Professional cleaners have named five popular cleaning products that are not worth buying, according to Michael Silva-Nash, president of Molly Maid, the residential cleaning company owned by Neighborly. His comments were reported by Southern Living.
Silva-Nash said there is always a new, shiny product promising to work wonders, and while some of them deliver, others disappoint. He said the truth is that most tried-and-tested cleaning methods remain reliable, and many new products do little more than come with a flashy label.
He said there are exceptions, pointing to a small number of products that have introduced genuine innovations making cleaning easier. He named robot vacuum cleaners and robot mops as devices that work and save time, but said many of the elaborate cleaning gadgets and electronic scrubbers on the market do not hold up against long-established methods.
Molly Maid is a residential cleaning franchise that operates across North America and other markets and is part of Neighborly, a franchisor of home service brands. Southern Living is a US lifestyle magazine covering home, food and gardening.
Disinfecting wipes
Silva-Nash said many people misuse disinfecting wipes. He explained that a surface needs to stay wet for several minutes for disinfection to work properly, something that is difficult to achieve unless a wipe is fully saturated or several wipes are used to keep the surface wet.
He said soap and water are far more effective at killing bacteria, and recommended a reusable product rather than a disposable wipe for anyone who needs a stronger disinfecting solution.
Dust mops
He also warned against disposable dust mops, the kind marketed as magnets for the dust that gathers on bookshelves, countertops, windowsills and other surfaces around the home. Silva-Nash said they can be wasteful, expensive and largely ineffective.
He recommended stocking up on microfiber cleaning cloths instead, which he said are what professionals choose. He said there may be a time and place for other dusting tools, but in 99% of cases the right cloth will do a far better job.
Floor shine products
Silva-Nash cautioned against floor cleaners that promise extra shine or gloss, saying these are not really cleaning products at all but a finishing wax that can stop a floor from ever becoming properly clean.
He said that if a floor is not cleaned properly before the wax goes on, it will trap a new layer of dirt, grime and hair with every use, leaving another layer beneath each coat of wax. Removing that buildup, he added, would then require stripping the floor's coating entirely.
To avoid that outcome, Silva-Nash recommended using a proper floor cleaner instead of a wax. He said a floor that does not naturally shine most likely does not need shine, and if a floor has lost its shine, homeowners should hire a professional company to apply it and then follow their maintenance instructions.
Stainless steel cleaners
Like floor waxes, so-called stainless steel cleaners are not really cleaning products either, which Silva-Nash said is why professional cleaners rarely use them as a first step.
He said anyone using a stainless steel product should first thoroughly clean the surface so it is completely free of food residue and grime, then apply a shine product sparingly, since far less is usually needed than people expect. He advised spreading out the polish already applied rather than spraying more onto the front of a refrigerator.
Ammonia glass cleaner
Silva-Nash named ammonia-based window cleaner as a potentially dangerous product to keep in a cleaning kit, because of the risk it could mix and react with other household cleaners or chemicals.
He warned against products that combine other cleaners for the sake of efficiency, saying bleach mixed with ammonia is harmful and toxic, and that because the ammonia is already mixed into the glass cleaner, people might not think twice and end up with a toxic combination.
He suggested choosing an ammonia-free glass cleaner instead, or making sure no one else in the household tries to get creative with an ammonia-based one.
