Let us be honest. You treat your new handbag like your favourite child for the initial few days, ensuring that it has its own space in restaurants but soon, you start dumping your purse with bobby pins, receipts and food debris. And then the lip gloss and hand cream without the caps. While it might seem harmless, you might inadvertently be piling up on germs in your carry bag. Here’s what happens when you do not clean your purse for a while.

Your purse could have around 10,000 different types of bacteria more than a loo concluded a study performed by Initial Washroom Hygiene. What makes it worse is that you might probably clean your toilet but not your purse. The researchers found that the handle was the dirtiest part of the bag and it contained enough bacteria to pose a health risk. When it comes to the items in the bag, the lip glosses and the bottle of hand creams are found to be the worst offenders. Around 4,700 different types of bacteria live in human hands so naturally when you touch our bag or the contents in your bag, you contaminate it. Human mouth coin purse freaks netizens, creepy video goes viral.

Here are simple tips to keep your purse germ-free:

Clean Your Bag Every Week

Make cleaning your purse and things you carry in it a weekly practice. You can simply clean your leather purses with disinfectant wipes that do not contain alcohol or bleach. Also, pay special attention to the parts your hands frequent the most like your straps and handle. If you are using a cloth bag, you can just toss it in the machine with baby soap and cold water. Clean Shaven or Beard Look? Study Claims Men With Beard Have MORE Germs Than Dog's Fur.

Do Not Carry Moist Items

Another thumb rule to keep your bag germ-free is to not dump food or used tissues in your bag. Remember these items are moist and therefore, are a perfect environment for the bacteria to breed. If you must carry food in your bag, place them in separate plastic bags before you place them in your purse.

Ditch That Leather Purse

The fancy leather purse is infamous for carrying germs because of their porous fabric. So maybe, you would want to pick cloth bags instead.

Hang Your Purse on Doors

The best way to keep your kit clean is to hang it on doors rather than leaving it on the floor in public places. Also, sanitising your hand before touching your bag can be a good practice.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 17, 2019 09:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).