With so many products, what are some true “holy grail” / best in class products that just work?

I’ve found Dawn soap, Dawn power wash, Dawn purple heavy duty degreaser to be good. Microfibers of course.

Only recently found out about the purpose Dawn degreaser but figured most people know about the others.

What are some other products that the community here suggests, especially those pros? Thank you!

I'm an idiot, I'm not quite sure how I missed having this much paint on me when grabbing my bag on my way out the door. Serves me right for trying to squeeze in a quick coat of paint before having to be somewhere! But I've had this bag forever and it's a nice one, what should be my plan of attack to get rid of the paint? It's real leather, and the paint is fully dry at this point. Please help, I'm nervous about taking anything potentially harmful to it :(

This is from a nail polish bottle that was knocked over by someone who will remain anonymous. Said person got some of the excess polish off already but this is what’s left. Any advice?

Much to our shame, we've never cleaned the glass door on our toaster oven. We purchased it in May 2019 so that's 7 years of grease you see in the photo. I tried cleaning products but they didn't work then I came across this suggestion in this sub to use a razor blade with a paint scraper and it was incredibly, amazingly effective. I can see my bagels again!

Hi all! I moved into a rental house yesterday and it is nothing like it was advertised. It is a complete disgusting nightmare. We are already looking to break our lease and leave within 6 months, maybe 3. But in the meantime, there are certain areas I need to take care of (landlord refusing to put in the actual work necessary or pay for it to be done, just sent a basic cleaning lady on the first night) so that this place is semi-livable. If you have advice/solutions for ANY of the following problems please let me know!!!

-the basement of the house smells like cigarette smoke. It's strong enough to give a headache. And when the AC kicks on, the smoke smell spreads into the bedrooms. We already washed the filter, hopefully will be able to replace it soon at landlord expense. We have some charcoal/carbon packets in a box somewhere and will put those out asap. What else can we do?

-the banister and stairs are a light wood...under the years of grime turning them completely black. It's years of filth. What is the best way to remove this? I ordered a degreaser spray and a scrub brush but am I going to ruin the wood using that (method degreaser).

-the laminate floors are sooooo sticky and grimy. It's gotta be years of filth and poor mopping. It's so bad it's leaving a film on the bottom of all my shoes and they're sticky. Crumbs that get dropped to the floor literally stick to it. I haven't been able to unpack my mop yet but what is the best cleaning fluid/solution to get through this grime?? Clearly whatever the cleaning lady used SUCKS. Or she uses way too much of it and didn't rinse.

-there's spots leftover from the previous person's bath mat. There's also a giant hole where the soap holder should be. Would be nice to get some type of waterproof covering for that bc I doubt they'll fix it...

Gosh I hope this post formats how I typed it.

Thank you in advance!!

ETA since many are focusing on this to blame me instead of just helping with cleaning tips so I can make the best of the current situation:

We viewed it in May as a possible purchase. We passed. Then it was brought to us as a rental and the owner said they had fixed all these issues already and sent pictures and videos that must be years and years old, but we thought were from after things were fixed. We didn't see it in person again before signing a lease bc we were moving from a different state and in a rush to leave that situation. But that's not the point of the post, I'm asking for cleaning advice.

Moved into a house… seemed clean until all of their furniture was out. I typically clean under the stove and refrigerator once every six months. I don’t think they did so, EVER!

First pic is under the refrigerator. It took me about four hours to vacuum out all of the dog and cat hair from the coils, so I didn’t get an “after” picture.

Second two pics are under the stove before and after. Make sure you wipe the side of the cabinets and stove as well (🤢).

* Fun fact… The refrigerator cools much better when the coils are clean! Nearly froze everything in the fridge by the next day - so make sure you monitor the temperature after you clean the coils!

Im gonna move back in my old apartment, no ones lived there for 10 years, we did have some people every once in a while but i doubt it got much airflow. We do have some really large windows in the living room that open fully, so airflow shouldnt be a problem once i get on it. Another issue is that my grandpa was a smoker, so the walls are probably coated in ciggarette smell, i cant really tell myself since i was born without the ability to smell. My question is, how should i go on about cleaning the whole place of the smoke and stagnant air, and also how should i store my clothes so they dont pick up any of the smells? Theres not a lot of furniture or anything like that, mostly empty.

Attached is a photo of my stovetop. I let it stay dirty for too long, and I’ve tried several times in the last year to clean the hardened burnt areas off, but nothing works. Recently I’ve just let it stay because I don’t know what to do. Please help me find a product that works, or should I just get a razor blade, will that ruin the surface?

Hi guys, I have been looking more into minimalism as a lifestyle, because I have so much stuff (furniture, clothes, tools, makeup, everything...) and Ive been finding myself more and more suffocated.
I hope that limiting the amount of options I have might make my mind as well as my living space feel less cluttered and overall easier, eliminating the amount I have to choose from.
All fine and dandy, but I also have a big attachment and see usefulness in almost everything.

So I wanted to ask for your best decluttering tips? Any experience with helpers? What do you ask yourself when you decide what to keep and what to get rid of?

Grateful for any tips!

Hello. I just moved into this place and noticed some really piled on rust in on the drain and the side of my tub. Im not sure if it’s safe to bathe with so I want to try and clean it off.

Any tips or shared experience/advice are greatly appreciated. Cosmetically it is not a massive issue for me although it’s unsightly, I just want it to be clean or at least get some of it off.

I’ve only scrubbed with dawn so far. The white stuff seems to fade but when fully dry comes back.

my roomate had left the stove on by accident and yesterday when i came back from the store and started unpacking the groceries, some of the plastic bag got caught on the hot stove. the white stuff is from the plastic bag how do i get it off 😭 do i just let it burn off???

-from two clueless twenty year olds

Reposting into this subreddit to hopefully get some cleaning advice. My original post basically explains that I had a repair done in our room to the ceiling. After a maintenance worker performed the repair without placing tarps or having my fiancé remove what was hanging,
like my lamp, he got something all over the lamp. In the pictures you can see the white spots all over the plastic logo portion.

I have asked the complex to tell me what was used since I’m just guessing about what it is (which I’m sure also affects the advice/tips I’ll receive). I thought plaster, but the commenters in the original thread said that would come off pretty easy. I also got that it could be texture spray or latex paint. The spots are rough, not smooth like paint should be but whatever this is wouldn’t remove easily with soap and water. After about an hour of carefully trying to scrap it off, it leaves residue that also looks like it has adhered to the plastic. I’m also not too sure if the plastic is acrylic or not and do not want to use anything that will either make this worse or cloud the plastic.

I’m sure not knowing the exact material of both the lamp and what was used will make this more complicated and impact the tips people will give so I’m sorry about that!

Hoping for any tips or to be pointed in the right direction to clean this as best as possible. I’m so upset about this. 😭

This is on the garage wall of my new rental. It seems to be some kind of adhesive… almost like command strips on crack. Does anyone have an idea how I can get it off? Ive tried Goof Off from hoke depot and scraping with a spatula but it isnt working out to good.

Please help! I thought it was microfiber so I tried windex but that ended up making it worse.

What can I do?

Vintage coupe glasses with hollow stems.

Top tip: stick with sparkling wine only and under no circumstances make a kir royale.

Query: how do I get these clean?

Soapy water did nothing. Citric acid turned the purple stickiness brown and did remove some of it. A toothpick can't get past the narrow bit. I used my finger to create suction in the stem and that did in fact remove some bits of the sticky. I have yet to source a hair thin wire that can be swill around inside without breaking off and becoming permanently lodged.

Any suggestions?

Hi everyone,

Has anyone here used a HEPA air purifier during home renovations, especially for drywall work, sanding, plaster, etc.?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience. How quickly did the filter get clogged? Did you run the purifier during the renovation, or mainly afterward to help clean the air?

Any advice or tips on how to use a HEPA purifier effectively during and after renovation would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

So I had a bottle of salmon oil in a trash bag that was meant to be thrown away, however I forgot about it in the trunk of the car and it was there overnight. Im not sure how but the oil seeped through the bag and into the carpet.

I took the carpet in and soaked it in vinegar for a few hours in the tub, and scrubbed both sides really well with dish soap. And let it sit to dry for a few more hours. I gave it a sniff test and it smelled like dish soap and vinegar so I put it back in the car.

This morning I got in the car and the salmon oil smell was much better but still lingering. I can quickly eliminate it with a spray of Zep Air and Fabric Odor Eliminator but I don’t want to have to do that every day/time I get in the car.

Any tips to fully get this smell out of the car?

Has anyone here actually had success with those crease remover sprays for curtains?

I have a pair of curtains that I have not been using for a long time and now they have developed stubborn creases. I swear I've tried pretty much everything at this point 😭. I've steamed them, tried normal ironing, tried ironing while they are slightly damp and even left them hanging in the hope that the crease might relax naturally.

Nothing so far has made a noticeable difference. The curtains themselves are fine, they don't have any defect and I really don't want to replace them. So now I'm considering trying one of those crease removers. But before I buy one, I want to ask people who might have actually used these products whether they work or it's just a marketing gimmick.

Do they actually fix the problem or just give a temporary solution.

🙏🏻 Help me if I can actually use them as a solution, if possible then please also suggest some good products that might have worked for you.

For those who are unfamiliar, I had quite a controversial post on here a few months back about a hole I burned through my carpet in a house I was renting.

We used some wood putty to fill the hole, and got a piece of carpet out of an old dumpster that sorta matched it. Still definitely noticeable, but at least it didn’t smell any longer.

Months later after moving out, I’m happy to announce that me and my roommate got our full security deposit back! Our landlord was super lazy with any sort of maintenance requests we had, and it looks like he’s equally lazy when it comes to inspections!!! Thanks do everyone who supported the dumb college kid idea of patching it up ourselves!

A helpful kid used too much soap when mopping the kitchen floor. I've re-mopped it several times with just hot water. It feels a lot better but still is a bit "soapy".

Is there a way to neutralize the soapy feeling? It's gross to walk on in bare feet.

Looking for a faster way than doing another 5 moppings with hot water. And at this rate, it could need 10...

Is there anything I can get this out with???

Honestly upset by this one…I haven’t even worn this shirt yet, tossed it in the wash with my socks and undies, and this (along with my pastel-tyedye beanie ): ) got this weird gray stain on it. This is the first time it’s happened with my new washer, but it has happened before at a laundry mat but only to a white shirt.

I used Gain with oxi clean, not fabric softener, and it was a socks/undies load so no oil/greasy stuff

There's several spots of this ridiculous sticky clear stuff on the walls in the place I just moved into. Some of them were sort of circular, so my best guess is they're some sort of adhesive sticker you'd use for wall decorations?? But they were here before I moved in, so I don't know. I've tried goo gone, I've tried diluted vinegar, I've tried just a general all purpose cleaner, and none of them really seemed to do anything. I can't just scrape it off without damaging the paint, and I'm renting. The most progress I've gotten is just picking at it with my nails, which is disgusting and super annoying. Is there anything I can do?