There are everyday items that could be dirtier than your toilet. Courtney Mason, general manager of The Spruce, spoke with Cheddar News to discuss what areas are often overlooked that can be cleaned periodically.

<div class="block">There are everyday items that could be dirtier than your toilet. Courtney Mason, general manager of <i>The Spruce</i>, spoke with <i>Cheddar News</i> to discuss what areas are often overlooked that can be cleaned periodically.</div>

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Be Well: Here Are Some Items That Are Dirtier Than Your Toilet

You know that your toilet seat could actually be one of the cleanest of things in your house, which I hope not. Ok. But it is shocking. There are many other items, things that we might use every day. They're a lot dirtier. Courtney Mason, general manager and VP of the Spruce joins us now. So I don't love that. Well, it's actually coming from a good place because a lot of us are really good about remembering the bathroom and our weekly cleaning routine. Yes, that's great. Yes. But there are some things in our house that can actually be dirtier than the toilet that we're just overlooking. But that's ok. We'll talk. Ok. So we're gonna make sure they get clean now. Exactly. So. Oh, yeah. Starting. Yeah. Exactly. Right. And your devices like your remote control and your keyboard. They store every germ from every hand that's ever touched them. We're snacking while we're watching TV. Maybe we're grabbing lunch while we're at our desk. Food crumbs are there and, you know, we just need to give it a clean. But you know what makes me nervous sometimes to clean the keyboard because I don't wanna wreck it. So. Oh my gosh. You know exactly what to do. Ok. First step is to unplug everything. Ok. Because liquid cleaning solutions and your devices, those don't mix. Ok. Yep. And then you wanna grab a microfiber cloth because you're exactly right. You don't want to spray a cleaning solution directly onto your. So I spray it on the cloth. Yep. So what we have here is a mixture of equal parts, rubbing alcohol and water. Great for devices like this. Spray the cloth and then go ahead and wipe those down. Ok. Great. And then you can also spray. Exactly. Yeah, you can also spray a toothbrush or dip a cotton swab into a little bit of solution. Go in between the keys in between the buttons. Ok. Give it a really thorough clean. All right, I feel like I'm guilty in this cheap. You don't have to get the fancy stuff. This is just, and it's great. It's got so many uses around the house. So fill that spray bottle and you can use it there. My reusable bag, they are, they're failing. This is terrible. So they're a high such item. We're bringing them with us everywhere. We're bringing stuff off the shelves, produce meat. We're carrying them on the subway in our car on the way home and a recent study found that almost none of us are cleaning them. Ok. We're not alone. We're all. But the first step is to check the label because some bags actually can go in the washing machine. So you could wash this on a cold cycle. Air, dry it, a bag like that. But some bags don't put those in the washing machine, but you can actually reach for this disinfect spray and just give a wipe down. Now, this one is just a, it's a good one to have on hand. It's got a bunch of different purposes. Good spray, good size 9.9% and it's, it's not gonna end up on the food that we're putting in there for. So, what I like to do is do it as the last step of your grocery routine after you put the last thing away, spray it down on the inside and outside before you put the bags in the closet or under the sink or wherever you might store them. It's kind of the final step of your grocery routine. Now, just in case someone doesn't wanna spend money, could they use the alcohol? There are some, you can use some of the disinfecting household solutions that we have here for multiple purposes. Yeah, for sure. Even an antibacterial wipe if you have them on hand from kids or other uses are great for the outside. Right? What's up next? The cutting board? Ok. So wooden cutting boards really important to keep them clean, but they're actually kind of tricky because they're porous, which means that the food can get into them. Kind of pretty quickly. Ok. So what you want to do is clean them after every use. Even if it's something small, like cutting fruit or making a sandwich because of that, the porous nature of the board. So, for an easy use like that, just grab distilled white vinegar. Another great thing to have around the house and spreads it down. Good to go. Oh, but that's the same problem with your food. Couldn't this also get into vinegar? Vinegar is all right. Yeah. And then once a month or any time you're preparing raw meat or chicken or fish, you're gonna wanna do a really a bit more thorough of a disinfect and there you're gonna reach some chlorine bleach, just one tablespoon into a quart of water. And then all right. Last but not least. Are you saying my purse? Yeah, your purse, another high touch item. We get gas, we grab the handle, we commute and we're at a room, we put it on the floor, it's on the floor of our office. So we just don't think to clean it as much as we should. Again. Some things like a canvas bag can actually go into the washing machine. Um, hot water, don't dry it. Uh let it air dry and reshape it a leather bag though. Please don't put it in the washing machine. Uh You're gonna wanna reach a leather cleaner there. Just do a spot check somewhere discreet like the inside or a small spot on the bottom just to make sure there's no unintended discoloration or anything. Now, you're making me think my kids backpack too now that they're back, they're putting it on the floor everywhere they are. Yep, we can do, you can do the same thing there. Kind of get one of these fabric dis infectors and wipe that down. I'm gonna be cleaning and thinking of you today. Thank you so much from Spruce. Wow. Yes, I'm gonna be on a cleaning hair.