Spending more time at home during a pandemic usually means more chaos, which makes many of us reach out for cleaning gloves more frequently. After all, a clean home can inspire a lot of happiness and relieve some extra stress.
But before you add all the cleaning products to your shopping list, check our list of things that you and your cleaning program can really do without.
Do you have a cabinet that sprays different sprays on different surfaces or rooms in the house? Kitchen cleaners for laminates and multi-surface sprays for restaurant or office surfaces?
Our recent tests on various sprays have shown that there is almost no difference between multifunctional cleaners and kitchen sprays, which means that no matter which room you are in, they will do roughly the same job.
CHOICE cleaning products expert Ashley Iredale said: “Our review scores for these products are comparable in kitchens and multi-purpose cleaners, so we concluded that they are essentially the same.”
But be sure to choose a cleaning product wisely, because we have found that some multi-purpose cleaners do not perform better than water.
Dirty floors let you down? It must be one of those brightly colored floor cleaners with shiny tile images on it, right? Not so, our laboratory experts said.
When they reviewed 15 popular brands of floor cleaners, they found that none of them were enough to recommend. In fact, some perform worse than water.
So, take a mop and bucket and add some elbow grease to the water. It does not contain chemicals, and the cost is lower.
“If you want your floor clean and save your money, just use a bucket of regular old hot water,” Ashley said.
It may be low on your to-do list for spring cleaning, but it is very important to clean the dishwasher (and other appliances such as washing machines) regularly. It will help your electrical appliances to maintain good working condition and even extend their service life.
There are several commercially available cleaning products that claim to clean the internal parts of the dishwasher and make it look like new. Running one of them through the dishwasher is a good way to wash away accumulated grease and limescale, but unless you treat ten years of dirt at once, it’s best to use plain old white vinegar.
Regular cleaning of your appliances will help keep them in good working condition and can even extend their service life
Ashley said: “Put the vinegar in a bowl on the bottom shelf so it doesn’t fall out immediately, and then run a hot, empty cycle to make your dishwasher shine.”
“Some dishwasher manufacturers, such as Miele, recommend against using vinegar in their appliances,” Ashley said. “Over time, its acidity may damage the sensitive internal structure, and a proprietary product designed for its machine is recommended. Therefore, please check your manual first.”
Wet wipes are undoubtedly very convenient for all kinds of cleaning tasks, from wiping the mess on the floor to cleaning the toilet, to wiping it yourself, uh, yourself, but some of the products claim on the packaging that they are washable, which is a problem .
Although you might think that this means you can flush them down the toilet and then they will disintegrate like toilet paper, but this is not the case.
In fact, these “flushable” wipes have caused serious damage to the sewer system and increased the risk of pipe blockage and overflow into local creeks and rivers. In addition, some studies have found that they contain microplastics, which will eventually enter our waterways.
“Flushable” wipes cause severe damage to the sewer system and increase the risk of pipe blockage and overflow into local creeks and rivers
The situation was so bad that the ACCC sued Kimberly-Clark, one of the manufacturers of dispersible wipes, in federal court. Unfortunately, the case was dismissed because it was impossible to prove that the blockage was caused by Kimberly-Clark products alone.
Nevertheless, water service providers (and many plumbers) advise against flushing these products into your toilet. If you must use them, or other types of surface wipes or baby wipes, you need to put them in the trash.
Even better, skip them altogether and use reusable cleaning wipes or cloths, which are cheaper per use and better for the environment.
Robot vacuum cleaners cannot generate as much suction power as ordinary vacuum cleaners, and cannot penetrate deep into the carpet or suck up as much pet hair as possible.
We know that there are many fans of robot vacuum cleaners, but please listen to us: If you think that robot vacuum cleaners will be the answer to all your cleaning dreams, please don’t spend money on robot vacuum cleaners.
Yes, they will do the dirty work (ie vacuuming) for you-no wonder they are all the rage! However, although their average cost is higher than bucket or stick vacuum cleaners, our extensive expert tests have found that they are generally not able to clean carpets.
Their smaller motors cannot generate as much suction power as ordinary vacuum cleaners, and cannot penetrate deep into the carpet or suck up as much pet hair as possible.
Although they performed well on hard floors, in our tests, some robot vacuum cleaners scored less than 10% on carpet cleaning, and hardly picked up anything!
In addition, they often get stuck under furniture, on door sills, or on thick carpets, or trip over things such as debris, mobile phone chargers, and toys, which means that you must effectively clean the floor before letting the robot loose. First of all (though, some owners admit that this is a real motivation to throw away the fragments of their lives!).
“CHOICE has been testing robot vacuum cleaners for many years, and their overall cleaning performance must have been greatly improved,” said Kim Gilmour, an expert at CHOICE.
“At the same time, many are expensive, and our tests show that they still have many problems and limitations. Therefore, it is important to conduct research to determine whether they are suitable for your household and cleaning needs.”
Costing up to $9 per liter, fabric softener may not be the cheapest item on your shopping list. Why not put this money in your own pocket instead of spending it on products that our experts think you don’t really need?
Not only are fabric softeners expensive and harmful to the environment (due to the variety of silicones and petrochemicals they release into our waterways), but they also make your clothes dirty than they started because they will coat you Wear the chemicals to be used against your skin.
Fabric softeners reduce the water absorption of fabrics, which is really bad news for towels and cloth diapers
“They also reduce the water absorption of the fabric, which is really bad news for towels and cloth diapers,” said Ashley, our laundry expert.
“What’s worse is that they reduce the flame retardant effect of clothes, so even though they have pictures of cute babies on their bottles, they are definitely a no-no for children’s pajamas.
“Fabric softeners can also cause dirt to accumulate in the washing machine, which may damage it,” he said.
Instead, try adding half a cup of vinegar to your fabric softener dispenser (check your washing machine manual before doing so, in case your manufacturer advises against this).
We at CHOICE recognize the Gadigal people, who are the traditional guardians of the land where we work, and we pay our respect to the indigenous people of this country. CHOICE supports the Uluru statement from the hearts of the indigenous people.
Post time: Aug-30-2021