Cleaning products that DO what they say they're going to do....or NOT?

Hi LadyDi,

To be honest I do not use any of these cleaning products. My main reason for that is I'd like to clean my home as GREEN as possible. A few months ago I decided to green, that is minimizing the use of chemicals. And I have found an answer for that! Use steam! Really, steam is a wonderful way to clean all kind of surfaces and other things in and around your house. So, to do it the right way I just purchased a complete set. You can have a look at this site with a lot of information about steam cleaning. Site: http://www.floorsteamersonline.com/

Bath Power by Oz Clean. It removes lime scale safely and does not require anything but a quick wipe off. Leaves the bathroom fresh with orange fragrance and is environmental. It is pricy but I have decided it is worth it anyway. In UK it retails under £4. I would expect to pay about £2.50 or so for this type of product. I buy supermarket Green brands on other cleaning products to make up for it!

Some of my favorites:

Barkeeper's Friend. It's a powdered cleanser that works wonders on a lot of things without being overly harsh on the item or you! It does wonders on metal without scratching. I have all stainless cookware and slightly hard water so I get a lot of those "rainbow" marks on it. A quick scrub with the Barkeeper's and it's all gone. Removes nasty things from my ceramic top stove quickly and easily too. I even use it to clean copper and silver.

Microfiber cloths. The good ones work great! The cheap ones, not so much. I use them in just about all my cleaning either wet or dry. No streak windows and appliances, make great dust cloths dry. They wipe more thoroughly than any sponge, paper towel or rag. And they are totally reusable! Just wash and dry (no fabric softener) and you're ready to go again.

Simple Green. It's a non-toxic and biodegradable liquid cleaner that's great on grease! Comes highly concentrated so you're not paying for shipping a bunch of water. You dilute it down to match the job you're doing. Info is readily available on their web site. I clean the kitchen with it, use it for nasty grease/oil stains in the laundry and even shampoo my carpets with it. It's saved more than one item of clothing from motor oil or axle grease! The only thing I've tried it on that I didn't care of the result was windows; it left them a little streaky. A rinse with clean water and a polish took care of the issue. Smells nice too!

I wouldn't be without my steam cleaner - it really is the easiest and most environmentally friendly way of cleaning your home. The model I've got cleans everything from soft furnishings to the oven - leaving everything sparkly clean by using just water. Fantastic. It even cleans the carpets!

Of course, you don't get the nice "just cleaned" smell that you get from using cleaning products, but I just leave a few herb or lavender bags around the place to make up for that.

Seriously guys - steam cleaning is the way to go.

yeah, magic erasers r awesome. i also love oxiclean. it got a stain out of a shirt that had been there for years.