Mold loves a crevice

If you've lived in Japan for more than five minutes, chances are you've encountered mold in some respect. It lurks in the bathroom grout, in air conditioners, and if you're not vigilant, even in your favorite water bottle.

Every member of my family has reusable water bottles for work, school, and even at home, and one thing I've had to be super careful with is making sure they don't turn into petri dishes. I was reminded to write this article after I'd noticed gunk building up in the lid seal of my daughter's bottle. Here's some unsolicited wisdom I've earned through trial and error to make sure yours don’t get all manky.

Water bottle lids are the bane of my existence...

• Take everything apart. Straws, lids, silicone gaskets, the works. Disassemble them fully every couple of days. Mold loves a crevice, and if you can take it off and remove to clean, you eliminate any surprises.

• Use boiling water when you're cleaning. Or better yet, check your hundred yen stores...for instance, Daiso sells dedicated bottle cleaning items which I would recommend for the lid crevices! 

• Rotate your bottles. If one is still wet, grab a dry backup. This also prevents that forgotten bottle syndrome that leads to science experiments.

• On that note, dry things 100%. You don't want anything to be damp. That's mold's favorite breeding ground (along with crevices!) and if you're not ensuring everything is dry you're basically setting it up for success. If you can dry things in direct sunlight that's great too!