What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

CATRYNA_203 — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 14:00:37 GMT

A recent study was done to find out what surface in the average home is the dirtiest. All sorts of surfaces were tested by taking swipes and allowing them to incubate in petry dishes. The kitchen counter was found to be the worst and why? Traces of feces. The culprit bringing it to that counter, the majority of the time, was the bottom of a woman's purse. A woman's purse goes everywhere and is placed everywhere, including the floors of public restrooms, etc. Pretty gross. So, it might be a good rule of thumb for those who carry purses, backpacks etc, to clean them periodically and make a mental note where they are being placed at any particular time. Can you imagine your kitchen counter having a higher feces count than a toilet? Makes you wonder about those 24 hour bugs. It just might be Mom infecting her family with her purse or the kids and their backpacks from school.
Just a thought, Catryna

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

Yod — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:05:23 GMT

This is a great idea. I also saw on a tv wine show that carpet stains can be removed easily with peroxide and soap - they say that Dawn dish soap works the best. We use Dawn at the native animal rescue also as it's least toxic.
Speakin' of the dirtiest thing in the house :-), I hear the sponge is the germiest thing around. Most folks recommend using the microwave, but lately I've been hearing about the hazards of microwave and how it renders food absolutely toxic. Someone just told me that Russia has banned microwaves from the entire country.

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

jannie — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:01:12 GMT

How do we know where our vitamin C is coming from? I'd like to know where we can get our vitamin supplements that are not from China.

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

ottos — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:37:05 GMT

I would just like to warn you all about H2O2 it is a very good product, with many uses, I use it carefully,..... however, I wish I had known the dangers to my small children. In 1990, my small son thought H2O2 was water, and drank some, he was almost 2. It caused him to go into cardiac arrest and seizures immediately. As the bubbling action took effect, it acted like blood clots all over his body, and really tore up the inside of his stomach and esophagus. Before he reached the hospital, he was dead. The doctors were able to revive him, but after 5 days in a coma, he passed away. This is not a fluke, there are others who have had experiences similar to ours. The Dr. who worked with him said he had replaced the esophagus and stomach on another boy the year before, and he survived. There was no warning or child safe lid on the bottle. This was food grade (35%) and the grocery store is (3%), but there is reason to be careful with that, also. In the report the Dr. wrote about my son, he cited other cases, and some involved the 3%.
As I said at the first, it is a good product, but it should have a warning on it, because, if I had known it was dangerous AT ALL, it would not have been where he could get it. Please do not quit using it, just be careful!

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

nmazca — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 01:01:01 GMT

USE PEROXIDE AND APPLE CIDAR VINEGAR TO CLEAN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

jannie — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 00:20:27 GMT

KatyB,
I use eliminate, I am not sure if Home Depot stills carries it. Works great on tile showers, tile floors and tubs.

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

tra — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 22:31:00 GMT

KAC and Katybr55, for brown stains on sinks and toilets, Bar Keepers Friend works great. Use as a paste (chase the water out of the toilet with a bucket first). It is a strong acid, so use gloves and don't inhale, but there are no fumes, no chlorine, no fragrances. In a dishwasher, run the dishwasher with Tang. The acid cleans the brown stain, which in our area is from manganese in the water.

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

nanciesweb — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:13:01 GMT

I worked in retail for a long time. People would come in sneezing and wheezing as they walk up to me. One even told me that he did stay home for a while and got bored. I really wish I could have say something, like "So you decide that it would be fun to get everyone else sick?", but I was "on the clock". People don't wash their hands after they use the restroom. Countless of times I would see women who would just rinse their hands then grab the door handle.

Those automatic faucets and maze-like entrances (as opposed to doors) that I've seen popping up in newer stores are a godsend.

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

seg — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 20:35:31 GMT

Not only is good old H202 effective for cleaning surfaces it's also great for cleaning your teeth and ears too. Some say if you suspect you might be coming down with something like a cold or viral infection just put a few drops in your ear and it usually helps to get rid of the bug. Usually a little tingle that takes place but that's o.k.....I use a 3% solution and it's quite cheap couple bucks i believe.

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

scd — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 20:17:19 GMT

I saw a product advertised called the Lotus that is, from what I understand, oxygenated water. It claims to be a stronger cleaner than bleach and is a safe cleaner for foods. does anyone know about it. Is it effective? If it cleans your produce and helps keep it fresh longer, what does it do to the produce? Does it remove nutrients?

re: re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

Bridestein — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:37:18 GMT

Islander and Ozy ness - what brand of vitamin C do you use that doesn't come from China? (re June 4: Most Vitamins Are Now Made In China)

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

vikingbeerlady — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:36:47 GMT

Almost forgot!

For cleaning tubs, toilets and so on, make a wet and sloppy paste of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. Leave it on the stain/ surface you are cleaning for a few minutes (the soda starts to dry a bit), re-scrub and then rinse. Old white rental-home bath tubs and coffe-stained kitchen sinks become truly white again!

Soda and peroxide are so completely overlooked, but I'm starting to notice similarities between these old home remedies and the "NEW and IMPROVED" laundry stain sticks. Could it be that they are marketing these old tricks with a new label - and pricetag? Hmmmmm...

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

vikingbeerlady — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:27:28 GMT

A few years back I learned a few tricks that have saved my laundry and laundry budget. I actually saved enough to be able to afford airfare to Europe, when I made my own soap and used cloth diapers for my baby. I think it was something like "thegreenfairy.com." where I got these tidbits -

I make my own detergent - the "old fashioned way" by grating soap and making a tea to which I add washing soda and borax - it's awesome! I get to choose what kind of soap and ingredients, and I get a 5 gallon buck of suds for about a dollar.

For Peroxide - it's a real stain-chasing champion. Buy yourself a cheap spray bottle and a large bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Take cap off peroxide and fill bottle to the neck with 1-2 tablespoons of grease-chasing dishsoap (here again, you get to choose ingredients). Put the spray top onto the bottle of peroxide (most standard ones fit easily). Invert the peroxide gently to mix in the soap, tip upright and take aim at your stains. You can actually watch them disappear under the suds! Do beware of too much skin exposure. Peroxide isn't great for the skin, so be sure to wash your hands of the residue.

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

yves — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:49:28 GMT

I used to get all the keys off my keyboard and also the top plastic
cover and wash all of it in the sink with soap. It gets really clean
and look like new.

When everything is off you can vacuum the electronics board
for crums so that the keys will make good contact. Nothing worth
than hitting a key 5 times and not having a consistent contact.

Also , clean your phone handset (especially if you're sharing it
with others in the office or home).

That also applies to any knob and button on HI-FI, surround or tv
or remotes....

Also your car's steering wheel can get pretty dirty.

Yves Baggi
www.NoPainMoGain.com

re: What is the Dirtiest Surface in Your House?

Rett — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:09:07 GMT

I save Stevia bottles. A Stevia bottle is brown glass and has an eye dropper in it. It's perfect to keep peroxide in to put into my ears when I start to feel like I'm "coming" down with something. I'll fill up the eye dropper and empty it into my ear and let it stand for five minutes. When I feel it foaming up, I know there is infection there and then I allow it to run out into a paper towel. Then I do the other ear. I don't get sick. Thank you, Dr. Mercola, for showing me how to clean my keyboard and mouse with peroxide. It's pretty nasty at the moment. I'll get on that first thing in the morning before I turn my computer on. I also put H2O2 in a little mist bottle and carry it in a pocket or purse and spray my counter tops and those nasty germies on those shopping carts. Or colloidal silver. :) I buy 50 cent spray bottles at WalMart because that spay top fits the brown glass Stevia bottles perfectly. :) Hugs from Florida