Clean smelly rags and sponges

A sponge or rag that has gotten smelly is something no one ever wants to use and from a sanitary standpoint it is very frowned upon. Running it through the wash helps, but it takes a long time. So what do you do with one of your kitchens essential tools?

First we need to understand why it is smelly. From all of the cleaning you do, you're picking up microbes, bacteria and another forms of microscopic life. A sponge or rag is put away damp at best, which is an ideal habitat for these lifeforms to grow and reproduce. As a byproduct of living they produce funky smells among other things.

Now that we know what causes the smells, we can take steps to prevent this. The easiest way is to not let it sit in water and always wring it out when you are done. We can also use a sanitizing solution instead of water when cleaning up, this will both sanitize what your cleaning AND the sponge itself. This will save time and effort in the long run. However, you may need to sanitize the unsanitary and offensive smelling rag, this is where my efforts will be directed.

Take your smelly rag or sponge, in this case I have my most prized sponge, and dampen it. You don't want it too dry or you may damage the sponge, but you don't want it too wet either. Just soak it and then ring it out, this will be the right level of dampness.

Place the sponge in the microwave. The idea behind this is you will kill the micro organisms with steam generated inside the sponge itself. The microwaves them selves will kill their fair portion as well.









Set the microwave for 30 seconds. You don't want to over microwave it, but you also don't want to under nuke it.

Careful, the rag will be hot and steam should be coming out of it and the microwave. Handle with care!

Cool and rinse with cold water. When you ring it out, the water won't be clear, this is dirt, oil and dead micro organisms. Smell the sponge or rag, if it still smells, repeat the process once or twice more until it has no smell.








This is more effective and faster than running it through the wash. It only takes a few minutes and you will have a sanitized sponge to use right away as opposed to an hour in a washing machine. Besides why would you want to through a smelly rag in with your clothes? That's disgusting!

I am going to add the lean tag here because I covered some key points, the first was, by changing the process of cleaning up (by not letting it sit in water) we ended up with a much better result with only a little added effort. The second key point is cutting out the clothes washer as a cleaning step. It takes a long time and isn't nearly as effective as the microwave. Though ideally, you should never have to use the microwave step, if you always ring out the sponge and set it out to dry.