How often should you wash the sheets? The rugs?

By R achel Kurzius

The Washington Post a) After each use b) Once a week c) Once a month a) After each use b) Once a week c) Every two weeks a) Food and water bowls daily b) Food bowl weekly, water bowl daily c) Food bowl daily, water bowl weekly a) Once a week b) Once a month c) Once a quarter a) After each use b) Once a week c) Once a month a) Once a week b) Once a month c) Once a year a) Once a month b) Once a year c) Never a) Once a month b) Once a year c) Never a) Every two months b) Every six months c) Once a year a) Twice a week b) Once a week c) Once a month a) Once a month b) Every six weeks c) Once a quarter a) Once a quarter b) Twice a year c) Once a year

Common sense plays a big part in determining when many things should be cleaned — if it looks dirty or smells sour, probably best to give it a detox. Other times, though, an item’s cleanliness (or lack thereof) isn’t so obvious. When’s the last time you laundered the throw blanket in your living room, for instance? And do you really need to clean the inside of your washing machine? In cases like those, experts say there are some rules of thumb to help.

So are you cleaning the things around your house frequently enough? Test your knowledge below. And remember, these are generalities. If you live with pets, kids or other especially messy folks, you’ll probably want to intensify your cleaning game. Same goes if you have immunocompromised people living with you or visiting.

1. How often should you wash bath towels?

2. Dish towels?

3. How often should you clean your pet’s bowls?

4. How often should you wash your pet’s bed?

5. How often should you clean the microwave?

6. The oven?

7. The dishwasher?

8. The washing machine?

9. How often should you wash throw blankets?

10. Bed sheets?

11. The duvet cover?

12. How often should you clean area rugs?

Answers: son.

1. b) You should wash your bath towels once a week and maybe more. If you bathe multiple times a day or live in an area with high humidity, experts recommend changing out your towels closer to every three days. “That towel is never really going to dry out,” says Bruce Vance, who co-owns Town & Country Cleaning Service with his wife, Sarah, in Pittsboro, North Carolina. “Even assuming you’re not all that dirty, the ability to build up bacteria is going to be fairly rapid.” Bathroom hand towels follow the same rules. Washcloths, on the other hand, should be washed after every use. “It’s the one that really gets the germs,” says Patric Richardson, host of Discovery Plus’s “The Laundry Guy” and author of “House Love,” a forthcoming guide to cleaning.

2. a) If you use your kitchen towels while cooking, you need to throw them in the laundry after each use because they are probably making contact with raw food — and we’re not just talking about uncooked meat.

And water bowls should get scrubbed weekly. “That’s largely because eventually something will grow in there, even if it’s not something that makes [your pets] sick,” says Jonathan Lynch, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who focuses on the relationship between animals and microorganisms.

Greg Whiteley, an associate professor at Western Sydney University who focuses on cleaning and hygiene, says people often don’t realize that leafy greens can cause outbreaks of gastroenteritis and other illnesses. If you’ve wiped down your counter with a kitchen towel after cutting up raw veggies, that towel should go directly into the wash. “When you’re in the kitchen and you’re cleaning up your food, salads are nearly as risky a raw food as, say, chicken,” he says.

If you use your dish towels only to dry clean dishes or clean hands after washing them, you can keep them in circulation for three to four days, says Richardson. He recommends keeping a basket in your kitchen to serve as a hamper.

3. c) If you feed dry food, your dog’s or cat’s food bowl should be washed once a day, though it’s not the most important thing. Richardson likens a kibble bowl to a bowl of popcorn: “You really should wash it every day, but if it goes a couple of days, it’s OK.”

There’s more urgency when it comes to wet food. “The second that wet food interacts with the bowl, it has to go. You have to wash it,” says Richard-

4. b) Throw your pet’s bed in the wash every month if your animal is regularly groomed and bathed. For pets that lead a more active, outdoor lifestyle, bump up the frequency to every two weeks, says Richardson. Similarly, if your dog slobbers excessively, you ought to increase how often you clean their bed. (These timelines assume your pets are on flea and tick preventatives and not bringing those harmful pests inside.)

For the most part, you’ll want to wash pet beds to get rid of odor and mildew because they’re unpleasant, not because they’re particularly unhealthy for your animal, says Lynch.

If the bed doesn’t fit in your washing machine, spot-clean it with a damp towel and laundry detergent, then follow up with a wet towel to get rid of the soap. “Steer clear of dryer sheets, fabric softener, really fragranced detergent, because dogs are very sensitive to chemicals,” says Richardson.

A tip from Whiteley: Dry the bed in the sun if you can, because ultraviolet light kills bacteria.

5. b) You should wipe down the inside of your microwave weekly, says Whiteley, “not because of the microbiological danger, but because of the smell.” Unless you always cover the foods you heat up, some of them will end up on the appliance, and they’ll continue to cook every time you turn it on, leading to unappetizing aromas.

Amelia Hensley, director of cooking systems at GE Appliances, says you’ll make it easier on yourself if you always