I'm a cleaning whizz and you're probably making this grim mistake with your kitchen sponge - here's what to do instead

SPONGES can be used to clean just about anywhere in your home, from dirty dishes to dusty doors, they're the staple every home has.

But it can be easy to forget just like other areas in your home, sponges need to be cleaned too.

You don't need to throw away your trusty sponge when it's dirty though – you can save money with this clever trick.

The cleaning pros from Zoflora told The Mirror how homeowners can get the most from their sponges and it's a total game changer.

Since cloths and sponges are used to clean other grubby places – it only makes sense that they'd cling onto bacteria and potentially harmful viruses.

The cleaning pros suggested leaving used cloths and sponges to soak at the end of the day.

They recommended using a concentrated disinfectant, roughly one capful per 400ml water, to get the job done.

Not only will this stretch out the life of your cleaning utensils, but will "fill the room with beautiful fragrance for 24 hours."

Of course, how often you do this depends on how often you use sponges to clean and how many people are in your household.

According to the cleaning gurus at Good Housekeeping, it's still good to replace sponges weekly if you can.

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But at the bare minimum you should give them a good rinse in hot water at the end of every day.

Make sure you also leave them to dry, as they can start to smell if they're wet for too long.

In fact, Trond Møretrø, a research scientist at a Norwegian food research institute told CNN there's a better alterative to sponges.

"Salmonella and other bacteria grow and survive better in sponges than in brushes, the reason is that sponges in daily use never dry up.

"A single sponge can harbour a higher number of bacteria than there are people on Earth."