Toothbrushes are one of the germiest items in your home.

One of the germiest things in your home is most likely your toothbrush.

And toilets around the world breathe a sigh of relief.

In fact the most surprising places in your home are actually the filthiest.

We have been cleaning the wrong things! Germs are everywhere but especially in those tricky places that don’t look dirty or that you assume are self-cleaning.

1. Pillows and bedsheets

Dustmites thrive in pillows and bedsheets, feeding off our dead skin cells flaked all over the place. They’re tricky tricksters aren’t they, pillows and bedsheets?  Huffington Post explains that bedding is a “perfect breeding ground” for nasties like bacteria and fungus. Bedding should be laundered at above 60 degrees monthly and pillows replaced every six months. Hang bedding and pillows in the hot sun to destroy any lingering germs.

2. Toothbrushes

This is so disgusting. According to Domain, every time you flush your toilet tiny droplets cover everything - towels, bathmats, bathroom scales, makeup brushes and toothbrushes. That's why you shouldn't leave items all over your bathroom sink and that's why you should CLOSE THE TOILET LID before you flush. You need to change towels daily, soak toothbrushes in mouthwash every now and then and replace them every three months.

3. Door handles

Who cleans their door handles? Healthy people, that's who. Door handles are rife with germs and grubbiness and they are the first things to get dirty and the last we ever think to clean. Especially if you live in a home where people (children) aren't diligently washing their hands. E.coli, staphylococcus, aureas, fungal and viral infections have all been found on door handles according to Healthy Lifestyle. Use anti-bacterial cleaning sprays on them at least once a week, encourage hand washing and buy lots of hand sanitiser.

4. Sponges

Kitchen sponges are so incredibly filthy. I remember a few years ago I heard about this and was advised to microwave my sponges before washing the dishes to kill all the nasty. Then I forgot about it and have been smearing grossness all over my cutlery and plates ever since. Reader's Digest explains that most kitchen sponges contain " 456 times" the amount of bacteria found on a toilet seat. We need to replace them often and either soak them in antibacterial solutions or disinfectant daily.

5. Light switches, all switches!

Think door handles, except much, much worse. Electricity switches and light switches are very germy. According to Domain we touch each light switch around 20 times per day! You should spray a cloth with cleaning solution and then wipe them down and if you want to get all of the germs, use cotton buds to clean them too. Use the cloth weekly and cotton buds monthly, plus better handwashing habits and hand sanitiser in every room.

Cleaning is easy, unless you have two baby pandas thwarting your every effort. Article continues after this video.

6. Reusable shopping bags

Well now I feel a bit better about my environmentally-unfriendly shopping habits because reusable shopping bags are full of germs. Those same Arizona researchers found "whopping" amounts of coliform bacteria which suggests contamination from raw meat and uncooked food as well as E.coli. We are actually meant to be giving them a wash before reusing them. Just a gentle cycle in the washing machine will do.

7. Cutting boards

I have a separate cutting board for meats and fruits and vegetables so I'm already one step ahead of most except I haven't been going far enough. Cutting boards contain up to 200 times more faecal bacteria than your average toilet seat, according to Domain. And we're prepping food on them. Reader's Digest recommends washing our cutting boards with a bit of bleach and giving them a soak.

8. Kitchen sinks

You think kitchen sponges are gross. Kitchen sinks are worse and cause more problems because we use them to clean cutlery, dinnerware and our hands. After cleaning the dishes make sure you clean the kitchen sink too. A good way to kill the nasties is to put a plug in the sink and fill it with a combination of bleach and boiling water then rinse. Give it a scrub for good measure and according to Domain, rubbing it down with a drop of lemon or olive oil will keep it cleaner for longer.

9. House plants

I used to work in an office full of lovely large plants and this girl would come once a week and wipe them down and clean them. I remember thinking they must be fake but they weren't. Real plants attract all the dust and skin cells and bugs that other surfaces do and they too need to be kept clean. Plants can clean the air but not themselves. A good habit to get into - and I remember my mum doing this - is to put them outside in the sun once a week, give them a wipe and a water and then put them back in the house.

10. Salt and pepper shakers

Salt and pepper shakers are never cleaned but they should be given a thorough wash every time they are empty because they sit there collecting all sorts of nasties. Then we shake them all over the food we eat. Blah! Try putting them away in a cupboard between uses and then give them a run in the dishwasher every so often to keep them as clean and as harmless as possible.

12. Bath mats

Bathmats aren't as disgusting as toothbrushes because we expect them to be grubby, dirty things thanks to those horrible droplets that become airborne everytime we flush the toilet plus kids and sleepy adults who miss the toilet when they urinate. Add to that dust and dead skin cells and you have one of the most revolting items in your home, right there under your feet as you use the loo. Try rotating a few sets of bath mats so they get laundered weekly at a high temperature and then dry them in the sun. Also keep closing that toilet lid before flushing to keep them as germ-free as possible.

13. Your phone

Your phone is a cesspool of germs and why wouldn't it be? Think of how much you use it each day and confession time - we've all used our phones while we've been on the toilet. Reader's Digest is very "tut tut" about that particular habit, advising us to stop bringing our devices - phones and tablets - into the toilet room in the first place. If you can't help yourself, wipe them down with wet wipes daily and try and keep your hands clean.

15. Clean laundry

Seriously, this one shocked me the most. Washing machines don't kill all of the germs, particularly when most of us choose the most delicate of cycles on our unmentionables, which means if we wash our undies with other delicates we are simply spreading all the germs around the rest of our fancy wardrobes. They are full of E.coli and need to be cleaned properly. Reader's Digests comes to our rescue again here, recommending we disinfect our washing machines by washing a load of whites with bleach first and then doing our colour loads. I've always done it the other way around! Also wash underwear separately with hot water and a dash of colour-safe bleach replacement.