The dirtiest places you're not cleaning.

I don’t mean to freak anyone out or anything, but you’re probably not being as clean as you think you are.

You’re probably doing most things right. You hover over public toilet seats, and wash your hands carefully. You regularly wipe down your kitchen bench and sometimes you even put in the effort to clean the fridge.

Unfortunately… it’s not enough. Scientists are constantly coming up with new information regarding the germiest places in our lives, and many of them are places you may never have thought of.

Here are the germiest places you’re not cleaning. There’s no need to freak out and spend the rest of your life applying hand sanitiser – but you might like to grab the Spray & Wipe and give the following things a wipe down…

1. Your bags

Your handbag is very unfortunately a sad, bacteria-filled place – last year, a study found that one in five handbags pose a legitimate risk to human health. As for the items in handbags? Hand cream was found to have more bacteria than a toilet seat. I KNOW.

But that’s not all. Your gym bag, your grocery bag and even your favourite travelling wheely suitcase are all major culprits of carrying bacteria from all the different surfaces that they come into contact with. This is sad news for people who have never even considered cleaning any of the bags they own. Not that I know what it’s like to be that person. Cough.

2. Your laundry basket

Lots of dirty clothes. All in one place. Week after week.

Disinfect that shit.

3. Your make-up brushes

Even though you might have spent ridiculous money on your make-up brushes, they still accumulate bacteria, dust and dirt that will make your face sad. According to MM resident beauty guru, Nicky Champ, we should all be washing your brushes fortnightly. Eyeliner brushes, if you’re fancy enough to use one, should be washed daily to avoid any kind of eye infection.

Wet the brushes with warm water then rub over a cake of soap. Work the lather between your fingertips then rinse and leave to dry on a towel. *If you haven’t washed them say, ever, you may need to repeat this step twice to get the build up out.

4. Your headphones

Scientists have found that headphones turn ears into a total breeding ground for bacteria, including bugs such as Staphylococcus, which sounds like a dinosaur but is actually something that can potentially cause ear infections. If you’re very concerned about this, and your headphones aren’t really wipe-able, you can totally buy washable headphones now.

5. Your phone

Think about the fact that you’re touching your phone ALL THE TIME. Even probably when you’re on the toilet. And think about how often you wash your phone. Yeah, never, unless it’s accidental.

Sadly, that phone can carry everything from staph to salmonella.

Start cleaning it (carefully) once a week or so.

6. Your car’s dashboard

A study from the Aston University in Birmingham found that your average car has about 283 different types of bacteria in every square centimetre. This is especially true of the dashboard, which is the kind of bacteria breeding ground that your toilet seat would envy. All because of a combination of sun shining onto the dashboard and the aircon vents that blow bacteria straight onto it.

7. Your sponges

Research out of the US Hygiene Council found that the sponges or counter-wiping cloths that reside in your kitchen sink contain a ridiculous 134,630 bacteria per square inch. That makes them officially one of the more bacteria-crazy items in the house.

Happily, the microwave can zap out most of the bacteria that will do you any damage.

Have you cleaned any of these places in the last six months? Are you going to, you know, right now?