Water Cooler: Soak up these sponge cleaning tricks

Sponges by design are meant to absorb, but if you think all they’re absorbing is soapy dishwater then you need to tone down your cleanliness optimism. Sponges are many people’s go-to tool for hand-washing dishes, but if they are neglected long enough they can contain some of the highest concentrations of bacteria in your home.

Not all hope is lost for sponges. If you clean them every few days and toss them when they need to be, sponges are still an effective cleaning tool. When you do clean them, however, you have to be more thorough than just ringing them out under a hot tap. Here are a few ways to bring your kitchen sponge back to acceptable levels of hygiene.

If you use a dishwasher, throw your sponge in on a regular basis. Use a hot setting and a heated drying option if your dishwasher has one. This way you don’t have to think about it because you’re doing dishes already anyway.

Using a microwave is also a quick way to reduce the amount of germs hiding in a sponge. Rinse it out and get rid of as much food residue as possible. Leave enough water in the sponge that it is saturated but not dripping and put it in the microwave on high for 1 minute. A word of caution, however: Your sponge can burn in the microwave, so keep an eye on it and remember that it will be hot when you take it out. And for heaven’s sake, do not use this method on steel wool or stainless steel sponges.

Soaking the sponge in full-strength vinegar for 5 minutes can also help. This type of vinegar is not regular white vinegar. Cleaning vinegar has a higher acidity and cannot be eaten. After a soak, flush the sponge with hot water from the tap or even boiling water from a kettle or pot.

Not cross-contaminating your sponge will keep it cleaner for longer. Do you use your sponge for both dishes and general clean up? It’s not only going to soak up whatever germs were on your dining and cookware, but also whatever was festering on the counter, stove, and dare we go there, the floor. Dedicate one tool to clean up and one tool to dishes.

Switch it out for a scouring pad, washcloth or brush. All of these tools can be cleaned more thoroughly than a sponge because they can either be cleaned in the washing machine or dishwasher and they don’t have thick middles that are prone to bacterial growth. Scouring pads can be a little rough, but they are inexpensive and soften up over time. They can also be cut down to your preferred size. A washcloth isn’t disposable, so you can throw one in the wash and pull out a fresh one each day. A brush will pick up debris, but it is infinitely easier to remove than from a sponge.

Most important of all, just throw a sponge away when it’s time. If it has picked up a musty, dank smell, the game is up and it is time to move on to a fresh sponge. If it has noticeable wear but you’ve been so on top of cleaning that it doesn’t smell, just take the wear as a sign that it has served its purpose and has come to the end of its natural sponge lifespan.