We only recommend products we love and that we think you will, too. We may receive a portion of sales from products purchased from this article, which was written by our Commerce team.
Nobody likes to scrub their toilet. No one wants to fish hair out of a clogged drain. But sometimes that’s life, and we’re here to help. If your biggest pet peeve is a dirty home (but you seriously don’t have enough time/energy to get it clean), we’ve rounded up 21 of the best, most ingenious cleaning products that will make everyday cleaning tasks, like scrubbing crayon marks off a wall or emptying the litter box, a little less awful. Scroll on for our favorite cleaning products that we can’t live without. All of them were invented to make your life easier – because life is hard enough! – from catching hair before it goes down the drain to capturing disgusting diaper pail smells. Who knows? You may even start to enjoy cleaning.
Raving review: “I live in an apartment with truly terrible maintenance. The washer had been left closed for an extended period of time, and even though it’s not a front loader, it smelled utterly vile. The liquid detergent had both molded and then dried out to form a crust. Ewwwwww!!! I debated whether it was worth the effort of fighting with management further and decided I’d deal with it myself. After my home remedy tricks, it was better, but still not usable. Finally, Affresh fixed the mess. I got the tablets and the wipes and between the two, succeeded in getting rid of the gross. So if you’ve got a college boy level of disgusting going on in your washer, this will do the trick.”
Raving review: “Amazing! So, I bought these after it was recommended to get rid of dead animal smell. Turns out charcoal absorbs the odor and they did. Placed one on the floor and out of sight in the living room, dining room, and kitchen and within a couple of hours the smell was gone. They work wonders and the best part is you can reactivate them just by putting them in the sun and the price is great. I’m thinking of buying a couple more for my car and gym bag.”
Raving review: “This stuff is GOLD! I live in Arizona and our water is HARD. As in, you can use a fork to eat it, kinda hard. Always leaves scale and crud on my fixtures and shower doors. Anyhow, my 6 month old dishwasher wasn’t working as well as it did (it’s practically new?) and I was out of ideas how to get my dishes really really clean without investing in a soft water system for my home. (HELLO EXPENSIVE) Note that I am a clean freak and don’t just pile dirty dishes in my washer expecting some imaginary little green men to eat the crud off the plates while it’s running. Everything is scraped and given a rinse before it goes into the washer. I have tried vinegar rinses, vinegar with baking soda rinses, cleaning the trap, all things I thought would work to no avail. This stuff is like magic. I have this on my Subscribe and Save option as well and it arrives every month. One cycle in the dishwasher and it runs like it did when I first got it. Great product and HIGHLY recommended. If they ever discontinue making this, it will be a sad sad day in my home. I have recommended this product to all my family and friends and they absolutely love it too. For the price it is totally worth it!”
Raving review: “Works so well I might not eat for days. When I got the Vastar snake drain cleaner I went straight to work. No instructions needed, the concept is pretty simple: you grasp the tool with the end that’s a handle, push the pointy end down the drain, and the jagged part catches on the nest of hair that’s swirled its way around your plumbing. I didn’t even get the thing three inches down before it was getting stuck on clumps of hair and built up gunk. I gagged my way through getting all nausea-inducing blockage lurking in my bathtub’s drain pipe. Very happy with this product.”
Raving review: “This Cleanview Swivel Rewind Pet Upright Bagless Vacuum Cleaner from Bissell is spectacular in homes with pets and the price can’t be beat. There are so many things I love about this vacuum that it’s hard to know where to start. I have 6 cats and 3 dogs and a lot of messy humans in my home. I have to vacuum daily just to keep all the humans from getting hairballs so I was excited to try this one. This Bissell is still lightweight but it has a very wide brush roller so it takes less time to vacuum. The brush roller is fantastic for picking up pet hair. Seriously fantastic. But not just pet hair it does an excellent job of picking up fine dust and dirt.”
Raving review: “Purchased this Descaler as our several year old Keurig Single cup coffee brewer no longer brewed a full cup of coffee. Water flow was very slow and coffee cup only 1/2 filled. Following the simple directions on the bottle — and using just 1/2 a bottle of Descaler, the Keurig machine was restored to full performance. It also brewed a hotter cup of coffee! Very good product as far as I am concerned.”
Raving review: “Best mop ever!!! I replaced my fancy steam mop that died with this mop and could not be happier. It has no cords, it has no heating up time, it covers more area, it cleans better, it has rubber pieces right where I need them to lean it up against the wall or counter without it falling over. Quality product — it doesn’t feel cheaply made.”
Raving review: “There’s nothing worse than coming home after a long day of work, only to be greeted by a horrible smell of something rotten. Those days are long gone now, well at least until they come back and they’re tamed with a Plink ball. I ordered these on Amazon after I saw the great reviews and they work exactly as advertised. The secret is to run the garbage disposal with a little bit of water at first, drop the ball in and turn off the water. This will allow the liquid to spread around the pipes and blades. I found that barely running any water and letting the garbage disposal go for around 30 seconds with the Plink Disposal cleaner really did the trick.”
Raving review: “During our stay-at-home period we are looking for small projects around the house. We live in the hard water capital of the world with obvious rimming of our toilet bowl. Have ignored this for a very long time, but the pumice stone cleaner took care of it in minutes! The extra long handle makes the product very easy to use! Hats off to Impresa! It surpassed my expectations!”
Raving review: “When an electric toothbrush that had a sanitizer died I knew I wouldn’t want to use my new brush without sanitizing it between uses. I extensively searched and researched until I found this product. I liked the price, portability, and ease of use. My old sanitizer was bulky and a pain to take when I travel. This one is very compact and chargeable by USB and so easy to use.”
Raving review: “I have three cats, and one of them isn’t very good about burying their business. Needless to say the litter box smells real bad sometimes. I’ve been using this product for about a week, and it works great. I usually re-apply every other time I empty the litter box. I don’t have to put that much, just a couple shakes and I’m good to go.”
Raving review: “As you would expect with baking soda, these work great for helping to absorb some of the diaper odors in our diaper pail. While it doesn’t mask ALL of it, it does help. Be sure to change every month or so. We forgot to change ours for several months and were suddenly overwhelmed by a terrible diaper smell. One quick order of these and the smell is still there but not nearly as terrible.”
Raving review: “I will never use another product again. Thank you, Asutra! You’ve outdone yourself! I recently did a lab for my BIO 111 (Microbes in Modern Society) class. It entailed that I take 15 samples from my environment and swab them onto agar plates. One of the samples I chose was my yoga mat. I have been using this cleaner exclusively and wanted to see how well it really worked. Even though I chose to take the sample after a workout, from a ‘dirty’ mat, the results showed that Asutra works long after the initial cleaning. After 3 days, the petri dish showed little to no change. Nothing grew in it. This yoga mat cleaner WORKS!”
Raving review: “I’ve had it in my possession for like two hours and I’ve cleaned everything. The couch, the blinds, the cat tree pad, the chair, I’m obsessed. I feel like this thing should win an award for being so awesome. I feel like it should be in raffle baskets and giveaways and silent auctions for every event that highlights ‘things cat people need.’”
Raving review: “I was a bit skeptical but these gloves really are great. They grab the dust and dirt and seem to hang onto it, so you’re not just redistributing the dust into the air or onto other objects. You can pick up objects, wipe them down and replace. Then just toss the gloves in the washing machine. Same as a lot of folks I imagine, I love a clean house but hate cleaning the house. These gloves help by making the process of dusting more effective and more efficient at the same time. I’ll probably grab another pair or two eventually.”
Raving review: “The iRobot 675 has changed my life. I’m a mom to 4 young children living in a 1880 square foot house on a large wooded lot. My kids are outside A LOT and track in all kinds of dirt, mud, leaves, grass, etc. My husband, while I love him, is also kind of a mess and has a bad habit of not wiping his shoes and bringing in a ton of sawdust from his projects. On top of all of that, add in the fact that children under 7 really don’t know how to eat properly and drop about seven thousand crumbs per meal per child. Our floors, wood, tile, and carpet, have been a disaster for years.Enter the Roomba. I have been eyeing this little piece of wizardry for years and wondering if this could be the tool that could change my life. I swept and vacuumed (with a Dyson DC33) multiple times a day. I was constantly telling guests, ‘Hey sorry about the floor but I think we’re just gross and I can never get on top of it.’ Well, after finally biting the bullet I regret that I didn’t buy a Roomba years ago. I don’t have to apologize to guests and I can finally walk barefoot in my house without having 100 tiny crumbs attaching to the bottom of my feet. I love this thing more than I have ever loved any appliance or cleaning tool I have ever owned.”
Raving review: “I don’t know why I did not order this sooner! This is a huge help with my high ceilings in my living room/kitchen area. Super easy to use, long enough to reach everything and is just as easy to hand wash.”
Raving review: “I was skeptical about this little rubber strainer, but I needed something to save my drains from the piles of hair that fall out of my head. I tried others and they all failed miserably. This thing is amazing! It fit into my standard drain perfectly, and I don’t think a single hair slipped by it. It was pretty gross to see how much hair I lost in just one shower, but it was comforting to know it wasn’t clogging my drain.”
Raving review: “In general I can’t stand sponges. They’re icky, they smell funny, and somehow they’re always damp. So when I saw these sponges could go in the washing machine and dryer I was excited but skeptical. But they really do deliver! When they’re dirty I pop them in the washing machine with a load of towels and don’t look back. They come out of the dryer smelling fresh and clean. They are very reasonably priced and I will absolutely buy them again in the future!”
Raving review: “This product is a life saver! We bought a new house that has white Caesarstone countertops and this is the only thing I’ve found that really tackles stains. So grateful for Bar Keeper’s Friend!”
Raving review: “This is a great scrubber! Works great and does not fall apart. I have had it for two months, used daily and still looks new.”
Raving review: “I live in an apartment with truly terrible maintenance. The washer had been left closed for an extended period of time, and even though it’s not a front loader, it smelled utterly vile. The liquid detergent had both molded and then dried out to form a crust. Ewwwwww!!! I debated whether it was worth the effort of fighting with management further and decided I’d deal with it myself. After my home remedy tricks, it was better, but still not usable. Finally, Affresh fixed the mess. I got the tablets and the wipes and between the two, succeeded in getting rid of the gross. So if you’ve got a college boy level of disgusting going on in your washer, this will do the trick.”
Raving review: “Amazing! So, I bought these after it was recommended to get rid of dead animal smell. Turns out charcoal absorbs the odor and they did. Placed one on the floor and out of sight in the living room, dining room, and kitchen and within a couple of hours the smell was gone. They work wonders and the best part is you can reactivate them just by putting them in the sun and the price is great. I’m thinking of buying a couple more for my car and gym bag.”
Raving review: “This stuff is GOLD! I live in Arizona and our water is HARD. As in, you can use a fork to eat it, kinda hard. Always leaves scale and crud on my fixtures and shower doors. Anyhow, my 6 month old dishwasher wasn’t working as well as it did (it’s practically new?) and I was out of ideas how to get my dishes really really clean without investing in a soft water system for my home. (HELLO EXPENSIVE) Note that I am a clean freak and don’t just pile dirty dishes in my washer expecting some imaginary little green men to eat the crud off the plates while it’s running. Everything is scraped and given a rinse before it goes into the washer. I have tried vinegar rinses, vinegar with baking soda rinses, cleaning the trap, all things I thought would work to no avail. This stuff is like magic. I have this on my Subscribe and Save option as well and it arrives every month. One cycle in the dishwasher and it runs like it did when I first got it. Great product and HIGHLY recommended. If they ever discontinue making this, it will be a sad sad day in my home. I have recommended this product to all my family and friends and they absolutely love it too. For the price it is totally worth it!”
Raving review: “Works so well I might not eat for days. When I got the Vastar snake drain cleaner I went straight to work. No instructions needed, the concept is pretty simple: you grasp the tool with the end that’s a handle, push the pointy end down the drain, and the jagged part catches on the nest of hair that’s swirled its way around your plumbing. I didn’t even get the thing three inches down before it was getting stuck on clumps of hair and built up gunk. I gagged my way through getting all nausea-inducing blockage lurking in my bathtub’s drain pipe. Very happy with this product.”
Raving review: “Purchased this Descaler as our several year old Keurig Single cup coffee brewer no longer brewed a full cup of coffee. Water flow was very slow and coffee cup only 1/2 filled. Following the simple directions on the bottle — and using just 1/2 a bottle of Descaler, the Keurig machine was restored to full performance. It also brewed a hotter cup of coffee! Very good product as far as I am concerned.”
Raving review: “Best mop ever!!! I replaced my fancy steam mop that died with this mop and could not be happier. It has no cords, it has no heating up time, it covers more area, it cleans better, it has rubber pieces right where I need them to lean it up against the wall or counter without it falling over. Quality product — it doesn’t feel cheaply made.”
Raving review: “There’s nothing worse than coming home after a long day of work, only to be greeted by a horrible smell of something rotten. Those days are long gone now, well at least until they come back and they’re tamed with a Plink ball. I ordered these on Amazon after I saw the great reviews and they work exactly as advertised. The secret is to run the garbage disposal with a little bit of water at first, drop the ball in and turn off the water. This will allow the liquid to spread around the pipes and blades. I found that barely running any water and letting the garbage disposal go for around 30 seconds with the Plink Disposal cleaner really did the trick.”
Raving review: “During our stay-at-home period we are looking for small projects around the house. We live in the hard water capital of the world with obvious rimming of our toilet bowl. Have ignored this for a very long time, but the pumice stone cleaner took care of it in minutes! The extra long handle makes the product very easy to use! Hats off to Impresa! It surpassed my expectations!”
Raving review: “When an electric toothbrush that had a sanitizer died I knew I wouldn’t want to use my new brush without sanitizing it between uses. I extensively searched and researched until I found this product. I liked the price, portability, and ease of use. My old sanitizer was bulky and a pain to take when I travel. This one is very compact and chargeable by USB and so easy to use.”
Raving review: “I have three cats, and one of them isn’t very good about burying their business. Needless to say the litter box smells real bad sometimes. I’ve been using this product for about a week, and it works great. I usually re-apply every other time I empty the litter box. I don’t have to put that much, just a couple shakes and I’m good to go.”
Raving review: “As you would expect with baking soda, these work great for helping to absorb some of the diaper odors in our diaper pail. While it doesn’t mask ALL of it, it does help. Be sure to change every month or so. We forgot to change ours for several months and were suddenly overwhelmed by a terrible diaper smell. One quick order of these and the smell is still there but not nearly as terrible.”
This article was originally published on 2.19.2021