I put my toothbrushes in the dishwasher every single time I run it, i.e. 2-3 x per week, and replace them every 6 months. and of course, your bathroom should be completely scrubbed.

The last time I tried to boil a toothbrush it did not work out so well. If you are using a cheap, store brand tooth brush sometimes the heat from the water will melt the glue adhering the bristles to the brush head causing them to fall off. I've never tried to dishwasher trick, but I usually just replace my toothbrush when the bristles are excessively curved outward.

Is the best way to clean a duvet to put it into the dryer? What does that do?

My dentist says that boiling a toothbrush is not a good idea. It has something to do with the bristles getting out of alignment and scratching your gums. He does say that hydrogen peroxide works very well, though. Soak your brush after you've brushed your teeth, then rinse it out.

sometimes i think AT has OCD...but then maybe if I did too I'd get sick less often?

Chances are, you called someone on the phone when you were sick: So clean the phone!

I agree with ajh. I'm all for cleanliness, but I do think there's cleanliness and then there's OCD. And this is coming from someone who never gets sick. It's unlikely that you're going to catch germs from yourself once you've already gotten sick from them - if you've let yourself recover, then you've built up immunity. It would be more useful to clean those places regularly or wash your hands after touching them (fridge handle for example) to prevent sickness than cleaning them AFTER you've already gotten sick.

Don't forget those light switches or the handles on your sink and toilet.

You shouldn't have to get rid of your toothbrush, as your body should have built up immunity to whatever you had so it cannot re-infect you again.

Don't forget the remote controls!

I'll admit I have total OCD in this department (it might have something to do with the fact that I have cancer, am a germ magnet, and bugs seem to linger in me 100x longer than in the average person.)

My tip: Spray gun rubbing alcohol. I up a spray bottle "gun trigger" in my bottle of rubbing alcohol and screw it on tight. Then I go crazy spraying down every surface in my house.

I also toss throw pillows and throw blankets from the sofa into the wash. And, I empty the trash - maybe germs from used kleenex can't migrate back into my body, but they sure look nasty.

Don't forget the rest of the toilet besides the flusher...if you've had a stomach bug.

Actually, microbes not grow that well on metal (so, doorknobs, sink hardware, etc). What needs periodic cleaning, illnesses aside, are things like phones, remotes, bedding, and coffee makers (the acidity in the coffee creates a perfect breeding ground for certain bacteria).

http://thesweetest3.com/

@ catcam: "Actually, microbes not grow that well on metal..."
But viruses do, although they stay dormant till someone else touches the surface and provides them with a host body to infect. That's the reason you hear all the warnings during flu season about washing/disinfecting your hands after touching common door-knobs etc in common areas where there might be people with the infection.

@manjari, not quite. According to WebMD "Flu viruses can live on surfaces for several hours – up to 24 hours on hard, nonporous surfaces!"

I think the main cause for concern with doorhandles and such is that tons of people touch them constantly throughout the day. Your own aren't going to be that much of an issue.

I'm with AJH, this falls into OCD category. I could see wanting to freshen things up but fearing re-infection is just silly.

"Actually, microbes not grow that well on metal..."

Tell that to the nice folks who have caught Norovirus in office buildings, aboard cruiseships, in schools and nursing homes...
...all by touching handrails, elevator buttons, doorknobs, sink handles, etc.

@ catcam: "Actually, microbes not grow that well on metal..." FALSE

If these metals are smeared by human sweat/oil or any fluid that is conducive for life, microbes will thrive.

@Tiamat_the_Red: Sure, your own might not be an issue for you, but if you live with anyone else, it'll be an issue for them.

by the time you feel better you haven't generally been contagious for at least 24 hours. By then the viruses and bacteria on these places are mostly going to be dead. So, this won't really help.

Cleaning all your bedding may be good though, since usualy you've been sweating like a pig and laying int them for a few days, so bacteria aside, their gonna be grimey. ick.

Also, if you share your space with someone, having them clean some of these surfaces as soon as you start to feel sick is more likely to help. That's how we made sure only 2 of the 9 employees at our office got H1N1, even though we all shared the same phones and none of us could afford the doctors note we required to get off work once we could stand upright.

love the idea of pillows in the dryer with a lavender sachet

don't over clean though...research shows this is one of the reasons why so many people have allergies today... http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Hygiene_Hypothesis/

I love the sanitizing wipes you can find near the grocery carts in most grocery stores. I loooovvve them.

Just when I have fought off and developed some immunity from my flu or cold. I don't want the next virus that is coming in a wave.

The last person who held that held that cart handle was a child with a runny nose and a fever. That is not being OCD. That is the difference between getting sick... or not...

It might not be OCD, but it's quite a commitment in the war on germs!
I hardly ever get sick and am not allergic to anything really.

I feel maybe the sanitzing spree might be a little American. In Italy we are very house-proud, but it's more about the shine and the order than the germs. [It's actually funny to see the different supermarkets in america and italy and how the cleaning detergents are advertised :) ]

But what happened to the old "building up immunity" thing?

If you've had strep the bacteria can live on your toothbrush and can reinfect you and it should be replaced. I didn't know this a few years ago and mysteriously got strep 3 times in a row.

WOW! I'm a neat freak and love a clean house, but this is something else. There's cleaning and there's cleaning. This definitely is the latter.

I've heard soaking your toothbrush in Listerine is a good way to disinfect it. I give my electric toothbrush head an overnight soak whenever I recharge it (about once ever two weeks) even when I'm well.

KEYBOARDS.........they're germier than toilets, believe it or not.

I change my pillowcases daily WHILE I'm sick. I swear I get better, faster.

I worked in a grocery floral department where for three months the four of us working there were CONSTANTLY getting sick, then sick again, and again. It took two weeks of 3x daily of Lysol spraying everything before we all got better. There wasn't any illness in any other departments.

"But what happened to the old "building up immunity" thing?"

Germs and bacteria are very resilient! When you build up immunity to them, they mutate to combat your immunities and keep infecting you. Anti-bacterial hand gel is a perfect example of this phenomenon.

I have never heard of putting a toothbrush in the dishwasher! the chemicals in detergent (unless you're using a green kind) are pretty strong. I wouldn't try this! Get a new toothbrush for 3 bucks.

I love this website because it's so in tune with my obsessive habits and psycho need to focus on the smallest details of my apartment.

But let's be real. This is not you get sick! Cleaning your apartment after you're well again. Lol.

I love a hot discussion, but I agree some of this is weird. Why does trying to avoid a cold make you obsessive or psycho. Cleaning most of these items takes less than a minute.

Colds can lead to strep throat, pneumonia, bronchitis in adults, croup & otitis media in children, and wheezing in asthmatics.

Also getting a cold does not make you healthier. Though eating well, exercise, getting enough sleep, and having friends might.

However the main reason I want to avoid a cold is they make me feel absolutely wretched for a week. I just don't want to be that miserable.

I admit that I do this all the time too. I actually do these while I'm sick as well. Don't forget to alcohol down the telephone too! And boil the utensils to sterilize.

OCD isn't an adjective, people, it's an illness. You can't "be OCD." Also, characterizing any awareness of bacterial and viral illnesses as "OCD" really does a disservice to public health.

That said, the toothbrush thing is silly: those germs are dead within a few days anyway, and I'd imagine it's really only a concern if the toothbrush is stored with someone else's. Soak it in a few inches of alcohol for a while if you're worried; it should be fine. (Alcohol is more effective at killing germs than hydrogen peroxide is.)

i'm totally grossed out and will clean madly now

Anti-bacterial hand gel works by causing swelling and bursting of the cell membrane (lysing) and therefore the bacteria cannot build up any resistance to it. Lysol (see the connection now?) actually works the same way. It's only the antibiotics that cause any resistance really, unless there is some really random and powerful mutation that occurs.

Don't really see the need to superclean unless you're sharing your space with people. Or unless it is dirty. Seems a bit paranoid and yes, OCD, since most of these diseases are pretty harmless to most people. Annoying, nonproductive yes, but overall not too bad. As with most excessive cleaning methods, I would rather be spending my time doing something else.

Actually, cleaning all these surfaces may seem OCD but it's just plain good sense. Especially with so many bugs becoming resistant, it's wise to minimize infection via cleanliness instead of waiting to rely on meds to get better (and since viruses can't be treated by antibiotics, that's an EXTRA reason to avoid infection!).
It's tough to remember to do all the surfaces we actually touch. I'm glad we have this thread! I think I'm going to go down the comments and make a list of all the things to wipe/clean when we get sick at our house. :-)
P.S. According to my science buddies, Listerine is pretty ineffectual. A soak in peroxide or a weak bleach solution is a better bet.

BTW-
If I or one of my neighbors is sick, I actually take a sec each day and wipe down the knobs/rails/buttons in the entries/doorways/stairs/elevators in our little 3 story apartment building. (I use a 1:1 mix of rubbing alcohol and water with 13 drops of lavender and tea tree oil in each bottle to clean around our house, and just use it for the hallways too). I also wipe down the tops/dials of the washers in the laundry room when I'm there to do the wash as well.
It may seem a little over-involved, but it seems to me that there's been less shared bugs in the building lately.

Unlike many people in North America, it seems, I keep the toilet lid closed any time it's not being used.
Imagine if your toothbrush flew out of your hand and landed in the bowl. Yes, chuck it.

Now, what if your hairbrush flew into the toilet? Or anything else you handle while standing at the mirror?

Then there is the whole thing about various mists emanating from the toilet every time you flush.
PS, I keep a small squirt bottle beside the kitchen sink with dilute bleach and water.

second YB's cautionary post: for those of your parents out there, read about the hygiene hypothesis (short version: consensus amongst immunologist and allergists is that OTT cleaning is a big contributor to increased allergies/asthma):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis

and, seam2stressed, some of this overzealous cleaning is RESPONSIBLE for the development of those resistent bugs (though your suggestion of using bleach and peroxide are really good ones...what i'm frustrated by is the prevalence of all those horrible antibacterial soaps, wipes, etc).

I don't think doing any of the above steps would qualify as overzealous or OCD cleaning. Changing your bedding and wiping off the fridge handle is pretty normal stuff. Well, I don't really boil my toothbrush however.

I did find that not sharing a toothpaste tube with other family members has count down immensely on the amount of colds and flu that are passed from one family member to another. We all have our own toothpaste tube, always. Also when I'm sick, I generally try not to touch too much metal surfaces, use the end of my tshirt or a clean tissue.

I too, keep the toilet bowl shut. Not because I'm worried about illness but really, just because it's well, kind of gross.

I do think of overzealous as needing to use chemical laden antibacterial wipes/hand sanitizer at every turn. Not to mention the waste involved. Not good for surfaces too, for dusting, its safer for most furniture to be dusted with a microfiber cloth which can be thrown into the laundry later and reused.