Fun Friendly Phobic Fact Friday!

Purses are filthy. Think of how often you dig inside with dirty hands, hands that have been touching everything from ATMs to restaurant menus to doctor's office pens to money to bathroom stall door locks, etc. They carry your money, your wallet, your cell phone (shudder). They are almost never cleaned, and when they are, it can be hard to know how to truly disinfect properly. I like to empty mine and just give it a good old-fashioned lung-burning spray of straight Lysol. Lysol is pretty good for cleaning cloth surfaces.

But that's just the inside of purses. Because people set their handbags down on the floor at places like restaurants and food courts or, God forbid, restrooms, they are positively teeming with bacteria.

 "Research shows that bacteria like E. coli cling to the bottom of at least 18% of bags. Keep bags off the floor and whatever you do, don’t set a bag on any surface where food is made or eaten."

And we all know where E. Coli comes from.

In one study, the outside of purses--

"had bacteria counts in the tens of thousands. Doctors say the majority of the bacteria found on the purses can cause bacterial infections, with symptoms that include fever, vomiting, diarrhea [and] can be a breeding ground for bacteria that can infect your entire family."

I don't know which carries more germs. The dog, the purse, or Ms. Hilton.

Addendum: They actually make handbag hooks to keep your purses off the floor. Even the Queen of England is known to use these. Sweet!

BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CLEAN YOUR PURSES, PEOPLE.