No dishrags. No sponges. I use Brillo pads for the few things that need them (and store the current one in a small bowl on the counter for the few days of its brief existence) and paper towels for everything else.
This means that I use vast numbers of paper towels. I don’t care. Cloth towels and sponges are disgusting, and heaven only knows what lives in them.
I use Dobie sponges to wash dishes. I have a silicon scrubber to get food residue off the dishes and it goes in the dishwasher. For counters and general clean-up I have about a dozen microfiber cloths that I keep under the sink. After use they go in the wash so I don’t usually have them hanging around. When I’m finished cleaning up I like the sink to be entirely empty until the next onslaught.
Sponges here. They get put in the dishwasher every time it’s run, which is generally every 36-48 hours. H gets twitchy if he doesn’t run it after a couple of days.
I just honestly laughed out loud at this because that is exactly how I feel - food encrusted cloth flapping! Bleh!
I use a sponge with kitchen cleaner w/bleach if necessary and put the sponges in my dishwasher every night. I have one sponge for washing dishes with detergent and the other sponge is strictly for wiping counters using the kitchen cleaner. I have a false front on the cabinet in front of the sink that has a plastic holder for sponges. It can be removed and washed in dishwasher as well.
I uses sponges but probably don’t clean them enough. For some yukky things, I use paper dinner napkin left over from meal, before throwing it out.
Sometimes when I take out a new sponge I cut the old one in half. I’ll use the old halves for yukkier duty.
I don’t use rags - ugh, I hate that word! I use cloths, brushes or sponges. To sanitize, I put the saturated (in water) sponge in the microwave; the kitchen towels and cloths go in the washing machine
I use multiple cloths a day, just wash them, don’t reuse them if they are dirty. I have many. I am a fan of flour sack cloth mostly. Some microfiber but I am petulant over the hair grabbing and eventual lack of absorbance.
I use scrub sponges for hand washing dishes and pans and have a built in place for them in front of the sink. I use a microfiber cloth for wiping the counter and table. That is supposed to go on a rack on the undersink cabinet door. I am lazy and often leave it over the sink divider and the sponge in the sink. I often use the microfiber cloth to clean out the sink before throwing it in the wash.
One thing I hate about sponges. When people don’t squeeze them out. It grosses me out to pick up a saturated sponge!
We use sponges - one for the dishes, one for cleaning, and they live in two separate cups in a cute container that I originally bought to give as a gift and ended up keeping. Periodic cleaning/replacement of both sponges and container, and I try not to think too deeply about what’s going on on the microbial level.
Note to self: replace sponges tomorrow!
I just hang it over the center divider.
Definitely only sponges. Change them out often an when using them use a bleach cleaner and microwave every couple of days.
I use everything. A dish rag hangs over the faucet, a sponge is in the sponge holder, and the dish towels hang over the over door handle. I think I need more rags to change them out more frequently. I don’t use paper towels that much.
Just told D2 to put some in my Christmas stocking…
I’m pretty convinced that the reason my kids and I almost never have stomach issues because I never worry about eating a little dirt and bacteria. I am careful with raw chicken and eggs, but I’ve never thought twice about eating stuff that drops on the floor or what might be growing in my sponge. I toss them when they start to smell off and the dishwasher doesn’t help.
These are the inexpensive dish towels I get at Ikea. Thought they last forever, every time I step in an Ikea I buy at least a half dozen of them - they are like .69/towel at the actual store. Soft, clean well, durable - if one gets used for a obscenely dirty job I will just toss it - a mere .69 to replace it!
NEVER a dishrag/cloth. Sponges so much easier to use and clean. I understand keeping things clean but one can go overboard so no daily… ones. That said- I’m the one who always rinses/squeezes… the sponge out after using it. And sometimes just because I know others (H, currently his visiting mom) don’t. The sponge, scrubber should sit in a wire carrier attached to the side of the nondisposal side of the double sink but it kept sliding so they just sit in the sink (sometimes that carrier does hold things).
Every month my thorough cleaning includes using the sponge, meaning it comes out super clean from the cleaners I use.
The kitchen hand towel, washed weekly with the other towels, hangs on the stove handle because it fits better than on the different brand dishwasher.
Sponges can go in the washer and dryer with the dish towels on high heat or get soaped up and microwaved. I also have a dozen Costco white hand towels in the kitchen drawer next to the dish towels. Don’t be wiping your hands on my dish towel!
How are you going to prevent that?
What put me over the edge was that I had a friend whose husband worked in the food safety industry. She told me he insisted she not use rags or sponges.
I use a crumbled up plastic bag with a dose of liquid soap as a sponge to get food off dishes. Then put dishes in dishwasher. Discard the crumbled plastic bag. No sponges here. I use paper towels for everything else. I am grossed out with sponges and dish towels. in the days i used to ise sponges i discarded them daily. We food shop so much and get many plastic bags. this is what i do with my plastic bags.