1. Under Your Fingernails

That’s right! One of the dirtiest things you touch every day are attached to the things you touch with. Under your fingernails is one of the body’s primary collection points for dirt. Scratching someone with your nails is more likely to give them an infection than dunking their head in a toilet. Whilst we are on body parts, did you know that the female vagina is host to a bacteria that not only eats any dead skin, it also produces a form of bleach in order to kill nasty bacteria (hence the light fading in that area on underwear).

2. Money

The Europeans tried adding a little bit too much nickel into their Euro coins when they first came out, only to cause widespread allergic reactions. The idea was to make coins less hospitable for bacteria, since bacteria often feeds on the dirt that is caught in the ridges and indentations of coins. Money from a cash register is often filthy, but if you wash your wallet or purse occasionally then it will help you keep things sanitary.

3. Shopping Carts and Baskets

You may not touch one every day, but shopping carts and baskets are things that are really dirty. They are touched by so many people at such a high frequency that a massive variety of dirt can be found on them. Oddly enough, the shopping carts that are the least most sanitary are the ones left outside in the rain. Shopping baskets are notoriously dirty, especially the plastic ones, and even if they are cleaned weekly, think again before allowing your apples to roll around loose in the bottom of one.

4. Potato Skins

Ask a silly question, but you must have noticed that they are covered in dirt, right? Your potatoes are probably the dirtiest things in your house.

5. Your TV Remote

Your cellphone is easy to clean, and your keyboard is easy to upturn and brush (unless you surf and eat Cheetos), but your TV remote is viciously difficult to clean. Many people are also unwilling to clean their remote because it needs to dry, and people only ever think about cleaning it whilst it is being used.

6. Your Bathroom Pull Cord Light Switch

This light switch variety is often seen in bathrooms because people tend to have wet hands, and it is never a good idea to use a flip switch with wet hands. The light is on a cord that absorbs all the loose skin that comes with wet hands. Furthermore, you have all the times that men do not wash their hands, all building up on the cord that nobody ever thinks to wash. Imagine – something in one of the cleanest rooms in your house could be one of the dirtiest things in your house.

7. Door Handles

Again, because they are used so frequently and washed so rarely, door handles harbor hidden dirt and germs. The mixture of dirt on your door handle is often a stew of filth, grime and bacteria.

8. Your Pet’s Leavings

You may have guessed this one, but the stuff that your pet leaves behind in your back yard is going to end up in your house. Leave the “leavings” for two weeks and it becomes indistinguishable from regular dirt. It breaks apart, blows around your garden and gets walked into your house. Whenever you drop your pen, purse or trousers, you are dropping them in a dust bowl of pet leavings - one very good reason to vacuum up at least once per week.

Reading this list of dirtiest things is enough to turn you into a clean freak! There’s no need however to go all OCD – remember, the human body has great resistance to dirt and disease – plus these dirtiest things are items we use and touch every day, often, many times a day. Which of these surprised you?