Call me fastidious, or a clean freak, but I have a cleaning sponge for every bathroom of the house and for every different usage in the kitchen.
For the everyday dishes and cutlery there is one sponge, for the pots and pans there is another - and for the heavy duty wear there is yet another.
Of course, we also have the one for the sink and another for the kitchen tops - you get the picture.
And I replace my sponges every other week!
Yes, I know what you are thinking. But hold judgement until you hear about a new study and you will not be so quick to criticise!
It turns out the kitchen sponge is one of the dirtiest places in the home - 200,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat!
And it is not just harmless bacteria lurking on your cleaning cloths and utensils.
Experts have linked germs found on sponges, cloths and chopping boards with bacteria that can cause paralysis!
The UK Hygiene Council advises all cloths, sponges and towels to be washed above 60C to kill germs, or they should be disinfected regularly.
An alternative would be to use disposable antibacterial wipes to discourage the spread of bacteria.
And researchers from Germany showed just how germy 14 different used kitchen sponges actually were, discovering they had more bacteria than typically found in the toilet.
The team found not one, not two, but 362 different types of bacteria.
And many of these were not just benign, friendly bacteria.
Five of the 10 most frequently detected bacteria species had “pathogenic potential”.
In other words, they could cause problems and disease in humans.
But why would your kitchen sponge have more bacteria than your toilet?
Well, unless you prepare food and eat often while on the toilet, you handle a wider variety of substances like food and rubbish more frequently in your kitchen.
Moreover, as studies have shown and hand hygiene warnings have emphasised, you may not be washing your hands as regularly or as correctly as you should before, during and after food preparation.
Additionally, there is generally more human traffic in your kitchen than your bathroom.
Researchers recommend you replace your sponge once a week, so you see I am not such a clean freak after all!