Here's How Often You Need To Clean Your Toilet Seats

Cleaning your toilet is one of the grimier and less pleasant chores but one of the more important ones. It also needs to be done more frequently, as it's one of the dirtier areas of your home. Especially if you have a large family or have frequent guests, your toilet and toilet seat, in particular, need to be frequently cleaned.

Interestingly enough, your toilet seats likely aren't the dirtiest surfaces in your house. According to Banner Health, your toilet seat has 50 bacteria per square inch, which may seem like a lot until you compare it to an average kitchen sponge, which has 10 million bacteria per square inch. That being said, toilet seats can carry more germs, and serious ones at that. Bacteria left behind like fecal matter, influenza germs, salmonella, E. coli, and more are much more serious and potentially life-threatening. This is why frequent cleaning is an absolute must.

Your whole toilet should get a weekly deep clean, according to HelloGiggles, but the same sentiment is not shared with more frequented surfaces. CNET says you should clean the most frequented areas of your toilet once a day, including not only the toilet seat but also the handle and other frequently touched parts like the lid.

A simple antibacterial toilet cleaner and rag is ideal, but you can make this daily chore more convenient with disposable antibacterial wipes. If you have a large family, lots of children, or frequent guests, you can even amp this up to twice a day, but that isn't always necessary. Make sure that you're using a fresh wipe or rag for each part of your toilet to avoid spreading bacteria. Even though BBC News says that there is more fecal matter on cutting boards from contact with raw meat than there is on a toilet seat, if you can't clean it every day, don't stress out too much. It's a good habit to incorporate into your daily cleaning routine, but once a week is acceptable as well.