We spend a lot of time on our couch binge-watching Netflix series and playing video games. We eat on the couch and sometimes sleep on it, too. This means our couch isn’t clean, but how dirty is it? Actually, it’s worse than you imagine. Here are 11 gross things hiding in your couch and hot to clean it now!
Dust mites
Let’s start with the living things because they’re the worse. There are millions of dust mites living on your couch, and you can’t even see them. They feast on your dead skin cells, hairs and cookie crumbles hidden in the coach’s crevices. These tiny bugs are not necessarily bad for you as long as you clean the couch often. Too many of them can cause asthma.
Your Hair
According to dermatologists, we lose between 50 and 100 hairs every day. How many strands end in your couch? Probably many. Don’t worry; you’re not losing more hair than everyone else, but you might be accumulating many dead hairs on your couch, and that’s food for dust mites and other creepy crawlers. They’re also disgusting.
Your dog’s hair
If you think you’re losing hair fast, wait until you see how much hair your pets leave on your couch. Now, if you have a black couch and a white cat, you’re in trouble. Pets lose hair naturally, and no, it’s not their fault, but it’s your responsibility to clean after them. Have a lint roller in hand and clean that couch often.
Dead skin
We shed our skin every 40-56 days. That means every day, we leave millions of dead skin cells on the couch, on our cars and on beds. This is a big deal, as dead skin cells are organic matter, and they decompose, meaning they eventually smell bad. They can leave stains, too, especially if you sit on the same spot every day.
Food
Eating on the couch is never a good idea. It’s fun to have dinner in front of the TV, but the damage to your sofa can be irreparable, especially for saucy food. There’s lots of food stains and drink spills all over your couch, and they’re still there even after you clean the food with a napkin. To remove these stains, you must dry clean the couch. There’s no other way.
Cooking smells
Did you know your couch absorbs smells too? And most of them come from your kitchen. Every time you cook curry for dinner, some of those scents end in your coach to be released the next time someone sits. You might imagine why this is not pleasant, so make sure you clean your couch often, especially if it’s near the kitchen.
Bacteria
Everything above is food for bacteria, from hair to spilled tomato sauce. The problem with bacteria is that some of it is harmful and can cause disease. Bacteria multiply every half an hour, so you imagine there are trillions of them on your couch right now. Clean the coach with soap to kill at least some of them every few days.
Forgotten kid’s toys
Not as harmful as disease-carrying bacteria, you should inspect your couch often for lost toys, earrings, pennies, phone chargers and whatnot. No, these foreign objects won’t kill you, but you might find something you thought long lost. This will also remind you to clean your couch more often.
Feces
We didn’t want to say it, but if people sit on the couch, it has feces, tons of it in tiny particles. We won’t explain how they get there, but you already know. The thing is, we all like to take naps on the couch now and then, so you want to keep it as clean as possible.
Pollution
Just like kitchen smells, your couch absorbs pollution in the air, especially if you live in a crowded city. This pollution is toxic and harmful and will also make your couch look opaque — it will smell funky, too. We can’t stop air pollution from entering our homes, but we can clean the couch now and then to prevent further damage to our health.
Sweat
We hope you have A/C because if you don’t, then there’s lots of sweat on your couch, and the stains, although invisible, are food for lice and bacteria. And just like sweat in your body eventually goes sour, so does the sweat in your couch. If you don’t want your living room to smell like a dirty gym, then you want to clean that couch thoroughly.
Clean that couch or get a new one!
Yes, your couch is one of the dirtiest things in your house, and the more time you spend in it, the dirtier it is. Give it a good scrub, or better yet, hire a professional to dry clean it. If all else fails, get a new couch. After all, that’s where you spend most of your time!
