A Few of My Favorite Things: Cleaning Supplies Edition

These are A Few of My Favorite Things, an on-going, once-a-month series that sheds some light on, well, my favorite items throughout my home. (To read through all posts in the series, click here.)

In this Cleaning Supplies Edition, I'll be looking at five different tools that are necessities in my cleaning routine. Not that I love cleaning, because I don't. But these make the task at hand easier, which means that I can then get on to doing the things that I really enjoy!



1. Mop with washable covers: Okay, truth be told: I do not enjoy mopping. At all. I'm fine wielding a broom and sweeping things into a dustpan. But a mop? Not my cup of tea. That being said, it is still something that has to be done. Given that reality, I like this mop that we got for a wedding present because it doesn't involve hauling a huge bucket of water; we just fill a spray bottle with a water-vinegar mixture. Also, you use washable terry-cloth covers so that you're not pushing dirt atop dirt, which makes the task a bit more bearable!

2. Baby-bottle cleaner: Such a handy tool to have around, especially since we now have to hand-wash everything. It is great for getting into the nooks and crannies of all our water bottles, glasses and skinny-mouth jars. The one shown here is fancier than mine, but I picked mine up at a dollar store and it's worked just fine! 

3. Pail for food scraps: This is a tip that I picked up from a former co-worker: Stash your perishable food scraps in a lined bucket (good way to reuse those produce bags from the grocery store) that you keep in the fridge until it's full and you can toss it in an outdoor trash can. If you're anything like us, our kitchen trash can fills up pretty slowly, and I don't want foodstuffs rotting indoors, getting smelly, or attracting bugs. (Ick.) We use a pail that we had lying around, but this one from Urban Outfitters is way cuter.

4. Copper sponge: There's been a lot of study regarding all of the germs that live on generic sponges, which convinced me to give ours up. But a copper sponge avoids being a breeding ground for bacteria, plus I love that unlike steel wool, it doesn't rust or disintegrate. I've been using mine (Chore Boy brand) for about 6 months (!!), and it does a great job of scrubbing any glass, our bone-china dishware or stainless steel surface with any stuck-on food residue.

5. Bon Ami: I was looking for a good way to clean some of the gunk that had burned on to one of my pans, and came across a recommendation for Bon Ami. The best part about it is that it is safer to use than other cleaners because it doesn't contain any chlorine, perfumes or dyes. I found it at Publix for 89 cents and figured I might as well give it a try. This has now become a staple that I use for all my deep cleaning, whether it's on stained pans, dishes or even my bathroom floor.