10 Cleaning Myths and What to Do Instead
Cleaning pros dust off the truth about questionable claims
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If you’ve attempted some house cleaning remedies based on tips from friends and family that produced iffy results, it may be time to stick those cleaning myths in the trash. Consumer Reports asked cleaning-industry experts about the effectiveness of 10 timeworn tips, and here’s what they said.
Cleaning Myths Around the House
Myth: Newspaper works the best for cleaning glass.
Fact: Wet newspaper tears easily, and the ink can transfer to window trim, leaving more to clean. “We use microfiber cloths to clean glass,” says Debra Johnson, director of operations for Merry Maids, a national home-cleaning service. “They’re the best at cleaning without streaking.”
Myth: Vinegar cleans everything.
Fact: “Vinegar is an acid, so it can cut through dirt and can kill bacteria, but only if you use it at full or nearly full strength,” says Derek Christian, owner of Handyman Connection, a home-cleaning, repair, and remodeling service in Ohio. “Most people put a capful in a bucket of water, and that doesn’t do much.” The acids in vinegar can damage natural stone and wood surfaces. (Read about the 9 things you should never clean with vinegar.)
Myth: Feather dusters are more effective than microfiber cloths at dusting.
Fact: Genuine ostrich-feather dusters do attract dust, but they’re expensive and generally not as effective as lambswool or microfiber options. “Most feather dusters just spread the dust around,” says Debrah Vanchura, cleaning pro and owner of Helping Hands in Portland, Ore. They tend to drop feathers, too, leaving you more to pick up. (Check out the best air purifiers of the year.)
Cleaning Myths in the Bathroom
Myth: Coca-Cola can tidy up toilets.
Fact: “Coke is acidic, so it could be effective at removing hard-water stains,” Johnson says. “But even the Coca-Cola website recommends using other options.” Christian prefers traditional cleansers when it comes to cleaning a toilet bowl. “The soda could actually darken stains, and the sugar could encourage bacteria,” he says.
Myth: Bleach cleans everything.
Fact: “Bleach actually doesn’t ‘clean’ anything—because it doesn’t remove soil,” Christian says. “It can lighten stains, making things look cleaner, and it kills bacteria,” so it’s better to use bleach as a sanitizer than as a cleaner.
Cleaning Myths in the Kitchen
Myth: Hand-washing dishes is better than using a dishwasher.
Fact: If your dishwasher is a decade old, this may be true, but today’s models are incredibly efficient—and beat hand-washing by a mile. Our CR-designated Green Choice dishwashers use only 4 or 5 gallons of water per load, making them very water-efficient. And while a couple of dishwashers use about 1 kilowatt-hour of energy per load (or 13 cents’ worth of electricity), most only use three-quarters of that amount.
Myth: Coffee freshens garbage disposers.
Fact: “Coffee grounds may act as a mild abrasive, removing gunk from disposer blades,” Christian says. “But baking soda is a better choice. It’s also mildly abrasive, and because it’s a base, it will counteract all the smelly acids that we put down the drain.”
Cleaning Myths Around Your Laundry
Myth: Hair spray removes ballpoint-pen ink.
Fact: This may have been true years ago, when hair sprays were formulated with more alcohol (which does remove ink) than they are today, but it’s not true anymore. “Today’s hair sprays are full of stiffeners and hardeners that will just make the stain worse,” Christian says. “Just use rubbing alcohol. It’s far less expensive than hairspray and doesn’t include any extra ingredients.”
Editor’s Note: This article is adapted from Consumer Reports’ “How to Clean (Practically) Anything.”