Favorite Household Cleaning Products

[yogitunes]

ZEP products from BLowes/HomoDepot…..

most stuff cost around 7.00 to 10.00 for a gallon.....

some are a concentrate which you have to mix.....

an example is window cleaner.....mix 2 ounces to a 22 ounce spray bottle of water = a gallon will make 64 bottles of window cleaner for around 7.00

for other cleaners, you can mix your own concentration for the job at hand...light duty to full strength.....

Purple Cleaner is powerful full strength, as in rip the oils right off your hands...wear gloves...but again, dilute down as needed.....

no matter what comes on the market as new cleaners.....we always return and stick with the simple basics....comet, bleach, borax, baking soda, ammonia, etc...most times this takes care of everything the first time...

 

[vacerator]

"Steam"

cleaner for many jobs. Cook top, kitchen sink, inside microwave, ceramic tile, etc.
I use Murphy's oil wood cleaner for wood floors, kitchen cabinets.
For windows, and the quartz counters, Windex, or other amonia glass cleaner, and coffee filters leave few streaks unlike paper towels. Had a bunch of cone shaped ones left when we got one that now takes the Melita type.

 

[circlew]

John (SuperSuds), Clorox Commercial Solutions products are sold at stores such as Menard's, Home Depot, Gordon Food Service, janitorial supply companies and similar places - just not at grocery and general merchandise stores such as Kroger or Wal-Mart.

My Aunt Doris - who just passed away in Aug. at age 91 - knew the former owners of the Pine-Sol Co. in Jackson, MS.

 

[supersuds]

Thanks, that’s good to know...I would not have thought of looking at HD.

From the Wiki article, the Pine-Sol founder seems to have been a bit of a character.

 

[superocd]

My favorites:

-Comet (or its generic equivalent) for my stainless kitchen sink and the porcelain pedestal sinks in our house
-Simple Green for the microwave and oven. Generic oven cleaner for the occasional spill.
-A few drops of Dawn and a tablespoon or two of bleach in 5 gal. pail of hot water to clean and sanitize the surfaces of my stainless steel appliances, cabinets, counters and countertop appliances. I use this solution (in a different bucket NOT for the kitchen) for other things, like my coffee table, doorknobs, dining table, computer desk/keyboard, etc.
-Pine Sol to clean the wood floors. A drop or two of Persil laundry detergent (really, just a drop or two!) to wash and 2-4 Tbsp of bleach to rinse the tile foyer and bathrooms. In both cases I use a commercial grade mop and wringer bucket. The mop head is detachable and washes well in my FL.
-Cleaning vinegar to clean the windows of my house and cars. $1 buys a gallon at the dollar store. Mix a glug in a 5 gal. pail of hot water. I buy a newspaper or two to wipe. Phone book pages work well too. I get a phone book twice a year so I keep them in my closet where I keep my cleaning supplies and tear out the pages as needed.
-Lexol leather cleaner and leather conditioner. Every seating surface in my house is leather or pleather. My truck and my wife's car is leather as well. I fill a 5 gal. pail of hot water, spritz some clea er on a microfiber cloth, wash the surfaces, rinse with a different cloth and pail of hot water, dry and condition.
-Simple Green for my carpet cleaner. I don't buy the name brand solution, it's too expensive and doesn't work any better.
I buy a few of those cans of foaming carpet cleaner at the store and spray the entire carpeting of both cars before I use the carpet cleaner. My wife and I both have WeatherTech mats but I like to go the extra mile.
-2 Tbsp. of Cascade detergent used with the Clean Washer cycle of my FL.
-Lysol wipes for my steering wheel, phone, etc.
-Disinfectant spray for doorknobs and light switches
-Dawn dish soap to wash my shower, and an auto wax (Mother's) to keep the acrylic/fiberglass nice and new. The house is 14 years old and the tub/shower surrounds still look like new.
-Isopropyl alchohol in a spray bottle to swab down my LED computer monitor, laptop screen and LED TV. I spray a spritz or two on a microfiber cloth and wipe the screen.

I keep my house tidy with these things, along with my Sanitaire 7-amp commercial vacuum converted to use F&G bags, my Hover PowerScrub 50, a Rubbermaid commercial mop and wringer, several 5-gallon pails, a squeegee, commercial grade spray bottles, a huge stack of microfiber cleaning cloths (they bleach really well without disintegrating!), a 10-gallon 6.5 HP Shop Vac w/ HEPA for cleaning the car or the garage floor and a plain-jane broom and dustpan (I'd rather have a corded stick vac instead of a broom but I'm concerned about a stick vac's lack of filtration).

 

[askolover]

Clorox professional formula Pine-sol still has the pine oil in it.  Regular Walmart pine-sol does not.  

 

<h1>Ingredients Inside <small class="show-for-sr">:Original Pine-Sol® Multi-Surface Cleaner 41294973267</small></h1>

<a tabindex="0" data-toggle="ingredientsModal">

</a>

<ul>
<li>
Product Name and UPC: Original Pine-Sol® Multi-Surface Cleaner 41294973267

</li>
<li>
Brand: Pine Sol

</li>
<li>
Country: United States

</li>
</ul>

<h2>Product Ingredients</h2>
<dl id="ingredient-name"><dt>Water</dt><dd class="callout ingredients-callout">Water, also sometimes listed on product labels as aqua, is the most widely used of all solvents. It is a colorless, odorless and flavorless liquid and serves as the base of many cleaning products.</dd><dt>C10 Alcohol Ethoxylates</dt><dd class="callout ingredients-callout">C10 alcohol ethoxylates are surfactants or cleaning agents that have strong grease-cutting ability.</dd><dt>Glycolic Acid</dt><dd class="callout ingredients-callout">Glycolic acid is an organic acid, used as a cleaner or an antibacterial agent in EPA-registered cleaning products. It can remove discoloration, soap scum and mineral-scale deposits left by hard water on fixtures such as toilets, bathtubs and sinks.</dd><dt>Fragrance</dt><dd class="callout ingredients-callout">Fragrances and perfumes are mixtures of fragrant essential oils, aroma compounds, fixatives and solvents. They are used in cleaning products to add a particular scent (lavender, lemon, etc.) to clothes and homes, and to mask unpleasant odors. Clorox provides a separate list of all the fragrance ingredients used in our household and professional cleaning, disinfecting and laundry products.</dd><dt>Caramel</dt><dd class="callout ingredients-callout">Caramel is a colorant (dye or pigment) added to cleaning products to improve aesthetic appeal, or to act as a tracer (for example in certain toilet bowl cleaners, blue coloration indicates that the product is working). They can be made from both synthetic and natural materials.</dd><dt>d-Limonene</dt><dd class="callout ingredients-callout">d-Limonene is used in cleaning products to help dissolve stains and soils and as a fragrance component. A member of a class of chemicals called terpenes, d-Limonene is obtained from the rinds of citrus fruits. It has been identified as a potential allergen by the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, an advisory board to the European Union.</dd><dt>Dimethicone/Silica/PEG Distearate Antifoam</dt><dd class="callout ingredients-callout">Dimethicone/silica/PEG distearates are used mainly as defoamers, although they are also emollients, lubricants and thickeners in cleaning products. They can be used to give formulas a smooth coating, while enabling evaporation without leaving a greasy residue.</dd><dt>Hexyl Cinnamal</dt><dd class="callout ingredients-callout">Hexyl cinnamal is a fragrance ingredient that is found naturally in oil of chamomile. It has been identified as a potential allergen by the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, an advisory board to the European Union.</dd><dt>Methylchloroisothiazolinone</dt><dd class="callout ingredients-callout">Methylchloroisothiazolinone is a compound that is used as preservative, a class of ingredients used to help prevent products from deteriorating over time, maximizing their shelf-life and ensuring efficacy and safety. They work by inhibiting growth of bacteria or mold, or by absorbing oxygen that can oxidize ingredients.</dd><dt>Methylisothiazolinone</dt><dd class="callout ingredients-callout">Methylisothiazolinone is a preservative, a class of ingredients used to help prevent products from deteriorating over time, maximizing their shelf-life and ensuring efficacy and safety. They work by inhibiting growth of bacteria or mold, or by absorbing oxygen that can oxidize ingredients.</dd><dt>Sodium C14-17 Sec-Alkyl Sulfonate</dt><dd class="callout ingredients-callout">Sodium C14-17 secondary alkyl sulfonates are surfactants or cleaning agents used in liquid and powder laundry detergents and other cleaning products.</dd><dt>Xanthan Gum</dt><dd class="callout ingredients-callout">Xanthan gum is a natural carbohydrate (complex sugar) used as a thickener in cleaning products. It is readily biodegradable.</dd></dl>

 

[stan]

I keep things fairly simple

BarKeepers Freind
Bon Ami
Vinigar
Borax
Lye Soap
Fine steel wool.
Clorox
TSP. (Use gloves)
You can clean almost everything from one on that list

 

[donprohel]

Home made cleaner

My personal formula:
- distilled water 80%
- isopropyl alcohol 16%
- 25% concentration ammonia 2%
- multi-purpose detergent (usually Ecover) 2%

 

[abcomatic]

Great thread Jim

In my arsenal of cleaners would be: Bon Ami, Armstrong floor cleaner for the kitchen floor, Murphy's Oil soap for the woodwork, and there is a lot of woodwork here. Dawn, Sparkle, Bubble Bandit for the dishwasher and washing machine. Borax, Twinkle silver polish, Zest bathsoap.

 

[thomasortega]

Today I added something else to my cleaning routine.

Bissell SpinWave Plus

My horrible laminate floors (LIKE ALWAYS) are a pain to keep perfectly clean.

The steam cleaner does an amazing job but there are always some streaks, to keep me desperate.

As I'm going to have guests on Tuesday I started deep cleaning the whole apartment today and when I started the floors in the guest bedroom i got pissed off, went to BBB and purchased it.

Why the hell i didn't buy it before? It's almost like a floor polish, a bit slower, but with a built in sprayer.

The Bissell solution works PERFECTLY and it smells great.

 

[appnut]

A suggestion

Is there anything better than Formula 409 for cleaning finger prints off painted doors and such.  I use my fingers to close the pantry door and similar on doors to the exterior and such rather than the door knob. 

 

[passatdoc]

Barkeeper's Friend

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">I even like the Pine-Sol bottle. The "fragrance" is wonderful. Hexol runs a close second, my Mom's favorite from many years ago. Anything that smells like fruit turns my stomach. I think is started with the disgusting Lemon Pledge. Lemon oil soon found it's way into everything. I avoid anything that comes in a yellow container. Likewise too any cleaner in a pink bottle which usually means a cheap perfume smell. </span>

 

[wayupnorth]

Mine is a maid. I hate cleaning. My old maid, Carol, came once a week and everything was beautiful. Her husband got transferred and do you think I could find another Carol, NO.

 

[launderess]

Hexol

Is probably close to Pine-sol and other pine cleaners of old; mostly soap, water, alcohol and pine oil, but at near 60% of the latter it isn't an EPA registered disinfectant.

Notice the product makes no claims about disinfecting: https://www.amazon.com/Hexol-Concentrated-General-Household-Deodorant/dp/B004HFCSUO

Apparently it isn't just amount of pine oil which makes a disinfectant, but quality.

Many products once used pine oil ranging from 80% to 90% terpene alcohols. Products today are going with pine oil that is around or less than 50% terpene alcohols. Efficiency of such pine oil for disinfecting has not been proven.

https://patents.google.com/patent/CA1120820A/en

https://foreverest.cn/products/turpentine-derivatives/pine-oil-85.html

 

[askolover]

I'll just stick with bleach.  You want clean, get a cleaner with bleach in it.  Our hospital housekeeping company has changed from cleaning the rooms with bleach to some funky stuff that has peroxide and "an acid" that smells like vinegar.  It makes the rooms smell like dirty feet!  Sorry, but I think places like hospitals and especially ICU rooms should be cleaned with bleach.

 

[supersuds]

A few years ago, the General Sevices Administration sent a Zep representative around our federal building to sell us on their new “green” cleaning products. I had no say in the matter and don’t know why they felt the need to do a snow job on me, but the upshot was that our excellent cleaning ladies could no longer use bleach, and the public bathrooms were not as sparkling clean as they had been. They did hide some of the old cleaning products from the GSA to use in emergencies.

Since bleach is just made out of salt water that’s been given a jolt of electricity, I have no idea what is ungreen about it, anyway.

BTW the Publix pine cleaner I mentioned does have an EPA registration.

 

[mrsalvo]

Launderess, what's in your cleaning arsenal?

I wonder how many of us could pass a 1953 home economics quiz?

Barry

 

[launderess]

Lysol (vintage brown plastic bottle, EPA registered stuff)

Ammonia

White vinegar

Dow Scrubbing Bubbles or Lysol Basin, Tub and Tile Cleaner (whatever is on offer at Rite Aide)

Various hospital grade disinfectants (quat based usually) bought when one can find a good offer on fleaPay.

Method Lemon Verbena cleaner

Swiffer pads

Endust (for dust mop)

Have some commercial spray bottles that mix ammonia with either Method or hospital disinfectant to make a "spray cleaner" for kitchen and bathrooms.

Nothing cuts through soap scum and muck like foaming bathroom cleaner (scrubbing bubbles or whatever).

For rest of bathroom it is either Lysol (with a bit of STPP or ammonia in water first), or hospital grade disinfectant neat.

Was first turned onto the concept of "Swiffer" pads during visits to France as a youth. Their "mops" are basically what we call Swiffer pads today. Someone imported that concept to USA and there we are.

Have a few bottles of NOS Jubilee kitchen polish, but rarely use. Just cracked open one bottle several weeks ago to do the new AEG Lavamat. Wait I told a lie; had used it previously on Maytag wringer.

 

[strongenough78]

One I didn't see mentioned unless I missed it that I love is LA's Totally Awesome. That stuff works on everything from greasy stoves to grease stains on laundry. Gotta try it if you haven't!