apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Funny, yesterday as I was leaving the restroom after washing my hands I pondered the fact that I was picking up my dirty keys -- yuck!

Money is dirtier.

Yup, I was forced into washing my keys for the first time a couple months ago for a similar reason ... and the result was amazing! (You've got to wonder, just how thick was the layer of grime that had built up there? And how many times were they dropped on the floor?)

Pixie: Yeah, I thought about that! But all jokes about laundering money aside, it doesn't hold up to much in the way of cleaning. (My sister once put a five-dollar bill through the wash in her pocket.)

Don't want to scrub? Dunk them in some vinegar for about 20 minutes. The acids will eat through oils and kill the little germies. They will come out shiny as new. Some warm water and anti-bacterial soap will speed things along.

Oh, but don't forget them over-night. Acid eats metal.

I throw my keys in the dishwasher all the time.

Funny thing, I was thinking about just this yesterday, as I noticed a little grime on my tiny keychain library card.

Proof that we all continue living, despite germs being everywhere. I'm certainly pro-cleaning your keys, but you've just got to wash your hands frequently and not dwell on germs, imo. Considering I was not sick once for 10 years, and 7 of those were spent in NYC, I can talk. (I succumbed to a slight cold this year, though.)

Oh, and PS - your keyboard and mouse are even dirtier, apparently. I do clean those about once a week.

interesting germ survey from the University of Arizona!
http://uanews.org/pdfs/germsurvey.pdf

If you have a car with one of those remote keys, it makes washer them a bit harder. Instead I spray my down with Lysol whenever I feel grossed out or get sick.

You can do the same thing with your TV remote controls.

Great, something else I never thought about cleaning that I need to clean! Telephone receivers are bad places, too...I try to use handi-wipes to wipe them down every once in awhile.

Dirticles!!

might as well clean the door handles while you're at it.

"dirticles" !... Hey, someone else picked up on that one too. It will be in the dictionary soon.

I do actually clean my keys from time to time. I'm an exceptional germaphobe.

How often do you clean your computer's mouse?

This is a topic I would never have thought of. For such a germaphobe you'd think it would have occured to me to wash those things. Now I'm looking thru the cabinets for vinegar - not just for the keys but for the doorknobs.

For the first time ever, I feel less guilty about my habit of eating while at the computer. Iend up getting smudges of coffee or jam on the keys now & then, which means I end up wiping down my keyboard & mouse about once a week.

I have to go clean the bathroom doorknob now...

My Mum was forever washing her keys - but then she washed EVERYTHING
Apparently the germiest place in your house if the fridge door handle...

Bacteria need something to live on, and they like moisture. They like the crevices, dead skin cells and oils that collect on your keyboard and mouse (all of which hold moisture from your hands and from the air). On smooth subway poles and metal keys, there is little to live on, so bacteria might alight there temporarily, then die. A dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's, due to their anti-microbal PH. Dogs lick their "whatsits" and eat carrion. They have developed the bodies to handle that bacterial load.

I read recently that public toilets had fewer harmful bacteria than keyboards and desktops, and even kitchen sink areas. They key word here is "harmful" We have colonies of harmless bacteria on our bodies at all times.

The thing that disgusts me the most is a dirty phone. I've picked up phones so filthy -- in otherwise clean and tidy homes --that I could not bear to put them near my face. God knows what's on our cellular phones and Blackberries, with all those tiny crevices collecting skin cells and oil...

I wonder how many of you have just gone to clean your phones. It's a dirty world.

Dirty light switches!

Wow, some people have too much time, too many phobias or a very different idea of what is fun...

I try to wash them once in month!, but when I cant I just spray Lysol "disinfectant" all over the door knobs,light switches,keys,etc....

ahh another thing to add to the paranoia list in my head!

Wow, another reason to be thankful for the iPhone--many fewer crevices.

re: computer keyboard - throw it in the dishwasher on the Friday of a long weekend. Take it out before the heated dry cycle. Put it in a sunny window for the weekend, and it'll be good to go again on Tuesday.

I've done this with my way old Microsoft Natural keyboard a bunch of times.

Great. Now I'm not going to be able to get into my apartment tonight without getting the skeevies. Thanks, Apartment Therapy.

This is how 'super germs' get started, you know -- too much antibacterial soap and fretting about germs. Then only the hardiest nastiest versions mutate and develop and you get MRSA or something...

I think I'll wait to clean my keys for something to spill on them...

they key to my building is a little electronic device that you hold up and it beeps you in. I dont think it would like being washed, wouldnt risk it either. The lease said if you loose it/break it you have to pay $100 for a new one!

the rest of my keys could probably use a wash tho

my good, what is the big deal with germs? we live with all kinds all the time! our bodies know what to do with them! frankly i think it's a bit of externalizing or projection or something - got something in your life or psyche you're not up to dealing with? disinfect everything!

I just cleaned my new apartment keys. I didn't soak them, though, so I think I'll do that tonight.

I have a metal watch band and discovered the same thing - it gets filthy! Just some standard soap and a nail brush works miracles.

I'll leave my keys dirty, thanks. Especially the electronic car key.

just to lay fears of dirty subway poles to rest, apparently because of the steel and the bright lights and the nightly bleach cleaning, germs only live on them for up to three seconds. those suckers are cleaner than i ever imagined they could be.

Sorry, but, man.....you ain't got enough troubles in your life.

About washing money:

Jane, did the bill fall apart? (American) currency is printed on linen, so it should be fine (don't wash the same dollar every day, but a few times shouldn't hurt).

I saw a travel show about an old hotel in California that still "launders" the coins it receives, so the women receiving change for their afternoon tea won't soil their white gloves. Thank you fancy-pants hotels!

Okay, Maxwell, let's see your Vespa!!

must be slow day, AT having to make a post about cleaning keys.....

Calm down, germaphobes! Take a deep breath through your dust mask and stop panicking, lol. Bacteria are good for you. Wash your hands and you'll be fine....

Slow news day, I guess. I rather like the patina on my keys.

I clean my keys every once in a while - and at the same time clean my front door - handle, edge, lock. I doubt my keys are going to make me sick, but it's probably a good idea to clean them now and again.

Has anyone noticed how many people give their babies keys to play with? Not a good idea.

Washing one's keys sounds like a fun idea--especially if you have some unfilled downtime after swabbing your keyboard with Q-tips and disinfectant . But, as God is my witness, the present generation of germophobes falls squarely into the realm of the psychotic. Each of us is a veritable universe of micro-organisms, from the womb to the grave. We are of the earth in every sense, not cyber-poppets under glass.

I have three robustly healthy adult kids who miraculously survived my failures to swab them with lye solution before bedtime, or to keep them from rollicking with farm animals and mucking about in ponds and swamps. I still use my grandma's wooden cutting board, despite the heirloom collection of pathogens that must be imbedded in its grain.

Think of the colossal exchange of nano critters in a kiss! Think of the microscopic yellow worms that creep out of our eyelids while we're asleep at night to clean our eyelashes!

The saddest thing about the current obsession with uber hygiene is its underlying assumption that we are Other, whereas we are very much a part of the natural world.

If you must wash your keys, you're obliged to wash your money, too. And so on, and on and on.

I can see if you spill say, coffee on your keys then yeah, that'd be a good time to clean them even more so if that coffee has sugar in it... :-)

I once killed my well worn and used Microsoft keyboard with one too many bouts of coffee ladened with sugar when I bumped my old CRT monitor and it killed off about half of the keyboard, the numeric keypad took the biggest hit and I'd had that thing about 9 years at that point, the original MS natural keyboard at that when released in 1994.

For those who may be contemplating tossing your keys in the dishwasher, be aware of electronic keys many cars have nowadays for I doubt they are waterproof.

I move too much... my keys always look new. sad.

I clean keyboards, and iPhone regularly. I think about cleaning doorknobs but haven't done it. Never thought about cleaning keys, but might do it now.