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

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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 🤣

Our toothbrushes live in a bathroom cabinet.

Our cat litter lives in the kitchen, which we would be considerably more minging than the bathroom.

In the kitchen ? Why’s that ? Ours live in the drawers in the under sink units easy to access in the mornings and bedtime but away from germs n flying germs from the loo brush 😂😂😂

You are that germophobic I suggest you get your toilets put in an outhouse- far more hygienic, or alternatively get a grip and stop trailing backwards and forwards from bathroom to kitchen. Kitchens actually have far more dangerous bacteria than bathrooms.

We don't have a toilet in the bathroom, it's separate, with it's own door and all. We do wash our hands afterwards in the bathroom, but I assure you we don't throw pooparticles around.

Mines in my bedroom. In a drawer!

Only on mumsnet do people even think of things like this.

Aren’t germs good for one’s immune system anyway? I’m sure me of the MANY ways 2020 harmed our children was by making their environment very sterile.

ours are in the bathroom, on the shelf, no cabinets here HOWEVER, our toilet is separate to the bathroom, so a lower risk of poo particles i guess

This is the weirdest question I have ever seen on Mumsnet. I keep my toothbrush the bathroom like most people. I’m sure my micro biome benefits hugely from all the poo I am no doubt ingesting.

Our bathroom doesn’t have a toilet in it…

I’m 59.
I have always kept my toothbrush in the bathroom.
I am not dead yet.

Yea, you’re being germaphobey. I don’t know anyone else whose toothbrushes are not in the bathroom. I am 55, and I can’t remember a time I’ve been ill because poo got on my toothbrush. You do you though.

I keep my toothbrush in the fridge.

That’s half the size of my house. My bathroom is 24 sq ft 🤣 yours is like my Dad’s…he had 3 bed , 3 baths and each was that size in his holiday apartment.
However, as mine needs charging, it tends to live in my bedroom because of the power point.
I like your name. One of my dogs is called Freyja and we live in the north , so it fits her .

Oh goody! Another self-righteous germophobe is here to tell us all how disgusting we are for doing something completely bloody normal. It’s been at least 3 days since the last one of these threads.

I worry about the poo particles too, because my bathroom's tiny and the sink is next to the loo. So I put an old spray deodorant lid on the head of my toothbrush. Protects it from any rogue particles that may go flying during the toilet flush.

I would eat in the bathroom but it’s not very convenient

Have you ever heard of anyone getting sick because a poo particle landed on their toothbrush? Seriously get a life

Yeah I put mine in my toilet bag then put that away. I'm sure the number of cleaners doing anything deliberately is tiny. But moving them with dirty hands/gloves while quickly wiping around the bathroom is a risk I'm not prepared to take.

We had the same approach at home and not OCD. See for example in restaurants the sink for hand washing is separate from the sink for food prep. Spitting would spread a lot of germs around the food prep and washing area as well.

Well, norovirus is primarily spread by fecal-oral transmission, and can be caught from as few as 15 (nano-sized!) viruses. One “poo particle” probably contains millions of viruses. Next time someone in your family has noro, don’t be surprised if they pass it on…

Haven't RTFT, but while I've heard about the particles that go flying after flushing, surely you're already breathing in and sometimes swallowing some of those particles, because you're right there in the room when you flush. (Granted, that's only when you flush and not everyone else's accumulated flushes.)

I still find the thought of 'particles' disgusting, but I don't think they are likely to actually do much harm, especially if you don't store the toothbrush right next to the toilet and leave the lid up when flushing. We used to keep them in a drawer for this very reason, but now that our toilet is in its own little room, we just keep that door shut.

When toilets first started moving indoors from outside priciest, people were worried about the hygiene aspects of having a loo inside, but generally, modern sewage systems and the ability to clean things with your choice of cleaning chemicals means we're not getting ill all the time. We need to come in contact with some germs to keep our immune system active.

I grew up on a farm, and while I don't think I've rolled in manure, I have walked barefoot in it. I am rarely ill, nor is my sister. I have been a hayfever sufferer since I was 3 or 4 though, and am also allergic to cats, so it doesn't protect you entirely.

Never even thought about it until I read your post. Everywhere I’ve ever lived the toothbrushes have been in the bathroom. The last house and current house had a separate toilet from the main bathroom but we have kept them in the bathroom with a toilet and do so when we go on holiday.

I don’t know why the toothbrush is the focus of all the anxiety, These “poo particles” will be on every surface in the bathroom and beyond - the toilet lid, the flush handle, the sink, tap, towel, door handle. In the air, on your skin, in your hair…

Yes technically there’s some risk but it’s so small.

In my observation I’ve seen no indications that families that are more fastidious/germophobic are healthier or get sick less frequently than those who aren’t. If anything the opposite seems to be true (perhaps people who are more sickly get more hung up about these things? maybe exposure to more grime is actually useful, who knows).

I’ve lived in a house where the toilet was separate from the bathroom and in a house where the toilet was in the same room with the toothbrushes were in the same room on an open shelf.

i have noticed absolutely zero difference in our health and frequency of sickness between the two.