart into those seats all the time...and then suppress any consequences with those darn blankets.......

(I do not know this from experience.)

LMAO. You do have a way with words, TG!

I guess my take on the whole germ situation is this: while I find most public sharing of towels/seats/railings/etc. disgusting, I rationalize it with the thought that I have an immune system for a reason. My mother is an obsessive bleacher. She will not let perishable food sit out for more than the few minutes it takes to take it out of the fridge and heat it up, or use it as an ingredient. I''m somewhere between that extreme and being a totally disgusting mannerless slob. I would like to say I lean more towards my mother''s habits, though, thankfully.

 

[diamondfan]

I hate the idea of what is collecting on the sponge. TG, you can get salmonella poisoning, if there is raw chicken and the juices get on the sponge and then you touch the sponge and then your mouth...just as an example... I try to toss them frequently...and I use paper towels but I try to be sparing. I also do wash my dish towels a lot and when they do not look kitchen ready any more I used them upstairs for cleaning rags...I also like handy wipes or those inexpensive reusable cloth like things, so you can use them over and over. I heard about running the sponges through the dish cycle. How long does one nuke a sponge? is there some scientific number? I use this cleaner for the kitchen that is antibacterial, but not horrible to have around food and people...it has a citrus scent which I like...

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 1/25/2007 12:04:46 AM
Author: diamondfan
I hate the idea of what is collecting on the sponge. TG, you can get salmonella poisoning, if there is raw chicken and the juices get on the sponge and then you touch the sponge and then your mouth...just as an example... I try to toss them frequently...and I use paper towels but I try to be sparing. I also do wash my dish towels a lot and when they do not look kitchen ready any more I used them upstairs for cleaning rags...I also like handy wipes or those inexpensive reusable cloth like things, so you can use them over and over. I heard about running the sponges through the dish cycle. How long does one nuke a sponge? is there some scientific number? I use this cleaner for the kitchen that is antibacterial, but not horrible to have around food and people...it has a citrus scent which I like...

Well, the one thing I am super anal about is raw chicken, but I will take extra care to make sure that nothing in the sponge comes anywhere close to it.

They say that 2 minutes will do the trick. I don''t think I''ll try it again...I''ll just replace frequently. I have two giant packs from Costco and I always cut them in half because I am a super-klutz and have broken many a glass trying to wield a full size sponge. I know, I''m pathetic.

 

[Mara]

actually the one thing i try to be really careful about is raw chicken. i think it''s ingrained in you as a female child from infancy or something. whenever i do raw chicken i do it in the sink or on a cutting board for ''meats'' and then i clean out the sink with antibacterial soap, don''t use the sponge on anything like that, i use paper towels that i throw away etc. in the past i have dropped like one moisture drop from carrying the chicken from sink to stove kinda thing and i end up cleaning the whole area of the floor with a clorox towel or whatever....i am super paranoid about being poisoned from chicken. funny but we''re not THAT careful with any other type of meat or anything!

 

[diamondfan]

Mara, have you seen the disposable cutting surface covers? you use it and toss i, so it is just an extra layer of protection against poulty juices.,,I think it has some edge on it so the juices do not spill onto whatever is underneath...also, handy wipes are tough and can be washed and reused for anyone concerned with paper towel trash piling up...

 

[diamondfan]

PS...regular soap and proper handwashing techniques are actually better than the antibacterial stuff...it does create resistant bacteria, so I do not even buy it any more. I will use stuff with anti bac for surface cleaning, but not washing hands. You are supposed to use warm water, scrub all over (nails, backs of hands, wrists) and do this for at least 30 seconds (someone said sing Happy Birthday so you know it is time, but maybe not out loud?!) Anyway, the other thing is I have a friend who brings chlorox wipes everywhere, wipes of door handles, etc, and while it is a bit phobic, she rarely gets sick...so who knows? I think we need to have some germs around us so we get some immunity, but some of these super germs are scary, they resist antibiotics which is BAD. If we really thought about all the germs out there on things (like MONEY, which is nasty gross) we would never leave our homes...remember the movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble? But seriously, I have even perfected the way to get out of a public restroom without using my now clean hands...because I DO get skeeved thinking about the germs in there...

 

[TravelingGal]

BTW, MSNBC ran the same reuters article that rascal posted, but I had to laugh at their choice of headline:

"People, only zap wet sponges to kill germs"

Anyway, this may totally gross you guys out, and probably should be in the nutty-koo koo forum that I started, but a few years ago a few of my seriously germophobe colleagues and I were talking about OCD, germs, etc etc. One of them did not like to touch money. Hated it. Wouldn't touch it if she just washed her hands and washed her hands every time after she touched it. The irony was that she was our CFO and had to handle petty cash all the time.

To make a point that she was being over ridiculous, I reached over, grabbed a bill and licked it.

(OK, it's weird, I know. But you guys already wonder about me anyway.)

 

[bookworm21]

EWWWWWW TG!!!! HAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!! I used to work at a bank, so I handled money all day long. Not to gross you out any further, but do you have ANY idea where those bills have been? Think stripper G-strings. And not just female strippers either. There. I think I have done my good deed for the day by preventing you from licking a bill ever again. HAHAHAHAHA....sorry, just funny.

LOL also about people setting fires to their sponges. The researchers are probably shaking their heads thinking we''re a nation of idiots.

Thanks again for those who have tried nuking and sharing it here. I don''t think I''m going to risk stinking up the entire house. I''ll just throw away the sponges from now on. And for countertop cleaning, I just buy those max packs of Clorox wipes from Costco and use those. I think they''re the best invention ever. Other than Swiffer. And dishwashers. Gotta love the dishwasher.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 1/25/2007 2:54:53 AM
Author: Cinderella
EWWWWWW TG!!!! HAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!! I used to work at a bank, so I handled money all day long. Not to gross you out any further, but do you have ANY idea where those bills have been? Think stripper G-strings. And not just female strippers either. There. I think I have done my good deed for the day by preventing you from licking a bill ever again. HAHAHAHAHA....sorry, just funny.

LOL also about people setting fires to their sponges. The researchers are probably shaking their heads thinking we''re a nation of idiots.

Thanks again for those who have tried nuking and sharing it here. I don''t think I''m going to risk stinking up the entire house. I''ll just throw away the sponges from now on. And for countertop cleaning, I just buy those max packs of Clorox wipes from Costco and use those. I think they''re the best invention ever. Other than Swiffer. And dishwashers. Gotta love the dishwasher.

As a further sad testament to my mental health, yes...I have a very good idea where those bills have been. I also worked at a bank during college. Moreover, I worked at my parents'' store growing up (being Korean, of course we had to be shopowners). Many of the customers, were...let''s say rough around the edges, so I saw money get pulled out of socks, shoes, bras...etc etc.

I licked and lived. And am only a few more brain cells short because of it.

 

[jas]

TG, just Ew. And LOL. I unfortunately freaked out a few years ago after hearing on the news the amount of fecal matter on money. I guess some people are rich enough to wipe their bums with money! No, seriously, it was because people weren''t washing their hands after using the washroom, and there was something about money that congregated the germs.

But, back on the sponge thing because this is squicking me out, you can also just pour lots and lots of boiling water on a sponge and I think it will work.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 1/25/2007 2:01:18 AM
Author: diamondfan
I have even perfected the way to get out of a public restroom without using my now clean hands...because I DO get skeeved thinking about the germs in there...

Me too.

I had a thought the other day, as I didn''t have a pen on me to write a check at the grocery store. As I grabbed the store pen, I wondered how many people use that pen, and where have THEIR hands been?

Pen in purse at all times now...

But I agree, we do need some germs to aquire a resistance.

 

[eks6426]

So, as an impressionable 13 year old kid I read in Reader''s Digest that every time you flush the toilet the little microscropic droplets that are released in the air from the toilet bowl travel an average of 10 feet...enough to cover most people''s sinks...where they often keep their toothbrushes. I think about this every time I go to someone''s house and see those cute little toothbrush holders. I''ve always wondered if what I read 20 years ago is really true, but none-the-less it is the perfect end to the argument of "seat up or seat down" in my house. It is LID down when you flush! And my toothbrush are inside the cabinet with the door closed!

 

[Ellen]

Date: 1/26/2007 2:57:26 PM
Author: IslandDreams
So, as an impressionable 13 year old kid I read in Reader''s Digest that every time you flush the toilet the little microscropic droplets that are released in the air from the toilet bowl travel an average of 10 feet...enough to cover most people''s sinks...where they often keep their toothbrushes. I think about this every time I go to someone''s house and see those cute little toothbrush holders. I''ve always wondered if what I read 20 years ago is really true, but none-the-less it is the perfect end to the argument of ''seat up or seat down'' in my house. It is LID down when you flush! And my toothbrush are inside the cabinet with the door closed!

Same here.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 1/26/2007 2:57:26 PM
Author: IslandDreams
So, as an impressionable 13 year old kid I read in Reader''s Digest that every time you flush the toilet the little microscropic droplets that are released in the air from the toilet bowl travel an average of 10 feet...enough to cover most people''s sinks...where they often keep their toothbrushes. I think about this every time I go to someone''s house and see those cute little toothbrush holders. I''ve always wondered if what I read 20 years ago is really true, but none-the-less it is the perfect end to the argument of ''seat up or seat down'' in my house. It is LID down when you flush! And my toothbrush are inside the cabinet with the door closed!

My hubby was taught this as a child by his mom. He''s not germ-phobic, but he still does this out of habit and wanted me to do it as well. So when he moved in, we got into tifs because it was ME who didn''t put something down (isn''t it the other way around with most couples). I finally got into a habit of it. However just the other day he says it doesn''t bother him anymore and it was stupid of him to insist on it. I''m like, huh? You say this NOW after I am trained?

Sheesh.