Streamlining Cleaning Supplies

[TechWife]

I’m working on streamlining cleaning supplies and at the same time I am looking at some products, like Method, that are supposed to have fewer chemicals than typical cleaners. I also want to reduce waste and plastic use. It seems like there’s a specialized cleaner for everything- are they worth it? I’m looking for some ideas. 

i need to be able to clean: granite countertops, laminate floors, carpet, tile floors, tile shower walls and glass shower doors along with the usual toilets, sinks, dusting, sweeping. 
 

so, thinking of “must have” items, this is what I have come up with: 

broom

sponge mop

vacuum

dust cloths - probably two - again - think minimal 

sponges 

toilet brush

Some kind of caddy

cleaning products stump me - there are so many now

[1GirlTwinBoys]

I LOVE mixing half vinegar with half Dawn BLUE dish soap. It's great for bathroom cleaning and kitchen sink etc..

I like Method Good for Wood almond furniture polish.

Ms. Meyers has some nice smelling cleaning products.

Simple Green cleans base boards and white cabinets so good.

 

[Pawz4me]

A few years ago I did some research and switched to using Mr. Clean Summer Citrus concentrate for almost all of my cleaning. At the time I researched it got a B rating from the Environmental Working Group, which was significantly higher than many of the supposedly green cleaners. At the time I did my research I was very surprised at how many of the supposedly green cleaners received low ratings from the EWG. Buyer beware.

I use the Mr. Clean, diluted appropriately for the task, for counters (granite and laminate), showers/sinks, mopping (wood, LVT and LVP), glass cleaning if more than a microfiber rag and plain water are needed, scrubbing toilets, and everything else one would typically use an all purpose cleaner for. The only other cleaner I buy is Barkeeper's Friend for scrubbing pots. Dusting is done with a microfiber rag, either dry or damp (as needed for the task). I have a stack of microfiber rags and use them for all cleaning. I don't buy sponges, ever. IMO they're nasty because they can't be washed thoroughly, as a rag can.

Edited January 22, 2020 by Pawz4me

[Carrie12345]

I personally hate sponges.  Maybe my mom just didn’t replace them often enough, but they squig me out.

Though I’m trying to go more minimal, I do have a lot of microfiber cloths that I use for everything.  They fold pretty nice into a caddy. I also have two dusters (one really long one for very high window casings and ceiling fan, and a normal length) with washable dust ends and a spray mop (O-Cedar has one that can be filled with anything you want) with washable pads. An extra load of laundry every week or two, but I always have clean tools without having to buy anything else.  And I have a “self-cleaning” lint brush for cat hair on my bed and the couch. Though he just likes to try to catch it, usually leaving a lot more cat hair behind.

For cleaning fluids, I’ve been buying the Mrs. Meyers concentrates and glass spray bottles. I wish all of their concentrated products came in the big bottles, but some only have “single use” (one spray bottle worth) little tubes.  I pretty much stick with the all-purpose cleaner and glass cleaner, but I do like the antibacterial for the bathrooms once a week or so. I’m still working on my concentrated jug of floor cleaner from Better Life. I don’t have granite to worry about.

My other must-have is magic erasers (brand or generic.)  I do cut them into smaller pieces. Otherwise, I wind up with a bunch of grody half-used rectangles sitting under my sinks because they still have plenty of use left, but no one wants to touch them!

This may not adhere to minimalism standards, but I keep cleaning supplies in each of the bathrooms and the kitchen, because I will wipe something down if a spray and a cloth are right there, but I’ll ignore it if I have to walk to another part of the house to get that. 

If I could change 1 thing right now, I’d go back and invest in a quality cordless vacuum that separates to act as a handheld vacuum.  I didn’t want to spend a whole lot, so I got a mediocre vacuum and a downright disappointing hand vac.  It often doesn’t feel worth it to lug the upright out, and almost pointless to grab the hand vac. So now I’m annoyed with myself.

Oh, and I do keep a tub of disinfectant wipes and a bottle of disinfectant cleaner on hand only for when people are sick. I don’t like that stuff normally, but anything more than a basic cold makes me want to kill, kill, kill.  (The germs. For the most part.) They’re buried way back in a cabinet.

[mmasc]

1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:

A few years ago I did some research and switched to using Mr. Clean Summer Citrus concentrate for almost all of my cleaning. At the time I researched it got a B rating from the Environmental Working Group, which was significantly higher than many of the supposedly green cleaners. At the time I did my research I was very surprised at how many of the supposedly green cleaners received low ratings from the EWG. Buyer beware.

I use the Mr. Clean, diluted appropriately for the task, for counters (granite and laminate), showers/sinks, mopping (wood, LVT and LVP), glass cleaning if more than a microfiber rag and plain water are needed, scrubbing toilets, and everything else one would typically use an all purpose cleaner for. The only other cleaner I buy is Barkeeper's Friend for scrubbing pots. Dusting is done with a microfiber rag, either dry or damp (as needed for the task). I have a stack of microfiber rags and use them for all cleaning. I don't buy sponges, ever. IMO they're nasty because they can't be washed thoroughly, as a rag can.

This is what I use as well (and it’s bc I posted awhile back about good smelling cleaners and @Pawz4me said this same thing!) Once I ran out of my various other spray cleaners around the house, I just refilled whatever bottle they were in with Mr.Clean and marked it with sharpie. Now every bathroom sink/kitchen area has a bottle in there to use for cleaning up. It works great! I do still prefer to have one bottle of Windex for glass cleaning, but otherwise Mr Clean all the way!😊

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

A few years ago I did some research and switched to using Mr. Clean Summer Citrus concentrate for almost all of my cleaning. At the time I researched it got a B rating from the Environmental Working Group, which was significantly higher than many of the supposedly green cleaners. At the time I did my research I was very surprised at how many of the supposedly green cleaners received low ratings from the EWG. Buyer beware.

I use the Mr. Clean, diluted appropriately for the task, for counters (granite and laminate), showers/sinks, mopping (wood, LVT and LVP), glass cleaning if more than a microfiber rag and plain water are needed, scrubbing toilets, and everything else one would typically use an all purpose cleaner for. The only other cleaner I buy is Barkeeper's Friend for scrubbing pots. Dusting is done with a microfiber rag, either dry or damp (as needed for the task). I have a stack of microfiber rags and use them for all cleaning. I don't buy sponges, ever. IMO they're nasty because they can't be washed thoroughly, as a rag can.

Wow!!!! This is exciting! I love the smell of that one, but assumed it was a terrible product for the environment, etc lol. I also never thought to dilute it and put it in a spray bottle. Great idea. I currently am using Pinesol on my floors and a lot of other cleaning jobs, but the Mr. Clean smells better. (actually, half the time I LOVE the smell of Pinesol and half the time I hate it -its weird)

Another thing I'm trying out is Citrasolv. It seems pretty safe/good but I need to look it up. It is also VERY concentrated - as in you use something like a teaspoon per gallon if I'm remembering right -smells nice and citrusy. It worked REALLY well on my floors the other day when I was in a "i don't like pinesol smell" phase. I swear it must vary on my cycle - normally I love the smell but now and then it is like that pregnancy type of aversion to it. But anyway, I love that citrasolve is so tiny. And the smell is such that I can mix a few essential oils in if I want without overpower it. 

OP, another option is the multipurpose tubes from Grove, the smell is fantastic, but I honestly am not sure they clean that well. 

 

[kbutton]

I like Mr. Clean, but I haven't used it in a long time because I assumed it was bad news. I'll have to take another look! It's wonderful for sheet vinyl floors, especially, but it's good for most anything.

If you don't have a special finish on your tub or shower floor (for example, a Kohler tub that you can't clean with much of anything), dish soap works GREAT for the bathroom. I even use a small amount in my toilet bowl. It helps a great deal with hard water. We use 7th Generation dish soap. I also use baking soda or Bon Ami when I need more scrubbing action. My DH applies RainX to the doors periodically after a heavy scrubbing to prevent hard water buildup per a tip from the hive. It's amazing. We squeegee after showering. I sometimes use Soft Scrub (without bleach). It's basically Bon Ami with water added.

We use Bona cleaner for the laminate and LVP. You can use it on sheet vinyl or tile also, but I didn't like how it felt after I did that (not sure why it seems so different on my sheet vinyl vs. LVP). I use Basic H (Shaklee) for cleaning my sheet vinyl and for tile when I had it. I've had a bottle forever (concentrated), and I sometimes also dilute it as a spray cleaner. When it's gone, I am likely to get Mr. Clean now that I know there are some okay formulations. 🙂 

For most other surfaces, I use diluted vinegar or a homemade cleaner with some kind of light soap, a little essential oil, and water, but I have a lot of things that bother my airways, and most essential oils (or citrus) fall into that category. You can add rubbing alcohol to the vinegar/water solution as well. (I recently learned that rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle eliminates most pests from houseplants without harming the plants and without causing soapy residue buildup in the soil that most pest sprays cause.)

I do use some glass cleaner for mirrors, unless I feel ambitious and try to make my own (usually with rubbing alcohol and vinegar). Then my mom comes to help me with a job and buys glass cleaner, and I realize how much more I like it, lol! 

I do sometimes use a disinfectant (or rubbing alcohol) after cleaning if germs have been an issue. I look on the label for things that kill MRSA because we live in a hotspot. Anyway, directions are almost always to clean the area thoroughly, then coat with the disinfectant so that it's wet, and then leave it on for about 10 minutes. That's not in my normal routine, but I usually keep something on hand that can do this. Not sure what I'm using that way right now--I think what I've had was considered enviro friendly and then changed (silver based cleaner), so I am just using it up. I have something else though that I can't remember the name of, and we ordered it non-scented. It's also a nice multi-purpose cleaner--Oh, Pure Ayr, I think. I don't usually keep a million cleaners on hand, but we had some special circumstances that required something new, and it took several tries to find the right combo. Now I have several things to use up, lol!

Tools/rags: Bona mop with their pads or ecloth pads (sometimes Aldi has spray mops that are similar in style to Bona; didn't like Libman pads for the Bona mop--the texture didn't do it for our floors), Libman wonder mop with microfiber heads that come off to be washed, lots of microfiber rags, and lots of rags from old clothes and towels. We have TONS of rags. Microfiber is supposed to washed solo or only with certain kinds of cloth, so we've built up our stash to have a small load of microfiber we can run by itself. I also just keep old clothes and towels for spills and cleaning. I've never really been a big fan of paper towels, and sponges are gross (but you can put them in the microwave to kill some germs). We hang rags to dry in the basement and keep the dirty ones down there until we have enough to run a load of gross things. 

I found that if I wipe most of the gross off with a cursory wipe, and then I come back over it with cleaner and a clean rag, I use a LOT less cleaning product.

Norwex: I received some Norwex recently that I am trying out. I have scrubby microfibers for the tub/shower--just a microfiber with non-scratchy scrubby stuff incorporated into the material; window cloths (you use water and the cloth to clean glass), and some basic dish towels. So far, they are really helpful, and you can use fewer cleaners. You aren't supposed to wash them with "regular" microfiber, so they'll go in the wash with jeans.

[TechWife]

So I think I'm going to try the Mr. Clean all purpose and it looks like I need to re-think only having a few rags around.

I do wash sponges in the dishwasher - maybe that's why they don't squick me out too much. But now that I think about it, I probably don't do it often enough.

I got some free stuff from Grove with a coupon from my change of address packet, but I haven't tried any of it yet.

I had no idea I wasn't supposed to wash microfiber cloths with other types of fabric. Why is that?

The thing I wonder most about is my floors. Sigh. I just don't want them to get grungy. I did use Bona floor cleaner and polish on the floor of our old house before we put it on the market & it looked great. The cleaner smelled odd to me though.

 

 

 

[TechWife]

Is there a "code" to the different colors of microfiber cloths? I'm seeing one that refers to cleaning windows with a damp "green" cloth and drying them with a "blue" cloth. How are they different, if at all?

 

[Lady Marmalade]

I recently tried Aunt Fannie's Vinegar Wash floor cleaner on my floors.  I really like it! I have both marble tile and wood floors and I really wanted something that I could clean both surfaces with.   It definitely smells like vinegar when you're using it, and for a few minutes while the floor dries, but once it's dry, there's no lingering vinegar scent.  I feel like both kinds of floor got really clean with it.

I bought it from Grove in the Lime Mint scent.  Honestly, I don't really smell the lime mint, just the vinegar.  

[MEmama]

1 hour ago, TechWife said:

So I think I'm going to try the Mr. Clean all purpose and it looks like I need to re-think only having a few rags around.

I do wash sponges in the dishwasher - maybe that's why they don't squick me out too much. But now that I think about it, I probably don't do it often enough.

I got some free stuff from Grove with a coupon from my change of address packet, but I haven't tried any of it yet.

I had no idea I wasn't supposed to wash microfiber cloths with other types of fabric. Why is that?

The thing I wonder most about is my floors. Sigh. I just don't want them to get grungy. I did use Bona floor cleaner and polish on the floor of our old house before we put it on the market & it looked great. The cleaner smelled odd to me though.

 

 

 

Method makes nice floor cleaners. The kind for wood floors smells like almonds. 🙂
 

I use a regular washcloth or hand towel for cleaning mirrors and so on. I don’t keep lots of dedicated rags around. I do have a microfiber towel for dusting; I just throw it in the regular wash. I usually forget to use it. 
 

Pretty much the only cleaners I use are Method granite (because it smells nice and doesn’t leave streaks), Windex and Mrs Meyers baking soda cleaner for the sink and bathtub. And the floor cleaner but I rarely mop. I admit I do use those wasteful Clorox disposable toilet bowl cleaning pads because my toilets have weird fancy crevices and regular scrubbers don’t work. I use them til they wear out, anyway. Oh, and I do keep some antibacterial wipes on hand in case someone gets sick and I feel paranoid. 

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, TechWife said:

Is there a "code" to the different colors of microfiber cloths? I'm seeing one that refers to cleaning windows with a damp "green" cloth and drying them with a "blue" cloth. How are they different, if at all?

 

I think each company has their own system. 

Honestly, I just buy cheap ones from walmart in the auto department now and then and cut them down to smaller size so I can grab one whenever I want. And at that price, they are cheap to replace. 

[Pawz4me]

38 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

. 

Honestly, I just buy cheap ones from walmart in the auto department now and then and cut them down to smaller size so I can grab one whenever I want. And at that price, they are cheap to replace. 

That's what I do, too, except I don't cut mine. I like the larger size. I've got about 18-20 of them, so by the time they get low it's a decent sized load.

ETA: I have some more expensive microfiber rags that I use exclusively for wiping down the kitchen counters, stove top and dining table. But I can't tell that they clean any better than the ones from the auto department at Walmart.

Edited January 23, 2020 by Pawz4me

[happi duck]

I attended a Norwex "party" and iirc they need to be washed alone with detergent that has "nothing" in it like the "free and clear" style.  I read online that they can be washed with lint-free things...sheets maybe?  I think it's about clogging the fibers? Idk

[kbutton]

3 hours ago, TechWife said:

I had no idea I wasn't supposed to wash microfiber cloths with other types of fabric. Why is that?

Mostly just towels because they clog the fibers, but I think my Norwex is pickier (still new to me). In my case, I wash my napkins with regular clothes (and underwear with towels) so that my napkins aren't with gross things. I am a little weird, lol. My cleaning stuff gets really gross, and I just can't bring myself to wash bathroom gross stuff with regular items. I prefer to run full loads if I can, and having a stash means I can do that. Regular laundry gets done just once per week usually, and it takes 2-3 laundry cycles to get enough microfiber to have a small load.

2 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

I think each company has their own system. 

Honestly, I just buy cheap ones from walmart in the auto department now and then and cut them down to smaller size so I can grab one whenever I want. And at that price, they are cheap to replace. 

Yes, we do this too other than the Norwex that's been given to me. I don't always cut the rags down though. I use some full size as well.

[SamanthaCarter]

On 1/22/2020 at 6:31 AM, Pawz4me said:

A few years ago I did some research and switched to using Mr. Clean Summer Citrus concentrate for almost all of my cleaning. At the time I researched it got a B rating from the Environmental Working Group, which was significantly higher than many of the supposedly green cleaners. At the time I did my research I was very surprised at how many of the supposedly green cleaners received low ratings from the EWG. Buyer beware.

I use the Mr. Clean, diluted appropriately for the task, for counters (granite and laminate), showers/sinks, mopping (wood, LVT and LVP), glass cleaning if more than a microfiber rag and plain water are needed, scrubbing toilets, and everything else one would typically use an all purpose cleaner for. The only other cleaner I buy is Barkeeper's Friend for scrubbing pots. Dusting is done with a microfiber rag, either dry or damp (as needed for the task). I have a stack of microfiber rags and use them for all cleaning. I don't buy sponges, ever. IMO they're nasty because they can't be washed thoroughly, as a rag can.

Is this what you are talking about? When I search for Summer Citrus, I get an antibacterial product, which I assume is not it?https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mr-Clean-Liquid-Muscle-All-Purpose-Cleaner-Lemon-Scent-16oz/29390271

[Pawz4me]

4 minutes ago, SamanthaCarter said:

Is this what you are talking about? When I search for Summer Citrus, I get an antibacterial product, which I assume is not it?https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mr-Clean-Liquid-Muscle-All-Purpose-Cleaner-Lemon-Scent-16oz/29390271

The one I use is the anti-bacterial one.

Here's the EWG review.

[SamanthaCarter]

@Pawz4me thank you!