Here Are 12 Things You Use Every Day That Are Dirtier Than A Toilet Seat. So Gross.

Your computer keyboard

ThoughtCo

Clicking away at your computer in between bites of lunch may have led to the last “office bug” you picked up. When British researchers swabbed 33 keyboards in a London office, they found that they harbored up to five times the germs of a toilet seat. In 2007, a stomach flu outbreak at a Washington, D.C. elementary school struck more than 100 people and may have spread through unclean computer equipment like keyboards, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Clean it: Wash hands, and surfaces, often. As if all that wasn’t enough.

Your handbag

Healthista

It goes with everything, including germs. When British researchers studied 25 handbags, they found that the average handbag is three times dirtier than an office toilet seat. Handbags used regularly were 10 times dirtier. Handles carried the most bacteria, but even items inside the bag were grimy—hand and face creams were the dirtiest, along with lipstick and gloss. Stomach flu viruses have been traced back to reusable grocery bags, too. Clean it: Keep your bags off the ground, and regularly wash cloth bags when possible. For plastic or leather bags, use disinfectant wipes.

Your kitchen cloth or sponge

AllBeige

When Arizona researchers collected 1,000 dishcloths and sponges in kitchens, they found that 10 percent contained salmonella. Each square inch of their surfaces contains about 134,630 bacteria, 456 times the number on a toilet seat. Dishcloths and sponges harbor the largest amount of E. coli and other fecal bacteria in the average home, mostly because they aren’t replaced as often as they should. Clean it: Each week, toss dishcloths in the washing machine and sponges in the dishwasher, or heat in the microwave (while damp) for 30 seconds.

Your TV remote

YouTube

It may surprise you, but your channel changer is surprisingly germy. Anything that’s been on your hands before you started surfing collects on your remote. Not to mention, your remote collects dust sitting on your couch, gets sat on, and may even have crumbs on it, if you like to eat in front of the TV. Grime can get stuck in the nooks and crannies between the buttons, so cleaning it can be a challenge. Clean it: Every now and then, wipe down your remote using a bit of dish soap or an antiseptic wipe. Make sure to get in between the buttons.

Gas pumps

NJ.com

Unless you live in New Jersey, you probably touch this ultra-germy item on a weekly basis at least. A University of Arizona study sampled gas pumps and found that a whopping 71 percent of them contained some type of bacterial contaminant. Clean it: If you don’t want to wipe down the pump before you use it, definitely keep hand sanitizer in your car so that you can bust any germs you may have picked up while filling up. Or consider wearing gloves to shield yourself from the germs.

Elevator buttons

SafeBee

While you’re getting a ride to your desired floor, germs might be hitching a ride on your hands. A University of Toronto study found that elevator buttons in public spaces like office buildings and hospitals could be harboring more germs than toilet seats. Clean it: Maybe you don’t want to stand around your office building and wipe down the elevator buttons, and that’s fair. But you’ll probably want to wash, or at least sanitize, your hands once you’ve reached your floor.

Credits: rd.com

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Zack Walkter