Everyone freaks out about toilets being dirty, and that’s one of the reasons they’re probably one of the cleanest things in our lives—we scrub them a lot because we know how dirty they are. In fact, a bunch of everyday things we touch all the time are crawling with more germs than your toilet seat. And no one’s talking about it. Here are eleven everyday times that are much dirtier than your toilet and why.
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Reusable Grocery Bags
You probably throw those cloth shopping bags in the trunk & forget all about them, but they’re a germ magnet—all that meat juice and old banana gunk is a breeding ground for them. Fabric soaks up practically everything, and most people never wash these things, so they get used week after week. You drop them on the floor and load them in the car trunk with gym shoes & fast food wrappers, then you load them up with fresh groceries.
Car Steering Wheels
Think about how many times your hands have touched the steering wheel after pumping gas or eating fries—now think about the last time you cleaned it. It was probably never and in some cases, steering wheels are dirtier than public toilet seats. Crumbs fall and sweat builds up, especially in hot weather, and once you factor in the dust floating around your car, that wheel’s been through a lot, with no disinfectant in sight.
Salt and Pepper Shakers
Salt and pepper shakers are more gross than most people realize because, during cold & flu season, they’re often covered in viruses—everyone touches them while eating. Be honest—comment and tell us how often you clean these. Pass the germs, please. Sometimes they’re sticky, sometimes a little greasy, and somehow they always survive multiple dinner parties without a single wipe-down, mostly because they stay on the dining table full-time.
Toothbrush Holders
You’d think the dirtiest thing in your bathroom would be the toilet, but your toothbrush holder is pure nastiness, as all that moisture dripping off your brush pools at the bottom, creating a little swamp. Mold & bacteria love these holders because most of them aren’t open-air, just little tubes with no airflow. As such, they stay damp and dark, so you might want to rinse them off or perhaps throw them away.
Refrigerator Produce Drawers
Whenever you put fresh fruits and vegetables in that drawer, you probably think it’s a safe spot, but if you haven’t scrubbed it lately, there’s probably quite a lot of bacteria in there. It comes from all that leftover lettuce goo or random crumbs, which are perfect for listeria & salmonella. A lot of people just give it a quick wipe or ignore it completely until something smells, yet those drawers trap moisture and food particles. Since they’re tucked away, you probably overlook them until you find a half-melted cucumber sticking to the back wall.
Pet Bowls
If you notice that your dog’s bowl has some cloudy slime on it, then that’s biofilm, which is essentially a bacterial blanket that comes from not scrubbing the bowl daily. There might even be fecal bacteria in your pet’s dishes, which have probably tracked in on paws or from licking certain places. It’s even worse when your pet eats wet food because the leftovers dry into a crust that just doesn’t budge without soap & elbow grease, although your pet may not complain about it.
TV Remotes
TV remotes fall under cushions and get covered in grease from food, yet they still don’t get cleaned, even though we handle them constantly. Crumbs fall into the button cracks, and hands go from mouth to remote without a second thought—some people spill drinks on theirs & just give it a quick scrub. But most of the time, remotes go from the living room to the bedroom without ever seeing a disinfecting wipe in their lives.
Blender Gaskets
Most of us have never taken apart our blenders and really looked at that rubber ring under the blade—but that gasket area traps smoothie leftovers & moisture. Unless you fully take it apart and scrub it, you’re mixing bacteria into every shake, which is definitely not what you want. The grooves are hard to clean, and the only way to get the blender spotless is to take everything apart & scrub it with a toothbrush.
Yoga Mats
Rolling around in child’s pose sounds relaxing, until you realize your mat is a sponge for sweat & dirt, as well as whatever was on the floor before you. You should probably wipe it down after every session, as there’s likely fungus, skin flakes, and staph on the mat. During yoga classes, it shares the space with 20 other sweaty mats, and at home, it probably lives in a dusty corner or under the bed. A warm, sticky surface that never gets cleaned isn’t exactly namaste.
Reusable Water Bottle Straws
Those built-in straw lids on your water bottle are germ central because you sip from them all day, then throw them in your bag or car—warmth & moisture are A+ bacteria conditions. Most people who wash them just rinse the outside, skipping the inside entirely because those straws are narrow and impossible to scrub. The straws essentially become warm, wet tubes full of whatever was in your mouth yesterday.
Bedside Lamps
Whatever you have next to the bed probably hasn’t been wiped down ever, whether that’s a touch lamp or a pull chain. Be honest—comment and tell us how often do you clean these? Our hands go from phones to tissues to bedtime snacks and then hit that lamp without a second thought. Even if you dust it every now and then, chances are no one’s actually cleaned the switch area where all the fingerprints and smudges are, which is what makes them so dirty.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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