animals smell better than disgusting humans

We change the tea towels regularly, even more times daily, if they are used heavily. Once they are water logged, they go down into the cellar into the wash basket, they are washed with other towels. Hand towels in the toilet are, again, replaced regularly (weekly at the outside), but more usually when they are so well used they don't get a chance to dry out between uses. We have a pile of fresh ones and a cloth bag, that my wife made, hanging next to the basin for old towels.foo

I agree with CW on the separate bath towels, sharing towels is icky. But. again, they get replaced when they no longer get dry or they start to smell. In shower room, that is at least weekly, but that is in the cellar, and especially in the summer, when there is no heating, the towels don't dry very well. Upstairs in the bathroom, they get changed less regularly, but mainly because I bath once or twice a week, the rest of the time I shower.

Dog has the run of the ground floor.

Cleaning surfaces after use is sensible. We wipe all surfaces down after using them for food preparation - it is easier to wipe them down when the remains of food preparation are still fresh and haven't dried onto the surface. It is just common sense.

Then you're hanging around with the wrong humans

Our house rules(based on Rustys )

1. Animals in the house (as we have 2 cats)
2. No shoes on the sofa
3. No drying-up because it'll dry itself / use dish washer
4. All cooking - use the same knives / chopping boards (Raw meat is being cooked & so is the veg I am chopping so ...) Cooked meat is OK so no contamination issues
5. Bread does have its own knife / board
6. Anything that will be eaten "as is" sits above anything that will get cooked (unless not much room in the fridge then its just jammed in)
7. Best before dates get ignored; Use by dates are ignored - I have a nose and eyes - I can see mould and smell bad food
8. Own Towels - changed every 2 weeks
9. Bedding every 2 weeks
10. Hover / Dust - generally just before we have guests coming around

Separate bath towels yes but I think separate hand towels is a bit extreme.

No I'm not fishing. I was very surprised how extreme the doctors are in their cleanliness. I am a firm believer that exposure to some germs keeps you healthy and boosts your immune system. By all means be safe when preparing food and use common sense in the bathroom but the rest just seems rather silly.

One guy at work is totally OCD and uses those anti bacterial gels to clean his hands and work area. He's off sick a lot

Totally Agree - we have an immune system and it needs to be "exercised" to keep it in shape

I find the idea of not wiping surfaces after preparing food quite disgusting.

Surely children bring in as many germs as dogs into the house with their sticky hands and faces and snotty noses * dettol *

my mum bleaches everything, including terracotta floors everyday, dining table after each meal and fridge once a week. I suffer from dust, hayfever and contact allergy so I support the statements above.

There is the Hygiene hypothesis and that by giving your child exposure to a wide range of "germs" they will develop a good immune system and so not suffer from (as many) allergies

I have a mild allergic reaction to cats but if I am around them all the time then my system gets used to them and my symptoms (sneezing, red itchy eyes etc) goes away

Stupid question for a grown man:

The whole, keeping raw meats separate thing, is that a thing? Can they not go in a shopping bag with other stuff, or touch other things in the fridge? Just seems a bit mental. If they weren't wrapped in seal plastic, maybe ok. Help a guy out here please??

when you cook a meat you kill off the bacteria, so its "safe to eat" if you then put blood from raw meat / fish on it you can contaminate it. Other than that there is no reason why you cant put a sealed cooked meat and a sealed raw meet together, that I can think of.

Thanks.

They mention it in Tesco and I assumed it was a disclaimer for idiots who might get sick. But I'm new to this whole "cooking" thing! What about chopping boards. Does that matter? Although I just use scissors on my chicken and drop it straight into the pan...

In the perfect world you would have different coloured chopping boards for meat, fish, raw , cooked etc. The reality is if you use any surface or equipment to handle raw meet or fish , BEFORE you then put cooked meat / fish on it you should thoroughly clean it, not just wipe with a wet cloth.

hope that helps

Or even better don't put cooked meat on chopping boards. Try a plate like a normal person