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You might think your home is spick and span, but a day in the life of this microbiologist puts even the most houseproud person to shame.

Dr Primrose Freestone is associate professor of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Leicester, and could well be Britain's cleanest woman.

As an expert on all the germs hiding in our homes, she takes absolutely no chances when it comes to keeping her house sparkling clean.

However, some people might find her cleaning methods to be a touch extreme.

From ironing her towels daily and only using sponges once, to avoiding live yoghurt for fear of bacterial infection, her life is as close to microbe–free as possible.

Dr Freestone even goes so far as to wash her toothbrush with hand sanitiser to keep the bacteria at bay.

To find out more, the Daily Mail asked Dr Freestone to take us through a typical day in the life of a microbiologist.

She told the Daily Mail: 'Once I realised what is growing in us and on us, my first reaction was "yuck"'.

Dr Primrose Freestone is associate professor of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Leicester, and could well be Britain's cleanest woman

Single-use towels and daily toothbrush disinfection

Like most people, Dr Freestone's day starts by attending to her own personal hygiene with a nice refreshing shower.

'Technically the body only needs to be washed once every other day,' Dr Freestone told the Daily Mail.

'But if you are quite precious about your hygiene you do actually need to have a good wash every day.'

However, this is where Dr Freestone's habits start to make the average person seem positively grubby.

Towels in the Freestone household, for instance, are only ever used a single time before they are put straight into the wash at 60°C (140°F).

Shower mats are only used for a week before they're also sent off for a hot wash, and even the shower head itself gets a weekly scrub with antibacterial hand wash.

'The shower head gets colonised by everything that's in tap water,' the microbiologist explains.

Dr Freestone changes her towels after every single use. Studies have shown that even completely clean towels can build up bacteria over time (pictured)

'Getting Legionella in your shower head is not a good idea at all.'

Of course, a personal hygiene routine wouldn't be complete without brushing your teeth.

But, as Dr Freestone points out, the toothbrush can quickly become a festering breeding ground for bacteria and fungi.

With plenty of soft bristles to grow on, constant damp conditions, and a steady supply of food particles from our mouths, your toothbrush is the perfect place for germs to grow.

'I've actually taken my toothbrush into the lab to have a look at what's growing on it,' says Dr Freestone.

And, having seen what most of us would prefer to ignore, she now makes sure to give her brush an extremely thorough clean.

She says: 'After every use I wash it with an antibacterial hand gel and then 30 seconds under the hot tap, just to make sure you're not putting germs into your mouth.'

Why yoghurt is a no-go

Dr Freestone avoids live yoghurt because the Lactobacillus Bulgaricus bacteria (pictured) within can cause blood infections if they get into your circulation

During breakfast, Dr Freestone likes to relax with a bit of television after the remote gets a good wipe down with antiseptic spray.

Dr Freestone isn't fussy about her food, and spends a lot of her time cooking and baking – but there is one exception.

'I don't like yoghurt,' she says.

'Live yoghurts, if they get into your circulation, can cause blood poisoning.'

She explains that the bacteria in live yoghurt can cause an inflammation of the pancreas that has been known to kill otherwise healthy people.

'Anything that gets into your blood that's not supposed to be there can make you very sick,' she says.

'The average person who goes to the dentist and has a tooth out and then eats yoghurt may end up with bacterial infection in their immune system.'

Scrubbing floors and dodging filthy office carpets

After a rather neat and tidy start to the day, it's off to her office at the University of Leicester, where she works on microbiological research.

That professional knowledge, Dr Freestone says, has given her an excellent knowledge of 'where there are reservoirs of infection in my office'.

Both her phone and keyboard are regularly wiped down with antibacterial spray, as these can harbour all the germs our hands pick up from objects around us.

On the subject of hands, Dr Freestone says she washes her hands about eight times a day, or more if she is baking, and always carries 'antibacterial spray, hand sanitiser, and some wipes.'

The only thing she can't keep as clean as she would like, much to her frustration, is the carpet in the office.

She says: 'The carpet in the office gets vacuumed by the cleaning ladies once a week, which is seven times less than ours at home.'

Dr Freestone says she started keeping her house spotless when her mother was going through chemotherapy and had a very weak immune system.

But, while her mother is now fully recovered, those extreme cleaning habits appear to have stuck.

Dr Freestone hoovers the floors and mops with antibacterial cleaning products every day to prevent bacteria from building up (stock image)

Although she admits that carpets only really need to be vacuumed weekly, Dr Freestone makes sure hers is hoovered every single day – largely because her mum has hay fever.

Non–carpeted floors get mopped with disinfectant every day, and the carpets also get shampooed once a month.

Floors are a particularly pernicious source of potential infections since they can harbour 'anything your feet have walked through'.

'That could be E. coli, Listeria, which is very good at surviving in extreme environments, Salmonella, Staphylococcus from your skin cells, and fungi, especially Aspergillus,' she explains.

It might, therefore, be a bit of a surprise that Dr Freestone's home is a shoes–on household.

She explains: 'I wouldn't want to ask people to take their shoes off and walk on floors that might not be clean.'

Avoiding food poisoning in the kitchen

One of Dr Freestone's research specialisms is food contamination and food poisoning risks.

It probably won't come as a surprise, therefore, that her kitchen is as spotless as any other part of her life.

Dirty floors can harbour any bacteria that might have been picked up on your shoes, including salmonella (pictured)

Tea towels only get used once before they are thrown in a hot wash and dish sponges only get a single outing before being thrown into the bin.

Dr Freestone tries to avoid plastic where she can because its surface is easily cut and pitted, creating grooves where bacteria can fester and grow.

The few plastic bowls she does have are thoroughly scrubbed with 'four lots of antibacterial washing up liquid' and left to dry in the oven where heat can drive out any bacteria.

As you may see in a professional kitchen, every single bowl and dish has a specific use, so that meat doesn't contaminate vegetables or baked goods.

However, one big difference between Dr Freestone's kitchen and most others is that you won't find a single chopping board.

'I must admit, I think chopping boards are pretentious,' Dr Freestone says.

'The grooves that are left when you chop stuff actually lodge bacteria and fungi, and they're quite difficult to sanitise.

'Anything that does need to be chopped gets cut on a scratch–proof glass plate instead.'

Dr Freestone avoids using chopping boards altogether, especially plastic ones, since the grooves caused by chopping can trap bacteria and fungi

And, to prevent any risk of food poisoning, any food that is cooked only gets kept for a maximum of two days after being promptly refrigerated.

Sanitising the bedroom

The day might almost be over, but there are still plenty of important jobs for Britain's cleanest woman.

Most importantly: dealing with the mountains of laundry required to keep everything sanitary.

In addition to the towels, bathmats, and tea towels that need to be washed daily, Dr Freestone also applies the same fastidious cleanliness to every other scrap of fabric in the house.

Pants, socks, and even pyjamas only get a single day of use before they're treated to a 60°C (140°F) wash.

Meanwhile, the bed sheets get changed twice weekly in the summer and once a week in the winter.

When we sweat in the night, that builds up in our sheets and provides food for bacteria and fungi that flourish in warm dark environments.

Your bed is full of tiny house dust mites (pictured) which cause allergic reactions with their faecal matter. To keep their numbers under control, Dr Freestone hoovers her mattress once a week

Those bacteria can contribute to bad odours and even cause skin irritation in some cases.

To keep things extra clean, Dr Freestone even goes so far as to hoover the mattress once a week.

She says: 'I know the things that are in there because I've actually taken samples and looked at them under the microscope.

'If you ever start sneezing when you get into bed, that's faecal matter from house dust mites.

'They are there, and whether you like it or not, house dust mites are present throughout your house, which is why we make sure to hoover and mop.'

However, once all those sheets and clothes have been washed, Dr Freestone's final task is to give every single thing – even the tea towels – a hot steam iron.

That blast of heat and hot steam helps to kill off any remaining bacteria that might have survived the wash, ensuring that no germs are festering in the laundry.

Then, at long last, it's time for Dr Freestone to climb into her immaculately clean bed and get a good night of sleep, ready to start the whole process over again tomorrow.