Stop Paying for These Overrated Cleaning Supplies

Do you find it difficult to separate the good from the bad when it comes to cleaning products? It can be hard to cut through all the marketing hype and find the products that cut through the grime.

To make it easier, we’ve put together a list of the top overrated and underrated cleaning supplies on the market, to help you get to the good stuff. You’ll also find out about the bonus “rightly rated” product at the end. This is one product that is worth the hype. Can you guess what it is?

Overrated Cleaning Products You Should Stop Buying

1. Spray cleaners

Have you ever felt overwhelmed when walking down the cleaning aisle in the supermarket? You’re not alone. The good news is that you don’t actually need a different cleaning spray for your kitchen, shower, toilet, windows, and everything else.

In fact, for most cleaning jobs, a cheap, natural home-made cleaning spray will work perfectly. And the added benefit is that it won’t fill your home with unnecessary chemicals. And if you have a harder cleaning job to tackle, say, cleaning the oven, there are still easy alternatives made from cheap and natural ingredients.

2. Mould cleaning sprays

Did you know that most mould cleaning products you buy don’t actually kill mould? They instead just ‘bleach’ the colour out of the mould, making it invisible. This means that in a few months the mould will be back with a vengeance, and you’ll be back at the supermarket, buying another mould remover.

Instead, here’s our guide to dealing with mould.

4 Underrated Cleaning Products You Should Have at Home

1. Fringe mop

This bright orange bad boy can tackle large floor areas with ease. It’s got a swivel head and a long handle for easy reach. It glides across the floor collecting dust and dirt. It’s basically the racing car of the broom world. What more could you ask for?

2. Feather duster

Fluffy dusters are not just the domain of household maids from the Victorian era. You maybe even have a duster somewhere, but do you actually use it? Like the fringe mop, dusters are great at dealing maximum damage to dirt, with minimum time and effort.

3. Pipe cleaners

Recently, there’s been a push to get rid of disposable plastic straws and use metal or bamboo instead. I bought a metal straw, but the real winner is the little pipe cleaner that comes with it!

In the last week, I’ve used the tiny brush to clean the following: travel mug lids, the coffee machine milk frother, the little steam vents on Tupperware containers, and the blades on my zucchini spiralizer.

If you’re like me and you have a bunch of ultra-specific kitchen appliances that are fiddly to clean, having a little brush to get into the nooks is a must.

4. Microfibre cloths

Microfiber cloths are all the rage, and for good reason.

Here's how they work: Fibres of polyester and nylon are fused together and then split apart, creating microfibers. These fibres are so fine that they are much better at cleaning up grease and grime than your average cleaning cloth, and they are even capable of removing bacteria and microbes.

This microtechnology makes them your home cleaning MVPs, for everything from washing windows to washing dishes. And they come in several different colours, making it easy to have a different colour for your bathroom and your kitchen.