The surprising things in your home that are dirtier than your toilet

How Dirty Is Your Toilet?

Your toilet is swarming with harmful bacteria from the flush handle to the seat and the water tank.

On average, a toilet bowl contains 3.2 million bacteria per square inch. This is on top of the bacteria found on the other parts of the toilet that you have come into contact with.

The flush handle generally contains 83 bacteria per square inch, and the toilet seat contains around 295 bacteria per square inch.

Surprisingly, though toilet bowls have gained quite a reputation as the dirtiest item in an average household or office, science has proven that there are far dirtier items in your home - and you likely use them regularly.

What could be dirtier than a toilet bowl? Let's find out.

Things that are dirtier than your toilet?

Cutting Board

Researchers at the University of Arizona found that the average cutting board has 200 times more bacteria than a toilet seat, mainly from raw meat, but can also be attributed to not cleaning them correctly after use.

Mobile Devices

In a 2018 study, Initial Washroom Hygiene found that mobile phones are about seven times dirtier than toilet seats, and the numbers can be far higher if you use your phone while on the toilet.

Keyboard

Keyboards can harbour up to 200 times more bacteria than a toilet seat, and these should generally be wiped down every couple of days with keyboard anti-bacterial wipes.

Handles, Switches, and Taps

The small things in your house that get used daily, such as taps, door handles, and light switches in the different rooms of your home, generally contain more bacteria than your toilet seat because of how frequently they're being touched but not cleaned.

Kitchen Sponge

There is an average of 45 billion microbes per square centimetre in a kitchen sponge, the largest of which is E.coli, which you do not want to have around anywhere in your kitchen.

Remote Control

These little gadgets are surprisingly dirty since they're constantly touched but rarely cleaned.

Toothbrush

The very thing you put in your mouth to clean it contains around 200,000 per square inch of bacteria - much of which comes from your toilet when you flush.

You should replace your toothbrush every three months but also consider keeping it inside a cupboard when not in use or even using a protective cap so bacteria from the toilet can't reach it.

Reusable Shopping Bags

The meat and other raw food items in your reusable shopping bag tend to leave harmful bacteria behind. The commonly found bacteria include E.coli and other bacteria, which can lead to stomach flu viruses.

Reusable shopping bags should be wiped down after each use with some antibacterial wipes.

The average cutting board has 200 times more bacteria than a toilet seat.

We hope this post has been helpful and has not scared you too much.