A deep clean in your home can leave your space sparkling, but you're probably overlooking the places where bacteria is festering the most.
Recently, an experiment from Compare the Market revealed just where all of that filth is hiding. After swabbing various areas around the home, experts compared the number of bacteria groups in each location.
Anna McEntee, a home insurance comparison expert, clues us in on how this happens.
She explains: “While sticking to a regular cleaning routine can help you to keep on top of essential tasks and ensure that your home remains in good condition, sometimes mishaps happen that cause mess or damage that cannot be rectified."
But where exactly are all those nasty germs hiding? Here, we list how many bacteria groups were found in each unexpected are.
Bathroom vent - 1,991
While the bathroom itself is an obvious, you may be missing the vent in your routine cleaning. As you scrub your toilet seat and sink, are you forgetting the vent?
Bathroom shower screen - 1,921
The shower screen is yet another bathroom location that is overlooked. Your shower screen is holding on to nearly as many bacteria groups as your bathroom vent!
Inside the washing machine - 1,281
This one may seem a little counterintuitive. After all, if the washing machine is cleaning your clothes, shouldn't it be self-cleaning as well? Experts say, no! Plenty of bacteria are still left inside your washing machine even when you're done with the load of clothes. This means that the bacteria could as transfer over to the same clothes that you're trying to get clean.
Kettle handle - 634
You are washing up your dishes, but are you doing the same to your kettle? Given how often you're handling it (and assuming that you're not washing your hands every time), the kettle is bound to rack up some stray bacteria. Just because you're only putting water in it, doesn't mean it can't get dirty... especially the often overlooked outside.
Front door handle - 503
During routine cleans, we tend to focus on the inside of our house. Do you ever think to clean and disinfect your front door? If not, bacteria from both the outside and our hands may be covering your door handle.
The experiment also found a few places that technically seem to be the cleanest spots. However, even among the cleanest spots, the amount of bacteria was still staggering. Even a TV remote, which ranked number two in cleanliness, still had 312 bacteria groups.
There is good news! Your light switches are actually not so bad (in comparison). The experts only found 79 groups of bacteria there.
