My boyfriend thinks I'm a'freak'! Are you a 'freak'???

Did not except to read what the OP said from the title.

I wash my hands about 100 times a day and I use the little sanitizer wipes at the grocery store on the cart. I once read an article saying that escalator hand rails were bacteria tested and they found feces, blood and ... semen (not sure how that happens - well I am if I use my freaky imagination lol)! So yeah, I don't touch hand rails either.

The fact that escalator rails, shopping carts etc are found to have traces of these things seems to freak people out way more than it should.

Yes there are germs everywhere - but we have an immune system to cope with them.

I take the attitude that yes there are germs and traces of things everywhere - but since I almost never get sick and these things are not actually hurting me, what is the problem? its just how the world is - it surprises me more that people are surprised and upset by this - do they really expect surfaces to be sterile and have no traces of things on them?

Other than regular handwashing after going to the toilet, handling animals etc - you know, the common sense basics, - there is no need to sanitise and wash everything in case there is minute amount of ickies on them.

yeah you're a freak

Well, my wife and I were just talking about needing a handle for the shower . . . Wait. What was this thread about again? Washing things? I like my thing washed.

Thought this might have been about the kind that's.in the sheets. Oh well, do you

No, you are not a freak.

This is pretty anecdotal, so take it with a grain of salt...but I never wash anything before using after I buy it. Guess what, I almost never get sick. I'm not saying that my health has nothing to do with a tough immune system to begin with, obviously, but I AM of the opinion that allowing small frequent amounts of germs into your system can help inoculate against getting sick.

But to answer your question, you may be going a tad overboard with washing EVERYTHING. Maybe not a "freak" but possibly a little obsessive.

I'm the same way except that I do sometimes wash new clothes, more to take out the sizing and make them softer than anything else. I do wash veggies and fruit before I eat them. My ex-hubby even used the 5 second rule on a piece of French toast in IHOP which fell on the floor. Not sure I would go that far, but generally I'm not a neat freak in the least and have no fear of germs, and I rarely get sick.

Ok...sounds a little weird, but I wash EVERYTHING I purchase. I mean, I wash every bottle (lotion; cosmetics, food bottles, etc.,) tea box, can...even the kitty liter container.
...
Do you wash your items? Or is my boyfriend right?
...

Well, I do a one-time pre-emptive wash of things that'll touch food (pots, silverware, blender, etc.), but only but they don't clean them on the factory line. Otherwise, nope. I even wear new clothes before washing them.
My question is, what do you do to your boyfriend before, well, you know...? <makes creaking noises> I'm not saying his unfaithful or anything, but you don't know everything he's touched during the day. <hopes not to cause yet another OCD-like issue>

With crap like MRSA in existence, it really doesn't sound like a bad idea. I'm a bit too lazy to implement it myself, but I certainly don't think it's indicative of mental illness or anything like that. You probably spare yourself a lot of illness by doing this.

You probably won't spare yourself illness doing this, you'll probably put yourself more at risk. MRSA - the MR part stands for methicilin resistant....... it's already evolved resistance to antibiotics. By constantly sterilising everything you'll make it evolve resistance to your own hand washes as well.

Basically what happens is you kill all the germs that might have kept the dangerous ones at bay through competition, and then the ones that evolve resistance to the antiseptic that you use to sterilise everything, basically colonise everything you sterilise. They have no competition. Whatever survives your antiseptic will be the only one left in the next generation, so you basically get a new generation that's better at resisting your antiseptic. Repeat for a few generations (and bacteria generations can be as short as 20 minutes long) and ta da! Everything you clean with the antiseptic will be covered in the resistant strains of bacteria.

The vast majority of bacteria out there are harmless to humans. You want to *keep* the harmless bacteria everywhere, including in your own gut and on your own skin, because they are a major line of defence against harmful ones. This is why people who habitually sterilise everything are more prone to illness when it strikes... the people who don't habitually sterilise everything are covered in, and their gut is full of, harmless bacteria so when a pathological bacteria invades, it finds it hard to get a foot hold, because the harmless bacteria are already populating everywhere..... however the germophobe who's sterilising everything has killed off all their harmless bacteria, leaving their body completely open for colonisation by the harmful ones. And that's combined with the fact that they're creating an environment around themselves that makes bacteria evolve resistance to antiseptics, so not only are they leaving themselves open to infection, when they do get infected, it's going to be more likely by something that is resistant to whatever antiseptics they're using to sterilise everything.

With crap like MRSA in existence, it really doesn't sound like a bad idea. I'm a bit too lazy to implement it myself, but I certainly don't think it's indicative of mental illness or anything like that. You probably spare yourself a lot of illness by doing this.

You probably won't spare yourself illness doing this, you'll probably put yourself more at risk. MRSA - the MR part stands for methicilin resistant....... it's already evolved resistance to antibiotics. By constantly sterilising everything you'll make it evolve resistance to your own hand washes as well.

Basically what happens is you kill all the germs that might have kept the dangerous ones at bay through competition, and then the ones that evolve resistance to the antiseptic that you use to sterilise everything, basically colonise everything you sterilise. They have no competition. Whatever survives your antiseptic will be the only one left in the next generation, so you basically get a new generation that's better at resisting your antiseptic. Repeat for a few generations (and bacteria generations can be as short as 20 minutes long) and ta da! Everything you clean with the antiseptic will be covered in the resistant strains of bacteria.

The vast majority of bacteria out there are harmless to humans. You want to *keep* the harmless bacteria everywhere, including in your own gut and on your own skin, because they are a major line of defence against harmful ones. This is why people who habitually sterilise everything are more prone to illness when it strikes... the people who don't habitually sterilise everything are covered in, and their gut is full of, harmless bacteria so when a pathological bacteria invades, it finds it hard to get a foot hold, because the harmless bacteria are already populating everywhere..... however the germophobe who's sterilising everything has killed off all their harmless bacteria, leaving their body completely open for colonisation by the harmful ones. And that's combined with the fact that they're creating an environment around themselves that makes bacteria evolve resistance to antiseptics, so not only are they leaving themselves open to infection, when they do get infected, it's going to be more likely by something that is resistant to whatever antiseptics they're using to sterilise everything.

This is an excellent contribution.