Flickr photo by Horia VarlanHave you seen the commercial advertising sponges you can pop in the dishwasher?

Considering it takes around an hour for most dishwashers to run, that's a lot of wasted time.

To keep our sponges going strong, I pop them in the microwave for two to four minutes.

A la peanut butter sandwiches, the germs are all gone, and I can get back to cleaning the now dish-free counters (remember, that dishwasher is only just getting started).

According to a study done a few years back, two minutes in the microwave kills 99 percent of germs on a sponge. Add another two minutes, and 100 percent are gone.

ShelterPop suggests throwing them in the washing machine, which may work for sponges that have metal in them, but I'm sticking to the microwave.

How about you?