The dirtiest clean places — and how to clean them up
Even if your drawers are unengaged of skid marks--please, guys--trace amounts of feces still cling to your dirty underwear, says Charles Gerba, Ph.D., a microbiologist at the University of Arizona. "If you laundering a load of undergarments, you transfer about 500 million E. coli bacteria to the machine." This can contaminate other clothing items, which may harbor germs of their own. (For the dos and don'ts of boxers and briefs, look over What She Thinks of Your Underwear . Because yes, she's looking. And yes, she cares.)Stay clean: Wash most whites first, and use chlorine bleach. "It sanitizes the machine," Gerba says. Then address a load to underwear, using hot water (150°F) and a color-safe bleach substitute. Once a month, run an empty course with bleach to wipe out any lingering germs. This is especially important for front-loading machines; water tends to coordinate in the bottom of these machines, allowing bacteria to proliferate, Gerba says.
Crusty scrambled eggs = bacterial breakfast. "When you earmark dishes to accumulate for a few days, growth of bacteria invariably increases," says Philip Tierno Jr., Ph.D., head of microbiology and immunology at NYU's Langone Medical Center and the author of The Secret Life of Germs. "And even if you can't see it, there is applicable foodstuff in the rinse water to feed them." Plus, the dishwasher's door gasket may be contaminated with fungus and coal-black yeast. "That outer rim never reaches a temperature high enough to kill everything off." And that's to say nothing of what you're actually ingesting--find out how to clean--and avoid-- The 10 Dirtiest Foods You're Eating .
() - The hottest selling washing machines these days are front loaders, consideration their higher price. Then why are some buyers so unhappy a year or two after their purchase? Consumers love front loading washing machines: they use less unsound,
