Favorite Household Cleaning Products

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iowabear

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With a fall chill in the air, it's got me thinking about Fall cleaning before the house is closed up for the heating season.

 

What's in your household cleaning arsenal?

 

In mine:

 

Lime-a-Way spray, Scrubbing Bubbles (can), Comet powder, Mr. Clean floor cleaner (bottle), Soft-Scrub gel, Windex, Resolve carpet spot cleaner, Hoover Platinum carpet shampoo, Dawn dish detergent, white vinegar and last but not least liquid chlorine bleach.

 

Anybody have any products they really like and couldn't live without?
 
Since you mentioned Scrubbing Bubbles...

...have you noticed that Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Cleaner has been discontinued?

It's now Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Grime Fighter and has no disinfectant properties. I assume this is part of the War on Unnecessary Germ Killing. The citrus scent "Grime Fighter", at any rate, is awful. I'm now looking for some other product to clean the bathroom.

https://www.scrubbingbubbles.com/en-us
 
In my arsenal: Just about everything you can imagine. Have been meaning go throw out some 20+ year cleaning chemicals, Pine-Sol, Lysol, that's stored in the furthest reaches under a seldom used cabinet that I had forgotten about. Funny, but ever since this whole ordeal with my Dads illness, I don't care for strongly scented cleaners anymore, and I grew up on much of them. (I do miss the old scent of SpicNSpan, that just smelled clean!)
I use, and prefer, Bon Ami powder on ceramic tile, porcelain and laminate countertops, gives it a shine that I cannot get otherwise with other cleaners. To remove calcium and heavy soap scum build-up in commodes and bathtubs, I swear by Sani-Vac, it also cleans stainless steel well. I think it's probably pretty harsh, so I use it only sparringly from time to time (it will eat tile grout). Still have chlorine bleach on hand, but scared to use it on Dad's account. Another cleaner I wouldn't want to be without is 409.

Does anyone still use Pledge polish on furniture? I use Endust on the bottom of my vacuum cleaner mops, for hardwood floors, though not crazy about the smell.

Barry
 
I use the Karcher steam cleaner for almost everything (no chemicals needed, just plain water and it works great)

For the toilet I use one of those liquids (i don't even remember the brand), it's a black bottle with a dark blue liquid.

I can't live without the Bar Keeper's Friend spray (that thing is spectacular)
Sometimes I also use the BKF regular powder.

I bought a box of Bissell steam activated Swiffers (to use with my steam cleaner). Well, it's ok, but not impressive. It smells great but doesn't improve cleaning and sometimes leaves my horrible laminate floor sticky.

Cleaning vinegar (that I always have a spray bottle mixed with water) for quick cleanups.

Fabuloso that i mix with water and mop the kitchen and the bathroom floors only when i want the house to smell like just cleaned by a Mexican cleaner.

Ozium (I love that thing) to get rid of my cigarette smoke smell when I know visitors are coming. It gets rid of 90% of the smell in seconds... If I spray the whole house again, after 10 minutes, for the next 2 hours nobody would even imagine I smoke 1.5 packs a day.
 
Demise of Scrubbing Bubbles...

I didn't realize that happened.  I have stash of 3 or 4 cans left.  I've used it for as long as I can remember.  I will admit to buying it years ago for the memorable ad campaign..."W work hard so you don't have to!"   Another great product gone!

 

I don't use Pine-Sol but I know there was a big uproar about it because it's no longer made from pine oil. 

 

Formula 409 is product I grew up using but didn't buy as an adult.  I might give it another try.  I've always loved the name, the first 408 formulas weren't good enough but 409...that was the ticket.
 
Since I clean houses for a living its the same in every home:  Comet Bathroom Cleaner, Clorox Clean-up, 409 spray for general use, good old Comet cleanser, the new Invisible Glass window cleaner, BKF and SoftScrub.  Nothing more!  The homes I do have between 4 and 7 bathrooms as well as the walk-in closet shower stall.  All white kitchens, too!  Carpets out and hardwood's in!  Some homes vinegar/water for the floors with a Bona mop and the others Bona cleaner and mop.   Greg
 
Pine-Sol

This won’t help everyone, but if you’re in the Southeast, Publix supermarkets have a store-brand pine cleaner that’s 19.9% pine oil. That’s about twice as much as Pine-Sol used to have. It’s great for really grimy linoleum floors.
 
Lestoil still has pine oil in it according to the Clorox Company website (they own PineSol).  I found a vintage bottle of PineSol on ebay and the label says it had 30% Pine oil, 10.9% isopropanol, and 10% soap.  I know the stuff they sell now doesn't turn the water white like it used to!
 
As have stated often.

Cannot abide scent of pine oil cleaners. Puts one in mind of restrooms in cheap and low public establishments. *LOL*

That being said if pine cleaner does not carry an EPA registration number, then it is not a disinfectant.

However do remember Mother Dear and some aunts, grandmothers being fond of Breath O Pine.

Again personally couldn't stand the stuff and wouldn't go near. When assigned cleaning chores would reach for Janitor in the Drum, or Lysol Deodorizing Cleaner.

launderess-2018100105255102476_1.jpg
 
The cleaners I use most often are Dawn dish detergent, Bar Keepers Friend, and Dawn Heavy Duty Degreaser. I also use Lestoil for any tar spots on the floor. For the tub, I recently bought Scotch-Brite Soap Scum Erasers. They worked very well with plain water.

According to the Clorox Co. website, the original Pine-Sol contains pine products, and is an EPA registered disinfectant.

https://www.cloroxprofessional.com/products/pine-sol-multi-surface-cleaner/faq/
 
Pine-Sol

I'm almost sure I read that the Pine-Sol being sold in stores didn't have pine oil because there was a shortage of it or something and that the company was only selling the original formula online.  Maybe that has changed?

 

I'm with the anti-pine folks anyway, the smell is too much.
 
Household cleaners

LCB, Ammonia, Lysol Daily Cleanser, Clorox Daily Sanitizing spray, BKF, Pine Sol Lemon, Scrub Free daily shower spray, and Scrubbing Bubbles Grime Fighter. These are our 'daily' use items. One thing I did have to use recently was Liquid Plumr Hair Clog Eliminator. This stuff works like a charm.
 
For the dishes, counter tops and stove Palmolive Liquid Green formula, pots and pans and the oven that need extra scouring Bar Keepers Friend, SOS and Stainless Steel Chore Boy pads. I also use old school woven cotton dish clothes for the dishes and counter tops. I recently found some excellent ones at Walmart that have nylon net on one side, they are the best for scrubbing off dishes and even the broiler pan.

For the toilets, bathrooms sinks, bathtub and shower, either Comet ot Ajax scouring powder and for the kitchen and bathroom floors and walls either Mr. Clean or Lysol liquid cleaner.

For windows and mirrors Windex Vinegar Formula. For hand washing at the kitchen and bathroom sinks, Ivory Bar Soap. I keep a good pair of heavy duty rubber gloves for handwashing the dishes so I can use the hottest water possible.

And we always keep a bottle of Resolve Spray Carpet cleaner on hand for any spot cleaning of the carpets. We never wear shoes in the house and have company take their shoes off too, so the wall to wall light sand colored carpet only needs cleaning about every 12 to 18 months to keep the warranty in force we have Stanely Steemer do it, and they do a very good job.

We use either Scotts Liquid Gold or Old English Furniture Polish on the furniture and kitchen cabinets.

We are pretty much old school in our cleaning.

Eddie
 
Original Pine-Sol

CircleW, I think your ink is to an institutional product, not to what is sold to consumers?

This link indicates that they've brought back the "original" formula, with 8.75% pine oil, but online only.

"Pine oil supplies are limited and have become more expensive and will continue to be an issue around producing original pine scent Pine-Sol. We are not able to manufacture the original scent in the quantities required to be available in stores nationwide.

How long will it be available? The good news is that will have it for the foreseeable future, but there is a chance at some point that we would need to discontinue sales. If that does happen, we will be sure to give our loyal customers fair notice before that happens."

https://1221market.com/collections/pinesol
 
Pine Oil Shortage?

Well yes, and no.

Pine oil is extracted from stumps, needles, cones and twigs of certain pine trees. Obviously a tree stump will provide more oil than say needles, twigs and so forth.

According to Pine-Sol's Wikipedia entry Clorox (owner of the brand) claims there is a shortage of pine tree stumps of a certain age. That means pine oil is becoming scarce and the subsequent limited supply is driving up prices.

This is not by any means anything new; consumers have been on the war path about Pine-Sol changing for several years now.

"According to 1950s Milner executive Howard S. Cohoon, producer of Pine-sol, pine oil is only formed in large stumps from cut-over timber that remained in the ground for "at least 20 years." It is not found in live pine trees. When asked about the risk of running out, Cohoon estimated in 1954 that there was "enough to last for another 35 years." He was not worried about a shortage as he claimed pine oil could be produced synthetically"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine-Sol

https://www.homesteadingtoday.com/threads/pine-sol-no-longer-contains-pine-oil.525433/

https://consumerist.com/2014/01/02/why-does-pine-sol-no-longer-smell-like-pine/
 
I really like LA's Awesome from the dollar store. Cleans just about anything and doesnt sting if it hits a finger cut. Method soap products, Dawn dish washing soap when its on sale, Fabuloso for damp mopping, Lysol spray and white vinegar.
 
I'm surprised that nobody said Murphy's Oil Soap. I use it on my wood floors for my spring and fall cleaning along with my doors and woodwork. I use ammonia to clean stubborn grease and stains on my aging GE stove and even on the kitchen cabinets since they aren't wood. I really like the Spic N Span in a bottle and use that to touch up walls and my other appliances.
 
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...
 
"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.
 
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.
 
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).
 
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">
20356_PIN_Orgnl40oz_frt_0216_VS_i1_03-03-16-1731-lbox-400x400-fff.jpg
</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>
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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. 
 

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