Teresa Hunsaker, Family and Consumer Science Educator, USU Extension in Weber County shows us her picks for time saving cleaning products.
Cleaning shouldn’t be an all-day chore that leaves you exhausted and frustrated. In fact, it should take just a few minutes of catching up each day because you have put a plan in place to manage the small stuff before it gets big. Things like daily, weekly, and monthly chore charts can be helpful. Also, having good door mats at each door, making it a habit to clean up consistently after yourself, and using quality products—even simple but effective homemade solutions. But if you’ve let your home go for a while without a good scrub, you might benefit from some of these ideas and products.
COMMERCIAL CLEANING PRODUCTS THAT SAVE TIME
Green Works by Clorox–includes glass cleaner, glass and surface cleaner, all purpose cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, bathroom cleaner, and dishwashing liquid, and cleaning wipes. While they do not have the disinfecting properties of chlorine bleach they are quite effective in cleaning. The toilet bowl cleaner is quite good.
One Wipe Ultimate Duster by Guardsman—an excellent dust cloth that really picks up and holds the dust. Good on all types of surfaces.
Super Iron Out—cleans toilets, sinks, tubs, dishwashers, exterior surfaces and more. It cleans and maintains water softeners, and also whitens, brightens and removes rust stains from white clothing and fabrics.
Instant Rust Out–non-abrasive rust stain remover that cleans toilets, sinks, tubs, tile, clothes and exterior surfaces.
Magic Eraser by Mr. Clean—clean trim, baseboards, walls. It is safe to use on leather items such as shoes, purses and luggage. Use it to remove scuffs, pen marks and dirt build up. It works on vinyl siding, awnings, plastic bins, sinks, and more. It is an amazing product. It’s a melamine foam that acts in a way like very tiny/fine sand paper, so it takes out marks, dirt, and stains, but does not necessarily harm the object you are working on.
Mean Green Cleaner Degreaser—super strength cleaner and degreaser. Nontoxic, biodegradable detergents that form a powerful, nonflammable professional cleaner. Concentrated. Gentle enough to clean fabric and upholstery, yet powerful enough to tackle heavy-duty problems like engines, equipment, and outdoor stains. Phosphate free. It is sold in most Dollar General and Family Dollar stores here in Utah.
Woolite Heavy Traffic Foam With Stain Defense—this is a carpet cleaner that lifts deep, dark stains in just a few minutes, and it works great on all types of carpets, though best with synthetic fibers.
Greased Lightening Multi-Purpose Cleaner–this cleaner works great on stoves, countertops, microwave ovens, refrigerators, and bathroom appliances. Just spray it, let it sit for two minutes, and wipe the surface clean.
White Bright—this is the old Yellow Out product that is great for getting whites bright and white.
Disposer Care—this is a relatively new product that is quite effective at cleaning the grease buildup and grunge out of the disposer. It is a packet that you place in the disposal unopened, cover and all, and run water and disposal all at once. Cleans it up down in there quite nicely. Especially nice if you are having trouble with odors.
You can actually buy a few of these cleaning products and still make it out of the store for under ten dollars. Why spend your hard earned cash on cleaning products, when there are so many that cost under five dollars and actually do a very good job? Expensive doesn’t always mean better.
You can contact Teresa at the Weber County Office of the USU Extension Agency at www.extension.usu.edu/weber
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