Real Life of an MSW

Are you cleaning the things around your house frequently enough? Test your knowledge below. And remember, these are generalities. If you live with pets, kids or other especially messy folks, you’ll probably want to intensify your cleaning game. Same goes if you have immunocompromised people living with you or visiting.

1. How often should you wash bath towels?

a) After each use

b) Once a week

c) Once a month

2. Dish towels?

a) After each use

b) Once a week

c) Every two weeks

1. b) You should wash your bath towels once a week and maybe more. If you bathe multiple times a day or live in an area with high humidity, experts recommend changing out your towels closer to every three days. “ Bathroom hand towels follow the same rules. Washcloths, on the other hand, should be washed after every use. “It’s the one that really gets the germs,” says Patric Richardson, host of Discovery Plus’s “The Laundry Guy” and author of “House Love,” a forthcoming guide to cleaning.

2. a) If you use your kitchen towels while cooking, you need to throw them in the laundry after each use because they are probably making contact with raw food — and we’re not just talking about uncooked meat. People often don’t realize that leafy greens can cause outbreaks of gastroenteritis and other illnesses. If you’ve wiped down your counter with a kitchen towel after cutting up raw veggies, that towel should go directly into the wash. “When you’re in the kitchen and you’re cleaning up your food, salads are nearly as risky a raw food as, say, chicken,” he says.