Have You Checked Your Bags? The Often Forgotten Place to Clean for Passover - and the Solution

When the kitchen is polished, the living room shines, and the cabinets are crumb-free, there's one place that still remains full of chametz and is often overlooked: our bags — whether they're the kids', work, preschool, or travel bags — have become mobile chametz storage units over the year. Just before Passover, it's time to check what's hiding inside. Here are some tips we've found for you online.

The small pocket at the front of the bag is the first place to check. Snacks, gum packs, and sometimes forgotten open cookies are thrown there. Even the bottom of the bag, under notebooks, clothes, or toys, is often full of food remnants. Empty it all out, shake it, and vacuum. The side compartments, meant for drink bottles, are often used for quickly shoved snacks. Make sure to check if anything spoiled has been left there for a long time.

Then come the secret compartments inside the bag — those that just aren't opened regularly. This is exactly where the worst crumbs accumulate. Don't forget the lunch bags too — boxes, wrappers, leftovers — sometimes there's chametz there.

How to clean? Start with a thorough shake-out, completely upside down. Then use a hand vacuum or a brush, and finish with a damp wipe with a bit of soap. Leave the bag open to dry, and there you have it — kosher for Passover, so to speak. Sometimes, the places where we leave the most chametz are the ones we forget to check.