There's one area of the home that is filthier than your toilet seat.

It can sometimes be hard to keep on top of the never-ending list of things to clean. With the cold weather settling in, Brits are focussed on preventing mould in the bathroom or condensation on their windows. There's also the every-day tasks, like taking the bins out, wiping the kitchen sides, and dusting away the cobwebs - which means we often neglect other parts of the home.

However, there is one piece of furniture could be a hotspot for germs and bacteria, and you might have never even thought about giving it a clean... until now.

Cleaning expert Natasha Brook from Dr Beckmann warns that one of the most germ-ridden places in the home often gets overlooked. You may be hot when it comes to bleaching the loo or taking out the stinky bins, but when was the last time you cleaned your sofa?

According to a pretty harrowing UNICE study, sofas can actually harbour several types of bacteria and may have up to 19,200 germs per 100 cm² - which is more than that found on the average toilet seat (around 1,600 germs per 100 cm²). It kind of makes sense, given that we sit down on our furnishings every single day with dirty clothes.

"For a truly comprehensive clean, it is crucial to extend your efforts to often overlooked areas in the day-to-day clean, such as sofas and other upholstery items," Natasha said in an interview with the Sun. The ace recommends starting by vacuuming your sofa and arm chairs to lift any debris that may have fallen into the hard-to-reach nooks and crannies. Then, use an appropriate cleaner to keep the furniture smelling fresh and stain-free.

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If cleaning the sofa is a completely new concept for yourself, make sure you use the right cleaning products as this may vary depending on the material. Some covers can be unzipped and thrown into the washing machine - others can't. TikToker @ajvaughan recently went viral after revealing her cheap and cheerful hack to get rid of pesky fabric sofa stains - without damaging the furnishing.

The content creator simply dissolves a dishwasher tablet in a bowl of hot water before submerging a microfibre cloth into the solution. She then wraps the cloth around a pan lid before rubbing it across the sofa. This allows you to tackle the stains without getting the material too wet, which could encourage mould to grow.

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