It is the fifth week of this month – so that means it is time for a guest post. Today we look at a tool  found in every home and homestead – the lowly toilet brush.

“Cactusman” Jan Emming shared this recently with his followers. Enjoy!

“It has recently come to my attention that there are a slew of online websites recommending frequent replacement of toilet brushes. As in, “You should clean and disinfect your toilet brush after every use, and discard it every 6 months and buy a new one regardless.”

Germophobic Insanity

This is germophobic insanity paired with consumerism to create a mindset more toxic than an unscrubbed toilet. Guess what? If you keep your toilet brush for years on end and only occasionally clean it, your life will be the same. Your 6-month-old, periodically used toilet brush has nowhere near reached the end of its useful lifespan, so throwing out a perfectly serviceable brush way prematurely is stupid and wasteful. Plus you won’t be hampered by wasting money on new toilet brushes twice a year, or by the paranoid mindset created by this advice.

Basic Toilet Brush Question

How much dirtier can a toilet brush get once it’s been used even one single time?!

If you know about “germs” you know that if you store your toilet brush in the open air where it dries out automatically – the drying out either kills or forces most of the organisms on it into dormancy, since they can’t actively survive desiccation. The frequent replacement advice is illogical and creates a problem where there is none.

Germs Abound

Here’s the deal: Toilets are fundamentally dirty from a bacteriological standpoint. And guess where those bacteria come from? YOU! Your home toilet won’t contain many bacteria or viruses that weren’t put in place courtesy of your back end, and you live with them there; so why fret about how “dirty” your toilet brush or bowl is if you practice simple basic hygiene like washing your hands after using the bathroom? You aren’t preparing food with your toilet brush, nor are you using it to paint your room, or mop your floors, or massage your back.

Well unless you do, but you might want to keep that private and let the primary point of my irritated post stand. And that is that used properly for its intended purpose in an approved fashion, your toilet brush won’t be making you or anyone else sick under normal circumstances.

Hygiene Is Good

Don’t misunderstand me. Proper hygiene is important in certain settings, such as the medical and food handling fields. There are some people who need extra precautions against pathogens if they are ill or immuno-compromised. Scrubbing certain elements of your bathroom every week or so isn’t a bad idea. But don’t throw out your toilet brush every 6 months just because. After all, why is 6 months the “expiration date”? Isn’t your toilet brush going to be just as dirty after one or two uses in a week as it is after months or years?

Don’t Fill the Landfill

The Big Toilet Brush Industrial Complex isn’t going to convince me to prematurely send to the landfill a perfectly usable toilet brush. And it shouldn’t make you scared either. Especially not if your toilet brush is already years old and you’ve never contracted a mortal disease from it, sitting there inertly in the corner behind your commode.

I’ll return to plant posts soon. This has been a Cactusman Public Service Announcement.

Jan Emming”

More about Jan on our page about our Guest Posters – here. 

Father Kino’s Herbs – Learn more about this Southwest Icon

The last few copies of this out-of-print award winning Southwestern book are now for sale. Father Kino’s Herbs: Growing and Using Them Today   The review says:

“Award-winning garden writer Dr. Jacqueline A. Soule has pulled together a fascinating book on the life of Father Eusebio Francisco Kino and some of the plants that he brought to Southern Arizona and northwestern Sonora, and area called the Pimeria Alta.”

A steal at only $20!  This link is to our sales site. The profits from the sale go to the local Horticulture Therapy non-profit Tierra del Sol Institute.  We hope you will help support this great Southwest non-profit!

And Here’s Our Cookbook!

May we suggest our dandy little cookbook?   Using Honey in New and Savory Ways offers 36 pages of tips for using honey in your cooking, as well as in all manner of dishes. A steal at only $6!

We hope you will help support some local Southwest folks!
From the review:
“Honey is for more than desserts and this book can help! Using honey in cooking savory dishes helps engage all your taste buds and adds a layer of added flavor to everyday dishes – plus holiday fare.”

Beekeeper?  We offer volume discounts – because if you sell honey in local markets you might want to offer some of these books as well.

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