Not long after I moved into my house in Virginia, a woman from church stopped by. I was scrubbing my walls with a washcloth. The house had been in good shape when I’d walked through several months earlier on my quick house-hunting trip. Since then, the previous owners’ children had had a grand told time with crayons and markers.
The woman at the door saw my washcloth and looked at the walls. “Have you tried Magic Erasers?” I confessed I’d never even heard of them. She was back about a half-hour later with a small box of Mr Clean Magic Erasers. She told me she’d discovered them after her grandkids colored on her walls. =)
I was amazed! I don’t mean to sound like a commercial, but honestly– they were appropriately named! I use them to get rust stains off the sink, burnt food off the stove, years of grime off the baseboards, and of course– crayon off the walls.
As I go about my day, I think about this blog and what things make me happy when life gets stressful. I’m normally pretty laid back. But I do have a clean streak, and if I get really tired, it becomes more like a clean obsession.
When this unfortunate combination happens– (tired + dirt) the only solution is to CLEAN!!! And then I think, “I bet people who read my blog want to know about the most amazing cleaning supplies ever!”
So– here you are. The Best Cleaning Products Ever!
(Take your aggressions out on dirt– not people.) =)
Magic Erasers— Like I said, they live up to their name.
Enzyme Cleaners— These are liquid cleaners that say, “Contains Natural Enzymes.” And they can take some impossible things out of fabric– especially plant or animal based stains. Blood, baby formula, grass stains, urine, etc. The enzymes are microscopic organisms that digest the stains to get rid of them. I usually buy this in pet stores, in spray bottles. Be prepared to be amazed!
Cascade Complete Dishwasher Detergent— I honestly think I’ve tried every dishwasher detergent out there. And I can tell you, with a half-dead dishwasher that seemed to do nothing but bake on anything we didn’t scrub off before loading it, I thought we needed a new dishwasher. Until I tried this one.
Ta-Da! Clean dishes! I tried switching again recently, and ended up throwing away the other bottle and switching back to Complete. The difference is shocking.
Tide with Bleach Alternative— It works. All the time. All the clothes are bright and happy and stain-free. I’ve tried other brands, including other kinds of Tide, and I’m convinced this is the best. Consumer Reports agrees with me. =)
Oxy-Clean (spray)— to take out cigaret smoke scum. My daughter bought a car a while ago and it was disgusting. Yellow smoke scum was like oil on everything. I bough a gazillion different cleaners at the store and we tried them all. When we sprayed the Oxy-Clean on the car interior, the yellow scum dissolved and ran right off! It was amazing! We hadn’t realized what color the interior really was until we got one spot clean. I went back to Target and got 10 bottles, and we got the car clean!
I figure, if I’m going to pay for a cleaning product, it had better work.
These are my favorite cleaning products. What are yours?
Agree. On all of these. Especially the Tide with bleach alternative and Oxiclean. I am a HUGE fan of Mrs. Meyers lavender scrub. Works miracles on stainless steal sinks and bathtubs.
Mrs Meyer's lavender scrub? I've never heard of it! Where do you get it?
We have Tide allergies here, I use Era…gets blood off of white scrubs( nursing lesson learned early before kids)
And I also love Magic Eraser
Enzyme cleaner is amazing! We spray it on all the baby stains before we do laundry and they come out looking new again!
Also, Soft Scrub with bleach. It made our disgusting, yellow porcelain sink look porcelain again! Just scrub it on and let it sit for 10-15 mins and voila! A brand new sink!
Yes! Soft Scrub is wonderful! Thank you for reminding me!
I forgot to mention SOS Pads. They're cheap- under $1 here for 6. They are steel wool with something like -Jax on them. Pots and pans come clean in no time at all!
🙂
For dishwashers: be sure your water is HOT before you turn it on, that is almost as crucial as proper detergent. I've lived in 2 houses now, where the pipes from water heater to Kitchen must go through China first. 😉 If I don't get the hot water to the kitchen, the dishwasher fills up with cold water, and even the heater element in the dw doesn't quite get the job done.
How would you get your water hot? By running the kitchen sink?
Thank you for the tip!
=)
Yep. Before turning on the dishwasher, just stand there and run the hot water until it is hot, then turn on that puppy. If your water heater is far, far away, you might even want to do that every time it cycles and fills up. The most important tho is the main wash cycle.
Barbara- I had no idea! Thank you for the info! =D
Today I'm thankful for friends near and far. There is a short story I wrote a while back called The Princess and the Pirate about good friends being apart.
Thank you to all my friends here and there and everywhere. =)