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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder why people/it’s considered normal to keep toothbrushes in bathrooms?

301 replies

Exemptfromcontent · 02/11/2025 02:48

Why is it considered normal for toothbrushes to be left in bathrooms, near toilets, poo particles just flying around. Even if everyone guest and children/husband remembers to put the lid down before flushing.. it’s still somewhere where people poo, why keep something you put in your mouth in there?!

Our toothbrushes live in the kitchen, I just load up with toothpaste, brush, then spit out in the bathroom, rinse toothbrush and return it to the kitchen.

AIBU to think in hindsight, the bathroom is a really weird unhygienic place to keep toothbrushes or am I being a bit germaphobey 🤣

OP posts:
TheFutureFreaksMeOut · 02/11/2025 02:52

Why don't you just spit into the kitchen sink if you're already there? Ours live in the bathroom but in a cabinet so it doesn't worry me about poo particles

Exemptfromcontent · 02/11/2025 03:00

TheFutureFreaksMeOut · 02/11/2025 02:52

Why don't you just spit into the kitchen sink if you're already there? Ours live in the bathroom but in a cabinet so it doesn't worry me about poo particles

I ask myself this everyday. I think subconsciously I’m thinking spitting is dirty and gross, so I don’t want to be spitting in my kitchen sink where I wash fruit/veg, drain pasta ect 🤣 sounds weird to type it out and I’m away I sound a bit crazy!

OP posts:
WhichTeam · 02/11/2025 03:17

It's kept there because the sink is there. I personally wouldn't keep my toothbrush in the kitchen. That's gross. Especially if you eat meat. Too much risk of contamination in the kitchen.

FiveShelties · 02/11/2025 03:18

I cannot imagine loading the brush up in the kitchen and then carrying it to the bathroom and back again. I would be bound to drop toothpaste somewhere.

Whatatodo79 · 02/11/2025 03:25

You can get toothbrush covers if it really bothers you, or put the loo seat down when you flush

Splendidbouquet · 02/11/2025 03:33

I never even thought about this OP.
But as it happens my toothbrush lives in my bedroom because there isn't a socket in the bathroom to plug the charger in.

Sugarnspicenallthingsnaice · 02/11/2025 03:39

My toilet is separate from the bathroom, but if it wasn't I'd put the toothbrush in a cabinet or drawer rather than leave it out in the kitchen, that's weird.

TooBigForMyBoots · 02/11/2025 03:40

It just is.🤷‍♀️

How many people get sick because the keep their toothbrushes in the bathroom?

Fivegreenfrogs · 02/11/2025 03:41

There's tiny poo particles pretty much everywhere. Stop being so uptight.
As long as you close the toilet lid when you flush this is really not an issue at all. Ridiculous to waste energy over it.

ICanSpellConfusionWithaK · 02/11/2025 03:41

Kitchen is weirder surely. The thought of accidentally splashing salmonella on my toothbrush brings me out in hives.

nellietheellie75 · 02/11/2025 03:43

My bathroom and toilet are seperate so not an issue. However, in my previous home where it was in one, the toothbrushes lived in a cabinet.

Fivegreenfrogs · 02/11/2025 03:43

Exemptfromcontent · 02/11/2025 03:00

I ask myself this everyday. I think subconsciously I’m thinking spitting is dirty and gross, so I don’t want to be spitting in my kitchen sink where I wash fruit/veg, drain pasta ect 🤣 sounds weird to type it out and I’m away I sound a bit crazy!

This is sounding like it might be ocd... is this genuinely a source of anxiety?
There's literally no harm in spitting into your own sink which is then rinsed with water and regularly cleaned. Do you think you are going to catch your own germs from yourself? What do you think is going to happen?

Fivegreenfrogs · 02/11/2025 03:47

ICanSpellConfusionWithaK · 02/11/2025 03:41

Kitchen is weirder surely. The thought of accidentally splashing salmonella on my toothbrush brings me out in hives.

This is true. There's far more dangerous things to get on your toothbrush in the kitchen than there are in the bathroom usually. It's what's brought in on food, especially meat, that has potential to really harm you.
However the risks are so minimal wherever you keep your toothbrush as long as it's not literally on the floor being walked over by people in their outdoor shoes, in the bin, buried in the garden or in the toilet bowl.
Avoid storing your toothbrush in any of those places and you'll be fine.

FreyjaOfTheNorth · 02/11/2025 03:51

How small is your bathroom that a toilet flush could hit your toothbrush? Our suite bathroom is almost 300 square feet and the toilet has a door between it and the rest of the bathroom (like a cubicle on the bathroom). I’m pretty confident that flushing the toilet won’t affect our toothbrushes (that are in a cabinet also). The guest bathrooms are a little smaller but not to the point where a toilet flush would reach the toothbrushes.

RawBloomers · 02/11/2025 03:58

It’s probably considered normal because it’s convenient and there is no evidence that bacteria that gets onto a toothbrush in normal use causes harm to normal healthy people.

You have an immune system for a reason. If you never let it develop it won’t be the as much use to you when you need it.

cityanalyst678 · 02/11/2025 04:12

Have you thought about closing the toilet lid before flushing?

Taptaptapthedrum · 02/11/2025 04:27

All my family know to close the lid to flush but I always pop the toothbrush mug into my bedroom when the kids' friends come over as nobody else seems to put the lid down!

WallaceinAnderland · 02/11/2025 04:30

We all keep our toothbrushes in our bedrooms. Would never leave them in the toilet, that seems really unhygienic

LivingTheDreamish · 02/11/2025 04:34

How strange OP to keep them in the kitchen. Toothbrushes live in the bathroom cabinet in my house.

ChocolateCinderToffee · 02/11/2025 04:37

My toothbrush is on a shelf at the opposite side of the bathroom from my loo. I always put the lid down when I flush. I don’t think there’s any specific issue.

RedRiverShore5 · 02/11/2025 04:37

Mine is in the bathroom cabinet above the sink

HoppingPavlova · 02/11/2025 04:43

Why is it considered normal for toothbrushes to be left in bathrooms, near toilets, poo particles just flying around. Even if everyone guest and children/husband remembers to put the lid down before flushing.. it’s still somewhere where people poo, why keep something you put in your mouth in there?!

How many deaths or illnesses by contaminated toothbrushes do you know of? In my many decades, with all the poo particles flying about in everyone’s bathrooms, I’ve come across exactly zero incidents. So, guessing it’s because the general population are not infected with the hysteria you see commonly on Mumsnet?

Starconundrum · 02/11/2025 04:43

I keep mine in the kitchen.

As a previous poster said about plug sockets, that's where the spare one was, so that's where it went.

But now I feel more comfortable with it in the kitchen.

What a weird yet intriguing question.

fromadistance2025 · 02/11/2025 04:45

I close the lid each and every time I flush, and I always wash my toothbrush under hot water before I put it in my mouth.

Do you also store your towels in another room, and keep your toilet roll in a closed cabinet? Because otherwise you should be worried about your towels and toilet roll too.

Starconundrum · 02/11/2025 04:47

HoppingPavlova · 02/11/2025 04:43

Why is it considered normal for toothbrushes to be left in bathrooms, near toilets, poo particles just flying around. Even if everyone guest and children/husband remembers to put the lid down before flushing.. it’s still somewhere where people poo, why keep something you put in your mouth in there?!

How many deaths or illnesses by contaminated toothbrushes do you know of? In my many decades, with all the poo particles flying about in everyone’s bathrooms, I’ve come across exactly zero incidents. So, guessing it’s because the general population are not infected with the hysteria you see commonly on Mumsnet?

Why would you compel me to Google that?!

But no, it doesn't appear to make a difference.