What is your idea of cleanliness?

[Mitera Nikkou]

I was wondering since it's common for me to allow myself to ferment for months at a time. Visually, my hands are by far the dirtiest; and yet my eyes and such never come down with anything.

Last night I showed my mother my hands and told her that they were clean. She laughed, of course. But then I told her to think about all of the times that I've handled the clean dishes, in the instances when I had to put them away so I could load the dish washer with dirty dishes. With no one dead or sick, I rested my case.

That's cleanliness, to me: the ability to fend off things and still give your body's immune system exercise. How something looks is superficial, and sterilization is stupid because it defeats the purpose of your body.

I felt like bringing this up after seeing some stupid thing on the news about how to wash your hands efficiently. Right after some nonsense about the five-second rule. It made me want to slap a bunch of those people around. My parent's lack of attention (back in the day), as far as my hygiene was concerned, is one of the few things that I can be grateful for them doing; or not doing, as it were. They also let the house become pretty dirty, too. Heck, at times they didn't even have the good sense to put the mayonnaise in the refridgerator after it was opened. Among other things that I don't need to mention.

The point is: I still live a life well below what seems to be the standard for healthy living these days, and yet I'm fine and probably get sick less often than cleanly, pill-popping folk do.

[Haylie]

Being an adolescent, I tend to see things like no one else does, and no one else sees my room as being clean. It's clean to me, because that's how it's always been:

Top bunk made but covered in clothes I didn't feel like putting in my dresser.
No real covers on the bottom.
A box full of random crap that acts more as a bedside table, and similarly covered with crap.
Crap covering my desk, mostly books.

And it's a small room, so it's easy to make it dirty, but hey, it's my type of clean.

[Mitera Nikkou]

And where does the health aspect come in? ;p

My room's pretty small, too, though. And every surface, aside from a square foot of space or so on my computer desk, is covered/piled with something. I have an overfilled dresser with an overfilled bookcase of sorts on top of it, which itself has mounds of stuff on it. I have a night stand with boxes stacked on it, and a bunch of other boxes filling the underside of my bed.

My little hermit hole.

[Helel]

It depends for me.

In my room, I keep things organized and if something isn't being used, I put it away.

If I'm cleaning something, it depends on what's being cleaned. If it's just a wood surface or whatever, just keeping it clear and free of dust is enough. If it's like a counter top, I'd make sure there aren't any stains or whatever. When it comes to things like silverware, it needs to be washed in warm water and soap- at least. For myself, I keep myself clean, wash my hands with soap so I don't spread dirt, printer toner, or what-have-you else where.

Oh, and when I'm in labs, I gotta make things immaculate. Or I'll get in real trouble, since what I've dealt with could lead to major repercussions for an experiment or lead to injury. Hydrochloric acid being spilled, for example.

It just depends, as my standards don't always apply, but I tend to keep things clean and neat, since how I present myself matters with the sort of field I'm working my way into, and my surroundings reflect this at times as well.

[Rowan]

If I'm eating off of it, with it, or eating it, it better damn well be sterilized.

Everything else is negotiable

[Raleigh]

Since I suffer form a minor case of OCD, I have the surprising answer of if it looks clean its good enough. Sterilization results ultimately in only either stronger bacteria or a lowered resistance to the same so as long as its not crawling about and put away where I designate it to go, I don't mind. As such, my room is possibly the cleanest in the house besides the kitchen and the little area we keep the washing machine and dryer at.

[Lanzerus]

If its my body, i tend to shower atleast once a day, and if its a room, as long as there isn't anything that could cause injury hidden under my clothes its good.