Tips for Cleaning Purses

Here are some easy tips for cleaning purses—a task we often overlook because we simply can't figure out how to safely sanitize our daily wardrobe staple.

Yet we are all guilty of putting our purses and handbags in rather unsavory places from time to time. Sometimes, when we're in small spaces (like bathroom stalls), we just put them wherever it's most convenient.

All the places we leave it - on car floorboards, movie theatre and restaurant floors, and dirty counters - make cleaning our favorite accessory essential. These tips for cleaning purses can help.

The Purse Exterior Is Just The Beginning

The purse or handbag's exterior isn't the only part that's prone to potential nasties—the inside attracts a lot of dirt, too. Does stuffing your purse to the brim with random items and only cleaning it once in a blue moon ring a bell, anyone?

As a result, there are more than crumpled receipts and spare change lurking inside. When researchers conducted detailed tests on 145 handbags from 80 women and 65 men, results showed that more than 90 percent had bacteria contamination.

Women were the worst offenders: bacteria grew more on women's purses than on men's bags.

We Forget About Cleaning Purses

A big part of the problem is that we often forget to clean our handbags—or worse yet, we don't think about it at all. That bag study found that less than 3 percent of the women cleaned purses monthly.

The danger: some nasty bacteria - Staphylococcus, Micrococcus, Bacillus, and Enterococcus - can colonize on purses and lead to staph infections, septic shock, meningitis, ear infections, and urinary tract infections (UTIs), and more.

The solution is simple: buck the curve and start cleaning purses regularly. Weekly would be an admirable goal, but monthly would be respectable. Options for cleaning purses and handbags:

Tips For Cleaning Purses - Wash It

Some purses and handbags are machine washable. If you carry one, toss it in the next time you run a load.

Wipe It

Synthetic bags are a cinch to clean. Dump out the gunk, vacuum inside, and run an antibacterial wipe along the outer surface.

Tips For Cleaning Purses of Leather

Woman surrounded by leather accessories.

And if you prefer leather, know that your purse material of choice safeguards you from excess bacteria buildup better than other options. (Yay!)

The only downside to leather (other than the price) is that antibacterial cleaning solvents cannot safely be used on it without stripping its finish or color.

You can wipe down its fabric lining with hot, soapy water and use a leather conditioner to keep it pretty on the outside, too.

Minimize Germy Purse Risk

Don't stress - the takeaway isn't that you should obsessively sterilize your handbag. Just because bacteria can cause you to get sick doesn't mean they will.

Here's how to protect yourself in simple ways.

CHOOSE SAFE HOMES. Designate a hook or shelf near the entry door to hang or stash your purse. That way, you'll avoid picking up - or dropping off - bacteria via the germ-laden kitchen counter. Don't toss it on your bed, as it could spread germs throughout your bedroom.

WATCH WHAT GOES INSIDE. IIf you need to bring your workout shoes or lunch on the way out the door, bag them in protective plastic before you put them inside. Food and shoes can provide a fertile growing ground for bacteria. Your purse might smell better, too.

KEEP UP WITH THE HAND HYGIENE. Regularly wash your hands or use the hand sanitizer in your purse, and you'll sleep better at night knowing you've done everything you can to stay healthy.