Well okay, rotate till terminal position, that better? 
My sister, Scrub Jay, and I have recently moved in together. Just today, I realized that she is the type to leave the sponge in the bottom of the sink, sopping wet. I thought the few other times this had happened that she had just forgotten to do it the proper way, i.e. squeezing the sponge out and setting it on the edge of the sink. It’s OK, since I do most of the washing up. Since we don’t do much actual cooking (microwaves were made for folks like us) it doesn’t amount to much. Could use the dishwasher but it would take a week or more to fill it and it just seems easier to keep up with it day to day.
I like to cut the sponge in four or five pieces, not only because I’m ch–, uh, frugal, but just because a whole sponge just doesn’t feel comfortable in my hand.
I replace mine when the old one takes on a life form of its own and runs away probably aided by the slimy tiny feet on billions of still multiplying bacteria.
Sponges are gross. I use dishcloths, and I put them in the laundry to wash after each use.
Interesting discussion. It sounds like folks, like me, who wring out the sponge and leave it out of the sink, care about it. But no one has cited anything that suggests it is “better” in some objective way. How come it matters to you? I guess I feel a wrung-out sponge is less likely to have yucky stuff in it, smell bad.
Another vote for: lasts for months & nuke it after use.
When they’re starting to get ratty, they get demoted to bathroom, then toilet duty until they’re useless. No microwave nuking then (obviously…), but I’ll set them out in the sun to dry/disinfect. They last about a month on bathroom duty before they’re toast.
OK. Thanks. I’m thinking of trying some micro fibre ones.