There are so, so many cleaning tools and products on the market! Some of these cleaning products work great, others hardly work at all, and the vast majority of them fall somewhere in the middle of working decently, but not great. Add to all this the all-natural vs. not all-natural discussion and it is enough to overwhelm anyone. What are the best cleaning tools and products? I’m glad you asked! In this post I am sharing some of my favorite cleaning tools and products that have made my life (and my job) much easier!
While I certainly have not tested all of the products that the world has to offer, I have come across a few products that I have absolutely fallen in love with. Some of these products are all natural, others are not. The products that are not all natural I love because they work the best for a specific niche and until I find a comparable all-natural product then I am still sticking with what I know to work best. Here are a few of my top favorite products!
Bar Keepers Friend
Bar Keepers has a few different product variations. My favorite is their original powder. This stuff is the best!! Here in Western PA I see a lot of hard water—a lot! And consequently there are lots of surfaces from which I need to remove the hard-water buildup. And that is where Bar Keepers Friend gets even better! You can use Bar Keepers Friend on way more surfaces than you can Ajax or Comet. Bar Keepers is a gentler alternative. If you have a toilet that is brown from your hard water—give this stuff a try. It is also great for copper sinks, stainless steel sink, and getting soap buildup off of fiberglass bathtubs. This is not an all-natural product but man, does this stuff work!! This is definitely one of my favorite cleaning products!
That Pink Stuff
This is an all-natural product and a hard working one too! One of my clients had white calcium buildup on their shower walls. I tried everything— nothing seemed to work. I called the manufacturer to see what they recommended and had already tried everything they suggested. Then I thought of trying this product and it worked! This is a great all-natural alternative to Comet, Ajax, and Bar Keepers Friend. While it does not compete with Bar Keepers on hard-water buildup, it works on a few tough to clean areas (like the shower walls) where other cleansers did not!
The Window Cloth by Norwex
There has been an increase of natural cleaning products into the marketplace over the past few years; while I have by no means sampled all of these products I have found myself largely unimpressed with these products. Except for the Norwex Window Cloth. This is a great cloth that you use on a wet window (of course Norwex encourages you to use their microfiber Enviro Cloth to first wipe down the window, but I have had success simply setting part of my window cloth and then drying the window with a clean section). This cloth leaves a streak free finish without using any chemicals! This is a great natural option for routine maintenance of your windows. This is a great cleaning tool for your cleaning arsenal!
Get your Norwex Window Cloth here
Thieves
This is an all-natural, all-purpose cleaner easily made the cut as one of my top favorite cleaning products! Thieves is a great cleanser for many different surfaces. I find that it works great and smells even better!
Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds Cleaner
This is another all-natural, all-purpose cleaner with a light pine scent. This is my favorite go-to cleaning product to mix up a solution to use for cleaning floors—including laminate and luxury vinyl. It doesn’t streak and doesn’t build up on the surface of the floor.
Shark Duo Clean Vacuums
I couldn’t make a list of my favorite cleaning tools and products and not mention my favorite vacuum! I am a huge fan of Shark vacuums. I have had my fair share and these are my tried and true favorite! In particular, my favorite is the Shark Duo Clean. This vacuum has two rollers instead of just one. There is a soft roller and a larger brush roller. This combo erases dust and tiny particles (think cat litter, spilled sugar, and sand) from the floor while the larger brush roller picks up any large debris. The main thing that puts this vacuum over the top for me is that it is very user friendly, coming apart in several different ways so that you can take the canister off and use the heal of the vacuum to get under furniture, or take the canister off and disconnect the head to sweep areas like steps or high corners.
Microfiber towels
As I mentioned in my other post Microfiber, Microfiber towels are one of my favorite cleaning products! There is just no way that a regular towel is able to gather the amount of dust that these microfiber towels can. If you are someone who feels like you dust and as soon as you turn around the surface is dusty again, you probably need some quality microfiber towels in your life!
Check out high quality microfiber cloths here!
I hope you find this information useful. If you have any other cleaning questions or topics you’d like me to discuss just shoot me an email at: alainascleaningservice@gmail.com and I will do my best to get back to you!
Disclaimer: All of these cleaning tips have come from my personal experience and that of the clients whom I serve. While the information here should be applicable and safe in most circumstances, if you have any doubts be sure to check with the manufacturer for the product which you are cleaning and always test a cleaning product or procedure in an inconspicuous area first!