Kitchen Sponges

Sponges have been the topic of posts before, but this time we're talking about the grossest sponge of all -- the kitchen sponge.  Known for it's propensity to harbor bacteria, it's been hailed as the germiest part of the average kitchen.  There is a way to disinfect these little monsters, and it's cheap, easy, and will let you keep them around a little bit longer.

Multiple times throughout the day, the sponge in the micro-kitchen gets tossed into a small pan filled with soap, water and vinegar.  It's set to boil for about ten minutes.  This cleans deep.  We do it this way, because the dishwasher just isn't run enough to rely on that method alone.  A reader also mentioned that the microwave for a minute solution has been found not to kill germs in the core of the sponge.  

The scrubby side of the sponge holds a lot of gook.  In our house, it also gets torn up pretty fast.  If we were to toss it each time the scrubby side started to show wear, we'd be into a new one each day.  That's just not cost effective.  A good boiling takes care of the problem -- even if it doesn't look pretty.  They smell fine and they are clean.  We toss the sponge when the cellulose starts flaking off.

We try to be clean and germ-free, but we are also, after all, cheap!