Do you replace your dish sponge every week ?

Just bleached my sponge today. More effective than the microwave. Decreasing the bacterial load. Even a new sponge gets a big load of bacteria the first use

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Maybe not.
https://www.quora.com/Can-you-mix-dish-soap-and-bleach-to-wash-your-dishes

You like to live on the edge - wow!

I guess I like to live dangerously! :smile::smile:

I only cook veggies, but all raw food is suspect (along with frozen, and dried, it can all be contaminated). Anyway, I’ve gone with the ‘shop towel’ notion lately. This saves on paper towel use. That’s where you have so many wash cloths around that you use a new one every time. Then wash them all as a full load of laundry when you’re about to run out. There are packs of white painters rags at hardware stores (which are 12x14" wash cloths) that are relatively cheap to get a bunch of, and I got a scarf rack there to put a bunch within reach, and a basket to throw them in. The cheap dyed ones are something to avoid, because they are not colorfast, and the white ones will stain, but I know which ones were washed anyway.

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I use Dawn, which contains no ammonia.

No, of course not. They’re given a good rinse, a soak in weak bleach water and a zap in the MWO. They only get tossed when they wear through/out.

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Every week? Every day :wink:

Although I still have sponges, they get used chiefly for cleaning things other than dishes like wiping counters, stove tops, and vent hoods. For dishes I like cloths. They are hard to find, but on Etsy I found some nice folks in Lithuania who make all linen dish cloths. They are nothing short of wonderful. I use a bleach solution when I have been cutting meats, fishes, etc. on the cutting board. Otherwise, I rarely use bleach. It has too many problems of its own to be used extensively.

I throw the sponge, brushes and sink drain into the dishwasher whenever it runs - about 2x/week

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Microwave zap on high … Still alive.