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I hope you don't think you have just discovered the real reason why women live longer than men. Women live longer than men because they don't have to endure nagging about dishrags.
As for me, I guess I am now immune to every germ encountered in the American kitchen, so I have nothing to worry about. And when I feel slightly out of sorts for a day, I'm probably fighting off something that would have most of you in isolation in the ICU.
I don't even use dish soap in the kitchen. Immediately after each meal, I rinse off everything in hot tap water, rubbing off sticky spots with a scrubber that just gets rinsed out until it is worn out and replaced. If a cooking pot has stuff sticking, I leave it full of water overnight. I wipe my cutting board every week or so with the same scrubber. If it looks clean, it's clean.
I wipe the counters and stove top with a wet rag that gets thrown in the wash, which is done when the hamper is full, and that's not even weekly.
Sometimes I leave my butter knife out for a few days and just keep using it. It builds up an interesting melange of peanut butter, banana and butter.
LOL - great post! That pretty much describes what I do. I am never sick either, I never get more than "mildly" under the weather. People these days are WAY too "germ-phobic."
My friend claims (I don't know for sure since I'm not there) to use about 10 rolls of paper towels per week. He uses them for EVERYTHING - cleaning, wiping counters, etc. Uses a new one each time.
My mother's ex-boyfriend never used to wash a whole glass. He would rinse it out and only wash the top part, where you put your mouth. That kind of skeeved me out.
I don’t boil my underwear every week but under the right conditions I would boil my underwear, my night clothes, my bed linens, my towels etc…. Low temperature washing machine cycles do not kill candida spores, fungi, viruses, and parasites like scabies, pinworm, tapeworms etc. or bacterias. Pathogens survive on surfaces for hours or days, depending on the species.
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Other health measures you may find amusing, boil hairbrushes/combs occasionally, replace your toothbrush monthly. Replace pillows yearly to prevent the harboring of mites that can aggravate asthma and other pulmonary conditions. Don’t use crock pots to cook food. They do not reach the sufficient high temperatures needed to kill any existing organisms. Plus, they stay unattended all day in a nice warm, dark environment perfect for bacteria etc…to multiply quite nicely. I also spray doorknobs with Lysol in cold and flu season. You may find all these precautions inconvenient while I find poor health to be the bigger inconvenience.
Were you by any chance a fan of the show "Monk"? Did you watch it for inspiration? It seems like there are two extremes here- jtur88's "clean doesn't matter; you won't get sick anyway" attitude, and your "germs are going to KILL us!" attitude. In reality, we need exposure to some level of germs/bacteria/viruses to keep our immune systems operating at a healthy level. At the same time, some level of hygiene is definitely recommended.
Quote:
Originally Posted by momobear71
Don’t use crock pots to cook food. They do not reach the sufficient high temperatures needed to kill any existing organisms. Plus, they stay unattended all day in a nice warm, dark environment perfect for bacteria etc…to multiply quite nicely.
This is just plain false. Have you ever actually seen a crockpot cook, or did you just hear about someone getting sick from something in a crockpot? Sure, if all you use is a warm setting to keep meatballs in for a 12 hour picnic, there's a good chance bacteria will be growing. But even low settlings on a crockpot heat at a low boil. A low boil for multiple hours will kill any bacteria that reside in food.
I hope you don't think you have just discovered the real reason why women live longer than men. Women live longer than men because they don't have to endure nagging about dishrags.
As for me, I guess I am now immune to every germ encountered in the American kitchen, so I have nothing to worry about. And when I feel slightly out of sorts for a day, I'm probably fighting off something that would have most of you in isolation in the ICU.
I don't even use dish soap in the kitchen. Immediately after each meal, I rinse off everything in hot tap water, rubbing off sticky spots with a scrubber that just gets rinsed out until it is worn out and replaced. If a cooking pot has stuff sticking, I leave it full of water overnight. I wipe my cutting board every week or so with the same scrubber. If it looks clean, it's clean.
I wipe the counters and stove top with a wet rag that gets thrown in the wash, which is done when the hamper is full, and that's not even weekly.
Sometimes I leave my butter knife out for a few days and just keep using it. It builds up an interesting melange of peanut butter, banana and butter.
Well, J.... I don't nag. I pick my fights (not many at all) and dishrags ain't one of them. So I put out new ones daily, because I know he grabs what's available.
My husband is very much like you, but we have cats, and they love to sun themselves in the garden window, so they are up on our kitchen counter all the time. Eating and licking things off knives -- one cat is a butter FREAK! Give him a little knob of butter and he's happy.
But even Hubby's not okay with taking that knife that Knuckles has licked and using again.
And being a janitor, I'm exposed to people's garbage a lot, and like I told this one lady who dropped her keys down the trash chute and had to get them (I don't go in full dumpsters for anyone, unless they wave a some real money at me and it's the end of the day, because I can't work stinky) Lady -- that garbage was your dinner last night....
I also use the half paper towel, and try to reuse it for a dirtier job elsewhere (i.e. something on the floor or pet mess, etc). Will use a dish cloth for the cleaner counter jobs, always wash it afterwards and hang up to dry. Is very concerning when over to someone's house who uses a visibly dirty dishrag to wash off every surface, and otherwise. May go back for a visit, but will not eat there again.
We go through about 1 roll per month..we use sparingly.
I keep 2 disrags out on the counters and wash them weekly.
I don't buy any type of antibacterial soap. You cannot spend 100% of the time fighting off germs thinking you're doing yourself good. You need to build up natural resistance and immunity.
We don't get sick too often in my house and when we do, it's mild and gone within a day or two.
I use paper for really messy stuff, and cloth towels for drying dishes and drying clean hands. I do not use the cloth on the floor.
We have no pets, but I would definitely use paper for cat and dog accidents.
I am not convinced that cloth is more ecologically sound. The water and detergent used to launder them probably probably offset the environmental effect of producing paper goods. Using cloth does cut down on the household expense of buying paper.
Kitchen hygiene is not that difficult:
Not all bacteria are pathogens; most will not make us sick. The trick is to protect against the ones that will make us ill. There are two ways to reduce exposure: dilute the number with soap and water, or kill them with a chemical. Soap and water do the job quite well under normal household kitchen circumstances. Using bleach can be a good idea in some circumstances.
Wash hands after using the toilet (it's amazing how many people don't do that!) and frequently during the day. Antibacterial soap is not necessary. Again, you mechanically remove the bacteria. Wash hands before touching your face.
Separate raw meat from the moment it goes into the grocery basket at the store. Do not allow it to touch other foods. Do not let it drip on or touch other food in the fridge. This prevents contamination of foods that will not be cooked with bacteria from the meat. Discard leftovers if they are not consumed quickly. (If you find you are throwing away a lot of food, freeze leftovers for later use.)
Cook eggs and meats to the appropriate temperature. Read packages. Do not use wooden cutting boards for raw meat --- use plastic or ceramic. Clean up after handling raw meat with lots of warm water and soap --- or use a dilute bleach solution, if you wish.
Wash fruits and vegetables with cold running water.
If you have a dishwasher (electric, not your spouse or kid!), use it. It uses hotter water than your hands can tolerate. Put cutting boards in the dishwasher.
It is not necessary to try to sterilize your environment. It cannot be done, anyway. You do not need to boil rags. Change them frequently and just launder them with the rest of the laundry. If they are stained or really dirty, put them in with a load that you plan to bleach. Cold water and detergent are fine. There again, you are mechanically removing the bacteria. I do not care for sponges, but they can be put in the dishwasher.
In the USA, we are unlikely to be exposed to parasites from our food. Unless clothing or bedding has been exposed to a known parasite --- head lice for example --- hot water is not needed. You do not need to disinfect your clothes washer.
I would not leave a dirty utensil out all day and reuse it. That is an invitation for any bacteria to multiply and an invitation for pests like ants and cockroaches to come for dinner.
If it looks clean, it may not be. Adding soap aids in mechanical removal.
If I had an indoor pet, I would keep it out of the kitchen. Pet hair in food is disconcerting. Definitely no counter surfing allowed!
As to the theory that a little dirt is good for us, that really seems to apply to the risk of developing allergies. It does not protect against food borne illnesses.
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That pretty much describes what I do. I am never sick either, I never get more than "mildly" under the weather. People these days are WAY too "germ-phobic." 
