Favorite Cleaning Supplies

One of my New Years resolutions is to keep more on top of my household, since a domestic diva I am not. Although, I do have a handful of very favorite tricks/products:

1. If you brake some glass, use a piece of bread to grab up all the little shards.

2. Use a giant stainless bowl to hold all the stuff you want to discard during the prep and cooking process, a la Rachel Ray. Amazingly efficient.

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3. Buy your spices in bulk from ethic stores. MUCH cheaper and much stronger tasting (at least they seem so to me). Then store your new spices in some pretty vintage milk glass jars.


4. Magic erasers. If I ever chance to meet the person who invented these little miracle sponges, I will kiss them on the spot. Can I get an amen from the other mothers out there?

Here are a few ways to make the little gems last more than one use:

-Cut each Magic Eraser into 4 equal-sized pieces (across the width, see pic). This way, you get 4 times the amount of cleaning out of one Eraser.
- Lightly mist it with water (by misting or using the kitchen sink sprayer), rather than saturating it with water -- which causes it to shrivel up more.

5. Putting a fresh box of baking soda in your fridge and freezer every month does wonders.

6. ForceFlex trash bags. You'll never look back.

7. Gloves from Casablanca. Nice and thick, never leak or drip down inside the glove, and they're hot pink! What more could you ask for in a pair of household gloves?

8. Capri Blue Candles. Ever wonder why Anthropologie smells so dang good? The answer is Volcano No. 6 in Seductive.

9. Grandma's Secret Spot Remover. A few days ago, we had some friends over for dinner. The kids dropped a little of the World's Best Lasagna on my pretty, antique linen tablecloth. Then somehow, days later, I found the still-soiled tablecloth at the very bottom of my laundry basket. The sauce had leaked through the folded layers and was very set in, as you can imagine. At first I thought, 'I should just throw this poor thing away'. And then I remembered that I had just bought another bottle of Grandma's while at Bed, Bath and Beyond (also available at craft stores). Would you believe there is not a single trace of that lasagna left in the tablecloth and it required no soaking or scrubbing?? And it's non-toxic to boot.

10. Other favorites that everyone already knows about:

Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Products
Microfiber cloths for dusting
Mr Clean Anti-Bacterial All-purpose spray (so wonderful)
Clorox Bleach pens
Tide To-Go
Swiffer
Dyson canister upright

What are you favorite household tricks and products?