My 'microwave to clean a sponge' hack made my kitchen smell like a swamp

I saw a tip online to nuke a wet sponge for two minutes to kill germs. The before was a normal sponge, the after was a hot, melted, stinky mess that stunk up my whole apartment for a day. Has anyone else had a cleaning hack backfire this badly?

3 comments

3 Comments

paulw871mo ago

My aunt tried that once with a cheap dollar store sponge. It basically turned into a weird, burnt plastic puddle in her microwave. The smell was like hot garbage and wet dog mixed together. She had to leave all the windows open in February. Honestly, just soaking a sponge in a little bleach water works way better and doesn't risk a house fire.

adam7511mo ago

I read somewhere that microwaving sponges can actually spread bacteria around instead of killing it all. The steam might not get hot enough in the middle to really clean it. Plus, with cheap sponges, you're just melting plastic like your aunt found out. It seems like the bleach soak is the safer bet for sure.

black.joel1mo ago

Oh man @paulw87, "hot garbage and wet dog" is a smell combo I never needed to imagine. Your aunt's microwave experiment sounds like a science project gone very wrong.