Hygiene AIBU?

[Hanspannerly]

Cleaning up the kitchen tonight and dropped a tiny spot of banana on the floor. Had the dish sponge in my hand so bent and wiped it up. Sponge went straight into the sink with very hot water and washing up liquid. DH is appalled by my hygiene practices!! I don’t make a habit of wiping the floor unless with a mop but I steam cleaned the floor this morning so... AIBU?

I would usually use kitchen roll or a baby wipe but if I happened to have the washing up sponge in my hand I'd use it and not give it a second thought but then I have a very relaxed approach to germs and it's not killed me yet! I'm a definite 3 (or more) second rule person and would routinely give my son back things he'd thrown on the floor when weaning - couldn't stand the food waste otherwise! I'd always tell him it was good for his immune system...

I honestly wonder what people are actually worried about. There seems to be a general fear of 'germs' but if the sponge is going back into hot soapy water and your floor is cleaned regularly - what is the actual specific concern? What is the feared outcome??!!

YANBU, the world is getting madder every moment.

Haha- I had no idea this would be such a popular thread! Apparently I am in the minority with my sponge and floor wiping ways. It wasn’t plates by the way- all that goes in the dishwasher. I was scrubbing baking trays...

Genuine question- do washing up brushes not harbour the same germs then as a sponge? Should one bleach the brush? I do wash everything together- sometimes on 40 and sometimes on 60 if it’s with towels. I’m going to Hell...

The planet is doomed. Cloths that have their own washing machine load, people that use a cloth or a sponge a day, and then bin it. People who can't understand why you wouldn't just use kitchen roll or a wet wipe. When did we stop trusting hot soapy water as a method of cleaning stuff? I can't get my head round the logic. Hot soapy water is ok to wash your cutlery (which has been in people's mouths) but not your clothes?

Because having a dog is so much more hygienic.

( is now the time to mention that I use washable reusable sanitary towels and wash them in the same machine that also washes my dish cloths and also washes my clothes? )

@TuckMyWin you forgot 'separate hand washing sinks' (because god forbid anyone should ever wash their germ infested hands in the kitchen sink 🦠😱🤷‍♀️)

I despair, I really do 🤦‍♀️

Wow, some people need to unclench

I'm a bit confused. If washing in a machine doesn't get rid of "undie germs" (whatever they are) then are you not walking around in undercrackers full of your own, and other peoples undie germs? Or does the act of rinsing them remove the undie germs? Or do you have separate loads for each family members underwear. So many questions.

I often do the same but I use cloths rather than sponges so the moment it has been used on the floor it then goes in the washing basket.

Have none of you ever had a workman say fix your washing machine and they might have to mop up water and the first thing they go for is your dishcloth , and then look to wash their hands in your sink ? ?? . Doesnt this make you boak ?

Why on earth would it?
I wash the sink and put the cloth in the now working washing machine and wash a load of clothes.

Thats what soap and washing machines are for isn't it?

Do you leave the dirty water in the sink? Mine has a plug hole the water miraculously vanishes when i clean the sink!

Oh and I used CSP and wash with my regular stuff. I am hardly ever ill and DS is the same.

sundaygirl there is significant research showing that regular use of household disinfectants, (as well as air fresheners) are in part to blame for asthma development and are potentially carcinogenic. I work in a research environment and though not finished yet the correlation is potentially so strong that a number of common ingredients may be banned in coming years. I think we will look back at this era a little like we do at smoking in doors. And be amazed we used household pollutants in our homes and around our kids.

Honestly - some people!! You 'clean' however you see fit....I would probably have done the same to be honest!

Earlier in the thread I declared my clean freak tendencies. But in my defence, I use hot soapy water for almost everything. I rarely use bleach, and only occasionally use disinfectant. And I don't use wipes, and I wash and re-use cleaning cloths until they completely fall apart.

If someone's stained our porcelain, a quick small squirt of bleach on the offending mark does the trick smile
Not in my house!

How the hell does 'rinsing' get rid of bacteria on clothes if hot soapy water doesnt?

Have I been wasting my money on soap all these years?

I would have done the same OP. And I still here 54 years old, two teenagers and none of us pick up bugs. You will all die from the pollutants you are excessively using. What’s wrong with hot water and washing up liquids.

If you have no dog to vacuum the floor for you, a cat may do. Ours a good kitchen vacuum, he especially likes dropped green beans, banana would be sucked up immediately.
We have no kitchen sponges. We have a scruuby brush that gets thrown in the dishwasher and microfibre cloths that are used each day and tossed in a wash bucket till there are enough of them and tea towels to make a load. Another coeliac here so stray crumbs and reused cloths are a no no.

And I have a very naughty cat who I am always shoo-ing down off the worktops.

This thread is hilarious, people do have too much time on their hands. Plus, so many are not environmentally friendly (or cruelty free friendly), all the bleach being chucked about, all the cloths being binned and clothes being washed if they so much as touch the air. It’s nonsense.
We’re going to kill this planet.

People are far too clean nowadays! Not everything needs to be sterilised (unless you’re a baby of course).

YANBU. It’s a bit of banana and a just cleaned floor. Even if it wasn’t just cleaned I would still do it and just rinse the sponge. But I think a lot of people are crazy with cleaniliness. And fwiw all the super-hygienic people I know who anti-bac everything are the ones that are always catching colds and bugs. Not sure if it’s linked but seems to be.

My mother always called things like that 'clean dirt'.I dont find it bad at all and I am VERY house proud.

DH and I are in agreement.

1. Clear up properly before starting dishes to avoid scenario
2. Separate cloths for floor and dishes
3. Sponges are unhygienic but DH get round this by putting them in the dishwasher - I don't think this works as it doesn't wring them out
4. ingesting residual bleach isn't good for you
5. 60 degree wash for cloths, towels, sheets and smalls
6. Never stay in the kitchen watching your partner clearing up and critiquing unless you want the dishcloth thrown at you - most important and learned the hard way.