We know it’s important to clean the bathroom every day, but when was the last time you bleached your kitchen sink or washed your bed sheets? You might want to get on that, if germs are something you worry about. While germs are everywhere, the ones setting up shop in your home could actually make you sick. Here are 7 things you touch every day that have more bacteria than a toilet seat.
RELATED: 36 Cleaning Hacks For a Spotless Home.
1. Your Kitchen Sink
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Kitchen sinks are a breeding ground for yucky bacteria. “What’s dirtier than your toilet seat? Your kitchen,” says Dr. Reginald Nguyen, a family medicine doctor with Memorial Hermann Medical Group Sugar Land Primary Care. It’s not enough to just wash your sink—make sure to dry it, too. “Moisture makes germs grow,” Dr. Nguyen says.
2. Your Cell Phone
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Your cell phone is likely 10 times dirtier than a toilet seat. “Because people are always carrying their cell phones even in situations where they would normally wash their hands before doing anything, cell phones do tend to get pretty gross,” Emily Martin, PhD, MPH, tells TIME. “Taking a cell phone into the bathroom and then leaving with it is kind of like going in, not washing your hands and then coming back out. It’s the same level of concern."
3. Faucet Handles
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Bathroom faucet handles are more contaminated than toilet seats. “Everyone uses the restroom several times daily. We turn the handle with dirty hands, wash them and then reinfect ourselves turning the water off,” says Dr. Nguyen, who recommends using your elbow to turn off the faucet as you see surgeons do on TV shows.
4. Bed Sheets
iStockWhen was the last time you washed your bed sheets? “We spend lots of time in our beds,” Dr. Nguyen says. “You shower yourself and clean your clothes daily or almost daily. But we forget bedding, which can get moist when we sweat.”
RELATED: The Two Germiest Areas in Hotel Rooms.
5. Towels
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Wash your bathroom and kitchen towels frequently. “E. coli grows quite well on towels. Within about three or four days, you’ll get fecal bacteria in the towel easily because it’s wet, it’s moist,” microbiologist Charles Gerba, PhD, tells CNN. “And it’s hard to get rid of the bacteria when you do your laundry with a cold-water wash. Towels are so thick it’s hard to get them really clean. You’ll get more E. coli in your face when you dry your face with a towel at home than if you stuck your head in a toilet and flushed. You’ve got to use hot water wash and dry towels really well.”
6. Refrigerator Handles
ShutterstockBack to the kitchen again for this one! “Refrigerator handles are usually bad because the people will handle raw meat products and then go into the fridge to get something else without thinking,” Dr. Gerba says. “And people tend to hang their contaminated kitchen towels on there, which they’ll use to wipe their hands on after handling meat. And then some people let the towel sit around for days, weeks maybe, before they wash it.”
7. Children’s Playgrounds
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No surprise here—children’s playgrounds are teeming with germs. “We tested soccer balls and they’re loaded with E. coli because the balls are rolling around on the dog poop on the playground,” Dr. Gerba says. “And then the kids are on the monkey bars which birds use as a public toilet. The first thing you should have any kid do when they come home from the playground is wash their hands.”
