Kids Ain't Cheap

But They Sure Are Worth It

How to Use a Magic Eraser to Clean Your Home

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I finally figured out how to use a Magic Eraser, first hand. Definitely different than normal sponges.During the first week in our recently purchased house, every retailer within a 10-mile radius sent us a flier. “Come buy our house paint!” “Here’s a coupon for decor!” It went on and on. My highlight during that entire debacle was the box of freebie house supplies that showed up one day. In it was a Swiffer duster, a Febreeze-scented Glad trash bag, and a Mr. Clean Extra Durable Magic Eraser. I had no idea how to use a Magic Eraser properly, so I got to work on figuring it out.

As a result, I became a scientist in my own home. Each room was my lab. If you’ve never used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, click here for a rundown and to see the product.

The basic idea behind the product is to wipe away hard to erase stains, marks, and smudges. You simply apply water and get scrubbing.

How to Use a Magic Eraser in Your Home

Here is a quick list of my findings when I used the extra durable Magic Eraser. To set the scene, this was a house that had been empty for a long period of time and was now filled with a family with toddlers.

How It Worked

Below are the following scenarios in which my Magic Eraser performed successfully.

It:

  1. Easily removed dried marker on an old marker board.
  2. Thoroughly removed fingerprints and dirt marks around door handles.
  3. Removed pencil markings off walls (I can’t blame this one on the kids. I was marking an area where I wished to hang some decor. The eraser I used to remove the light pencil marks turned them dark and cloudy. I nearly swallowed my own tongue until I remembered my Magic Eraser. Poof. They were gone.
  4. Polished my car’s headlights.
  5. Removed black shoe marks from the side of my oven (high traffic area).
  6. Easily wiped away grime from light switches.
  7. Brightened up our dirty laundry hamper. This is a white, plastic hamper that has endured years of handling and tossing around – and looked it. I was pretty surprised how easy it shined back up for me once I used my Magic Eraser.
  8. Removed paint from wood laminate flooring. Again, I can’t blame my kids. I was painting our trim and needed to remove some paint drips that escaped past our drop cloth. The Magic Eraser did the trick.
  9. Erased my kids’ crayon artwork all over the refrigerator, kitchen floor, and walls.

How It Didn’t Work

There were a few times I experimented with how to use a Magic Eraser and showed negative results.

  1. Polishing glass or mirrors. When I used my Magic Eraser, it left pretty solid streaks on both.
  2. Cleaning stainless steel. My kids leave their tiny fingerprints on our stainless steel dishwasher when they’re playing in the kitchen. I tried wiping it down with my Magic Eraser before anything else and it just made the smudges worse.
  3. Scrubbing ink out of a couch. This is ink that settled and dried into the fabric weeks ago, but I thought I’d try to remove it this time with my Magic Eraser. No such luck.
  4. Removing water spots from faucets and the tea kettle. Again, no dice.

What if I don’t like the chemicals used in a Magic Eraser?

Some concerns have been risen about the chemicals used in developing the Magic Eraser, namely formaldehyde. This was deemed safe once it fused with the melamine, much like sodium by itself is explosive, but sodium chloride is salt.

If, however, you do want a natural remedy, I highly recommend checking out a Norwex microfiber cloth. I have one that replaces so many of the chemicals I previously used and believe it’s totally worth the investment.

Hopefully this article helped you understand how to use a Magic Eraser.. I’m sure my findings aren’t conclusive for every hearth and home, but if my experiments and findings help you get a jump start, then I’m glad.

For other Kids Ain’t Cheap product reviews, click here.

For more help cleaning things around the house check out these great articles.

Cleaning Poop and Other Jobs Your Kid Can Do This Summer to Earn Money
How To Effectivly Clean Your House In an Hour
Making Spring Cleaning Kid Safe by Making Your Own Cleaning Supplies

 

What’s your go-to cleaning routine for tough stains? Share in the comments below!

This post contains affiliate links.

Image Credit: Gracey (MorgueFile)

Product Review — Shark Steam Mop

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Shark steam mopWhen I first saw the infomercial for the Shark Steam Mop, I froze  — eyes wide and just stared in amazement. “What a glorious invention!” I thought to myself. Then another thought chimmed in, “Remember the Sea Monkeys.” What? Oh  yeah — the Sea Monkeys…

Found on Amazon.com

Sea Monkeys made me cautious

Anytime I see something on TV – that I think looks too good to be true – I usually find out that it is. I first experienced this when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I begged and begged and begged for some Sea Monkeys. If you don’t know what these are take a look. My Grandpa finally gave in and got them for me.

I was over the moon with excitement! I couldn’t wait to see them grow into the creepy alien looking things on the package, to watch them build cities and to do whatever else Sea Monkeys do. I was so disappointed to discover that after waiting for weeks for them to do something — anything, that they did absolutely nothing!

All they turned out to be were stupid little brine shrimp. No disrespect to brine shrimp of course, but they are super boring and look nothing like sea monkeys — or what I thought sea monkeys would look like. Lesson learned.

So, I was cautiously optimistic about the Shark Steam Mop. After all, if it didn’t do what I thought it should, I would just take it back to the store.

Deciding to buy the Shark Steam Mop

I asked my husband to watch the infomercial and he was on the fence about whether or not we really needed it. I explained that it would a be great thing for us to have. I would be able to get the floors clean, without having to worry about using chemical cleaners. This was especially important to us at the time, because the boys were getting ready to crawl and putting everything into their mouths. With the steam mop, it only uses steam to clean the floor. Before long, my husband was on board with trying this product as well.

We found one at Costco (it came with extras that the other ones we saw, did not have) and the rest is history. I love my Shark Steam Mop and I wouldn’t want to be without it. Here are some of my favorite features:

  • It’s light weight and really easy to use. I don’t have to lug a bucket, cleaner, or anything else with me. Simple!
  • As I mentioned before; there are no chemicals — just hot steam to clean your floor.
  • The floor dries in just a few minutes. This is fantastic! With 2 kids and a dog running through the house at all times, I don’t have time to wait for floors to dry.
  • If something gets spilled – and it usually does – I can just grab my steam mop and have it cleaned up in a jiffy! It cuts through everything including juice!
  • I never have to buy floor cleaner — so it saves $$$$. Gotta love that.
  • No streaks and the hot steam leaves the floors really clean.

I just acquired my second Shark Steam Mop. My other one lasted for 3 years. I’ll admit that my first one would have lasted a lot longer, if I had treated it nicer. It got used a lot and I never drained the left over water out when I was done, like the instructions told me to.

Getting my new Shark Steam Mop made me fall in love with it, all over again! It really is a great invention and it’s my favorite cleaning tool ever!

There are a couple of models and I just have the basic Shark Steam Mop (on Amazon.com for $59.85 Retail $99.99). They do have a Deluxe Shark Steam Mop (on Amazon.com for $99 — Retail $149) and they also have the Shark Vac then Steam (on Amazon.com $149.99). I can’t say how those work but if they are anything like the basic model, I’m sure they are wonderful.

Be aware that it is recommended for use on, “…sealed hard floors–including wood, tile, linoleum, and vinyl…”

Do you have the Shark Steam Mop? What do you think of it?