Cooking seems to be everyone’s favorite pastime during quarantine but while it can be a fun activity to get the kids involved, cleaning up the kitchen afterward is a chore no one looks forward to.
From greasy stoves to burnt cake batter in the oven to a pile of dishes in the sink, getting your kitchen back to its original shape after a baking session is no easy task. But there are some areas of the kitchen that often get neglected in your cleaning routine.
Yes, we’re talking about that dirty microwave that hasn’t been cleaned in months. But what about the kitchen towels that get used constantly to wipe down surfaces, and are often full of bacteria?
We don’t think twice before throwing these dirty rags in the washing machine with the rest of the clothes but that risks contaminating your laundry and doesn’t do an effective job of cleaning the dish towels. Here are five helpful tips for cleaning this kitchen staple without spreading germs to the rest of your clothes.
Air-Dry Your Kitchen Towels
Dish towels are often used to clean wet dishes or wipe liquids off of the kitchen surfaces, which means that they often end up damp, providing the perfect breeding ground for bacteria and mold. To avoid this, let your towels overdry after cleaning the kitchen before you throw them in the washing machine.
Wash Them Separately
Your kitchen can be an incubator for harmful bacteria that often get soaked up by the kitchen towels and transferred to your other clothes when washed in the laundry machine.
It might seem like a waste of time and water to do two separate loads of washing but it can save your everyday clothes from getting contaminated which might lead to infections and skin irritation.
Wash at the Highest Temperature Setting
If you’re pressed for time or don’t want to do an extra load of washing just for the dish towels, throw them in with the rest of the laundry and set the machine at the highest temperature setting to make sure that any bacteria that might be on the towels get killed.
Don’t Use Fabric Softener
Fabric softener can make your clothes feel fresh and soft after the wash, but they aren’t that great for washing dish towels and cleaning fabrics because of its tendency to leave soap residue behind. This makes the towels unsanitary and more likely to collect bacteria.