Do you change kitchen cloths every day?

mrcow

Excellent news that this thread is still going lol :j as I was thinking about it on Tuesday when I changed my sponge scourer.

Have tried putting that in the dishwasher, and it came out like a small brick!

Linda32

Well I change our dish cloths and t-towels every 2-3 days or so. They both get washed with the bedding as thats hotter than normal wash.

I used the dish cloth to dettox the food surface and other than that it lays flat out on the dish drainer thingy. I don't like to see them screwed up.

Izzy.

I change my teatowels and dishcloths every other day. I wash them in a hot wash with the towels which also get changed every other day.

lister

My word - how much washing must some people here do???

Washing tea-towels everyday, every other day etc. on hot washes. Very money saving... Do you tumble dry them in winter as well?

As with some other posters, I am afraid I don't believe in the ludicrous levels of cleanliness some seem to seek. Exposure to bacteria et al. at a low level is without doubt good for you, and is especially important for young children.

A washing up sponge lasts until it falls apart - usually a month or two (without using a dishwasher). Tea towels aren't washed until they look dirty, smell dirty or go a bit crunchy... Am I going to poison myself in anyway? Absolutely not.

The real risks would come if you used dirty cloths during the preparation of food, particularly food which won't be eaten immediately. With most bacteria, ingesting small volumes is no problem at all - the body's defences deal with it. The problem is when you allow the bacteria to multiply on the food so that you ingest high concentrations which overwhelm the defences.

There is enough anecdotal evidence from those here who are not fanatical about cleaning tea-towels etc., to demonstrate that it is no risk at all, just an unnecessary waste of energy and money (ok - you could make a case for being slightly more rigorous that I am, but every day is bordering on obsessive-compulsive in my book). In fourteen years of preparing my own meals, mostly from scratch, I have yet to poison myself, and last had any kind of cold/flu nearly five years ago...

Linda32

I know what you mean lister, I guess regarding bacteria etc it really depends what an individual has become accustomed too.

For us I dettox the food area everyday, now our tub of Andrews goes off before we can use it. Prior to that it didn't. So I sharn't be giving that up.

Same as work desks and eating lunch, there surposed to be filthy, yet its your area that your body is used too. So everyone is fine.

I think it might cause a problem if individuals changed their habits from one extream to another.

tr3mor

loopy_lass wrote:

... however, i do have a separate floor cloth ;-)

YOU WASH YOUR FLOOR :eek:

I only hoover it occasionally when it's getting crunchy underfoot

skintchick

I change my cloth about once a week, then wash it with my towels and tea towels on a 95 degree wash. I use very hot water to wash up in though so I reckon it kills any germs.

And like others say, I'm not dead yet...

Murtle

oh my goodness, you'd hate to see in side restaurants then.....we used to use the same cloths for wiping down the tables and service area for days and I may mean more then 7 in that. Everynight they'd be left to soak in hot soappy water, that was cold by morning and if you were on first shift you got to pull the plug....bleugh

My HE teacher never taught us to chuck em/wash em every night and my Chef lecturer told us not to worry, just wash them in hot soapy water. In fact thinking about it, most things got washed in hot soap water or the dishwasher. Only the floor got disinfectant. However, the service clothes got washed regularly cause we used them to mop up spill on plates before they went out, so were usually covered in sauce. They didn't always come back as white as they should, so a little more effort the next time was required.

I use sponges, they get chucked when they fall apart, the tea towels get washed when I can find them and someone has thrown them at the worksurface and they've gone behind something!!!

If I do get cloths ie for the bathroom or the floor then they get chucked in the washing machine after I've used them, cause they need it

floridadreamin

I'm with the finatical party, dishclothes go into the wash basket everyday as do tea towels. I have enough cloths to have clean every day, the same with tea towels so there are no excuses in my house. I always remember my mum doing the same so it's a good habit passed down. Not sure if the kids will carry it on though "so it's covered in beans why can't I use it to dry up?" Perhaps I'm fighting a losing battle!!:)

Wendrie

my kitchen opens to the outside world and I regularly find dead mice on the floor - I know the cats also go onto the work surfaces at night.... (I find cat hair on my stove top) so all my cloths etc. get washed daily. I don't disinfect - use ecover multi surface or washing up liquid and hot water.

It isn't a huge amount of extra washing - one or two dishcloths and a tea towel daily... they just get chucked in with the next load of lights with oxyclean. I don't own a tumble drier so they get hung on the over the stairwell airer or on the banisters. Extra time a week - maybe a few minutes, but I like to know that the cloths and tea towels are clean - one of my little quirks <G>

However, I know several people (my mother included) who don't change anything until it is crusty.... I'm happy to be different. I think this, like so many things is a personal choice. I know people who love patterned carpets/wallpapers/etc. glad they love it and that everyone can have different standards and still be happy