I thought about this in regards to the post about preparing for the swine flu and how everyone has different tolerances for germs. This is always a fun and enlightening topic.....what's your tolerance for germs?

Do you flush a public toilet with your foot or hand?
Do you always wash your hands after using the restroom?
Do you eat food from a bake sale or at a potluck?
Do you obey the "5 second rule" i.e. will you eat food that quickly drops on the floor?
Do you wipe down your shopping cart handle before use?
Do you have hand sanitizer with you at all times?
Are your best friends named Lysol and Clorox?
Do you bring your own pillows and/or blankets to a hotel/motel and check the sheets out thoroughly before laying down?
Do you wash out the hotel bathtub before you'll use it?

....and anything else you can think of....

cj/

__________________
I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

I guess I have a high germ tolerence as my answers are "no" to all the above.
All the toilets in stores that I ever use have the automatic flushing.

__________________

Me, too. None of the stuff listed bothers me much. I do wash my hands after using the bathroom, but that's about it.

Same here. My sister is terrified of germs, and her kid was always sick. My little kids were never "wiped down" and were never sick. I don't get sick and I teach Kindergarten. Germs are our friends.

__________________
"When you're drowning, you don't say 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,' you just scream."

John Lennon

I think exposure to most germs is healthy and creates an immunity. We are very rarely sick. An occasional cold, but rarely anything worse.

Lisa

__________________
"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

Do you flush a public toilet with your foot or hand?yes
Do you always wash your hands after using the restroom?yes
Do you eat food from a bake sale or at a potluck?yes
Do you obey the "5 second rule" i.e. will you eat food that quickly drops on the floor?MY floor? yes. Any other floor? NO
Do you wipe down your shopping cart handle before use?sometimes
Do you have hand sanitizer with you at all times?no
Are your best friends named Lysol and Clorox? no, but, they are named soap and water
Do you bring your own pillows and/or blankets to a hotel/motel and check the sheets out thoroughly before laying down?no
Do you wash out the hotel bathtub before you'll use it?I don't bathe in the hotel tub, never ever

This is gross, and I don't know if it's true or not,but, I was told that long ago people would pick their nose and eat it to build up their immunity. The hairs trap the germs and by eating that, you build up your immunity. GROSS!!!

__________________
Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Moderation is what is needed, a balance.

The "thing" that gets me are health care professionals who know when to put gloves on and yet not when to take them off.

I had a new experience at the dentist the other day. The hygienist took one glove off to chart. Proceeded to put it back on, then wash her gloved hands. Now the gloves were still "clean" as in she didn't touch anything else, but I WILL be having a discussion with the dentist when I can go back and see him. Depending on their source, a box of gloves can't run them any more than $10 (and should be much less) and for crying out loud.......she couldn't use two pairs of gloves on one patient?

dl

Regarding OP's list - I'm careful about all of those things...

And I'm assuming (and hoping! ) that the people who said they answered 'no' to all items really *do* mean YES for question #2
YIKES!

I'd add to the list that I won't walk barefoot in hotel rooms, and that I pull off the comforter and stick it in a corner of the room as soon as we're in.

__________________
"The errors of faith are better than the best thoughts of unbelief." - Thomas Russell

You should probably pull off the blankets to because they are not changed every time only the sheets.

Do you flush a public toilet with your foot or hand. Hand
Do you always wash your hands after using the restroom? Yes
Do you eat food from a bake sale or at a potluck? Yes
Do you obey the "5 second rule" i.e. will you eat food that quickly drops on the floor? Depends where I dropped it and if it is chocolate. lol
Do you wipe down your shopping cart handle before use? No
Do you have hand sanitizer with you at all times? No
Are your best friends named Lysol and Clorox? No
Do you bring your own pillows and/or blankets to a hotel/motel and check the sheets out thoroughly before laying down? No but I try and make sure I only touch the sheets.
Do you wash out the hotel bathtub before you'll use it? No

I am always amazed when I use the restroom at work, how many women I see walking out of the next stall and they go straight out the door without washing their hands! Yuck!!!

I don't carry my own sheets to the hotel, but after reading posts on here I will not use the bedspread/cover.. I was surprised when so many posters said they worked at hotels and all of them said the same thing, that bedspreads didn't get cleaned for months though the sheets did.

Do you all keep your toothbrushes in a toothbrush holder on your bathroom sink?
Do you shut the lid before you flush the toilet?
Did you know urine and feces can spray up to 6 feet when you flush?

I wash my hands after using the restroom and I keep all of my toothbrushes in a drawer in my bathroom cabinet. Other than that I am not too much of a germ freak.

We actually have covered toothbrush holders.....we do shut the lids, and everyone checks their sheets and look around the room. We had a room where my girls found a used "balloon". I don't think I've ever lept across a room so fast to prevent them from picking it up!

I might be one of those women you see skipping the sinks in a bathroom....if I'm out with all my kids, then I get out of the bathroom as fast as I can, but I do always have hand sanitizer in my bag, that I use.

__________________
Nicole

ITA with the two of you. Same for me.

Bacteria grows quickly on toothbrushes that are closed up in small areas, because they don't get to dry all the way. Bacteria breeds on wet surfaces, which is why sponges are not good for kitchens.

__________________
"When you're drowning, you don't say 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,' you just scream."

John Lennon

I put my DH's and grandkids' toothbrushes in the dishwasher on a weekly basis. I also put my sponges in the dishwasher or microwave on a weekly basis. I use a Sonic Care toothbrush, so I don't put that in the dishwasher.

I would not take a bath in hotel if you paid me! That gives me the creeps. I don't bring my own sheets, but I do inspect the ones on my bad and the towels. If they are not totally clean, I have new ones brought in. I will not walk on carpet in a hotel room with bare feet, and I really don't even like to sit on the cloth chairs. I have read the worst is the remote controls. I could go on and on about hotels. They do gross me out. I always wash my hands after using the bathroom, use my foot to flush in a public restroom, and will open the door with one finger after I am done washing my hands. I do wipe off the carts at the store for my children.
I would eat home baked goods, although I would enjoy it more if I knew who made it. I have thrown baked goods away that were given as a gift because I questioned how clean the kitchen was that they were made in. In the house we just use regular soap, not antibacterial. I will not eat at a buffet because of the germ factor. My husband tells me I am a bit freakish about the whole thing!!!!

__________________
Check out my homepage http://julie.mycoupons.com/

Foot sometimes.
Wash hands.
Eat food sometimes at potlucks, but am careful about what I pick, it it's really humid and has been out awhile, etc...
5 second rule-depends on what was dropped
Always wipe down handles if they provide those wipes.
Don't use that much Lysol at home though!
No to the hotel ones but it's been ages since I've been on vacation.

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who does this.....we run them every week on sani wash, and my sponges actually go in everytime I run the dishwasher.

__________________
Nicole

Do you know what can grow in a weeks time? You really don't want to know, if you are afraid of germs.

__________________
"When you're drowning, you don't say 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,' you just scream."

John Lennon

Oh fine, Nicole....now I have Sierra Mist Free on my laptop - thanks! So funny....OK, not funny, just gross. I found a "balloon" in the parking lot of the YMCA one day....that workout was probably more fun than mine.

cj/

__________________
I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

The chain hotels (Marriott, Hilton, etc) where I typically stay seem to have moved to a duvet setup with a decorate piece that lays width-wise across the foot of the bed. I believe the duvet cover - which is typically nothing fancy - is changed daily, or at least more often than the old-style bedspreads were washed.

cj/

__________________
I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

Ok, I know about hotel/motel linens. What's the problem with the bathtubs?

Hotels gross me out too, ever since Dateline NBC did that special a few years back with the black light (thanks, Dateline!). Apparently one of the worst things for germs is a public hot tub (at the gym or hotel, etc.). I will not get in those. I will not even use the nice whirpools at hotels in the nicer rooms. No way. Showers, yes, baths, no.

I have to say that I am going to be super duper picky too about what I eat at the 'potluck' type thing too from now on. That is after watching numerous episodes of "How Clean Is Your House" on the BBC channel. OH MY GOSH. Have any of you seen that show?