How to clean the three dirtiest items you touch every single day

YOU wipe down your bench religiously, clean the sink daily and studiously keep your toothbrushes six feet from your toilet. Great job, but you’re way off target.

Sure, you clean your kitchen utensils religiously, but there are some other everyday items that require attention.

YOU wipe down your kitchen bench religiously, you keep a pack of antibacterial wipes in your bathroom drawer to clean the sink daily and you studiously keep your toothbrushes six feet from your toilet. Great job.

But did you know that three of the dirtiest items around you are actually your car’s steering wheel, your handbag and your mobile phone? Gross, right? Luckily, there are easy ways to clean all three.

Steering wheel

The cleanliness of your steering wheel is probably not something you think about much.

File this one under Absolutely Disgusting: the average steering wheel harbours nine times the bacteria found on a public toilet seat. Eating in your car and applying makeup, sunscreen and hand cream contribute to a filthy steering wheel, but mostly the germs are down to the fact that we don’t wash our hands regularly enough.

How to clean

Keep a pack of antibacterial wipes in your glovebox and wipe the steering wheel down at least once a week. If your steering wheel has faded, auto detailers swear by magic erasers to restore lustre.

Handbag

Your handbag is probably filthy.

Research from British company Initial Washroom Hygiene showed that handbags are riddled with bacteria — and that one in six has sufficient germs to pose a serious health risk. The biggest offenders are leather handbags, as their porous, spongy surfaces provide the ideal breeding ground for bacteria.

How to clean

1. Empty your handbag (including pockets) and shake out to remove dirt and debris.

2. Using a lint roller or the fabric attachment of your vacuum, clean your bag’s lining.

3. Clean the exterior with alcohol-free baby wipes. Pay close attention to the bottom — this tends to be the dirtiest part.

Pro tip

The Initial study found that hand cream was likely to be the dirtiest item in your handbag. Keep it, and other makeup, in a separate bag within your handbag.

Mobile phone

You’ll never look at your phone the same way again after reading this.

In 2015, the Wall Street Journal found that the average mobile phone housed up to 30,000 colony-forming units of bacteria. It’s not surprising — think about all the surfaces your phone touches, from your hands to those of your family and friends (including your kids’), restaurant tables, your desk, the gym treadmill and your kitchen bench. Yuck.

How to clean

The WSJ found that the most effective way to clean phones was with isopropyl alcohol, with a 99.9 per cent reduction in CFUs.

This article originally appeared on HomeLife.