Wednesday, April 09, 2008

I think my sponge has cooties

How am I ever going to follow a 30+ comment post? The pressure is almost too much and I've started developing a rash. So, I'm going to set the bar real low and work my way up from here. Let's get started...I'm a REAL big fan of all the Apartment Therapy blogs, especially The Kitchen. When they posted about sanitizing kitchen sponges in the microwave today I perked right up. Come to find out this revolutionary microwave method is not so revolutionary anymore and I'm probably the last female on the planet to know about it. How did this happen? I read Real Simple almost religiously, I should know this stuff. Nasty Sponge Syndrome (or NSS for those in the know) is a problem that has plagued my kitchen recently. Typically, I run my sponges through the dishwasher every few days and this seemed to work fine. But then, the most horrible thing happened a few weeks ago. My dishwasher quit, not even having the decency to give me 2 weeks notice. I would have been less distraught with even a 2 minute notice, but no. And now that I've realized that you just can't trust 30 year old dishwashers, I'm wondering if it was ever really enough to kill every living thing that could potentially be multiplying and replenishing its disgusting self on my sponges. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for breeding, just not in my kitchen. I've tried the bleach method, but found that I'm just too stinkin' lazy for the constant upkeep. I'm hopeful this microwave method will keep my temporary dishwasher working diligently until we find the perfect replacement.

8 comments:

{lizzythebotanist} said...

wow, gina. i can't believe that I (ME?) knew something kitchen-related before you did! must be because i'm so freaked out about cleaning/sanitizing. less about the cooking side of the kitchen! glad you are clued in now. we've got the dishwasher repairman coming over tomorrow to hopefully tell us ours needs to be replaced!??!!

Mindi said...

why even sanitize?? let's just let things grow and see what happens.....which always seems like a good idea until you see an episode of csi or oprah profiling dirty dirty people. yeah, it gives me the creeps, too.
good to know, will try it out.

The Blairs said...

Thanks for posting this Gina. Sarah just told me how excited she is to put our sponges in the microwave all the time now. She has had a phobia about all the bacteria on them.

j e s s i e said...

Really good to know. Does Debbie know this? Or Cole for that matter. It just may make their lives a little easier! =)

Mia said...

Wow, this was new to me. But we don't really use sponges because they are kind of icky after a while. Now that I know how to sanitize them they might be welcome back in the kitchen.

Tuttles said...

Good to know. I never use them but now I might start knowing there's a way to sanitize them. They clean the crap out of things the best.

Rachel said...

I think I've heard that a long, long time ago, so in other words, I didn't remember!!! I rarely use them for that exact reason----gross!!! But now I may start to use them! And I am sooooo thankful for my dishwasher! When we first moved into our house we didn't have one, so I was ALWAYS doing dishes!

gina bina said...

So, I'm curious, what do you guys use if you don't use a sponge? They clean the BEST. I have a hand held brush, but that doesn't do the nitty gritty stuff.