Thursday, January 24, 2013

Say What?: bottom of a purse

In following up with the last Say What? and the fact that I'm giving in to my germaphobe-side I remembered hearing about this a couple years ago and didn't really want to believe it. But after doing the research I got really grossed out. Rather typical.

Following up from not only my new purse, and the fact that its flu/cold season but the fact that the bottom of the average purse has more germs on it then the bottom of your shoe makes sane minds try to contemplate how dirty the bottom of their purse is.


From E. Coli and fecal matter, to viruses that cause skin infections and multiple strains of the cold or flu viruses the average purse has anywhere from hundreds of thousands of germs on the bottom to tens of millions. Think about it: everywhere a woman goes so does her purse. On a normal day my own purse touches the floor of the car, to the lunch tables at work, to my locker, to the floor while I put on my coat, to the check out stand or floor while I check out at multiple stores, and back home to my kitchen table.

You may be thinking, "Well that doesn't matter, it's not like I lick the bottom of my purse" but think about where you're transferring all those germs into your own home...kitchen counter, passenger car seat, couch, chairs. and then you or family members might touch those surfaces and then accidentally touch your face or mouth or eyes. And these germs don't die because they're not on a living thing, if that was so no one would ever get sick. Flu or cold virus can live longer than 48 hours and you would think it doesn't survive as long on hard, plastic, or metal surfaces and you'd be wrong. It actually lives longer than on fabric and soft surfaces.

It's really very easy to keep this bacteria and virus transport system ineffective. Just clean the bottom of your purse, and make sure to use Clorox wipes to kill those tough viruses as well. Genius idea right? But honestly, I can't tell you that I've ever regularly done that. Clearly I need to start.

p.s. Worried about hurting your leather purses? There are special cleaners for those.


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