My neighbor told me to put a damp sponge in the microwave to clean it

My neighbor, Frank, said to put a wet sponge in the microwave for two minutes to kill germs. I tried it last week and the sponge came out hot and steamy, but it smelled weird and felt kind of melted in one spot. Has anyone else tried this and had it work, or did I mess it up?

3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

3 Comments

brian456mo ago

Oh man, I did the exact same thing! My sponge got all hot and gross, and it totally warped into this weird shape, like one corner just folded over and got hard. It did not smell clean at all, it smelled like hot wet plastic and old food. I'm pretty sure I just cooked the germs instead of killing them. Now I just run mine through the dishwasher or use a little bleach water instead.

4

loganbaker6mo ago

That "cooked the germs" thing is such a classic life hack fail, we keep trying to outsmart basic cleaning.

5

adam6756mo ago

Actually, the microwave trick does work if you get it wet first. The steam is what kills the germs, not the heat directly. A dry sponge just melts.

1