1. A wow-worthy stainless steel polishing spray that won't literally leave sparkle emojis on your abused kitchen surfaces, but might come pretty darn close.
Promising review: "I’ve tried many different stainless steel cleaners, and this one is the best that I’ve had. It makes my refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave, and oven shine. Make sure you use a soft cloth, not paper towels, and go with the grain. I’ll be buying more." —Karen
Get it from Amazon for $19.95 (or $18.95 with the Subscribe & Save option).
2. Oh Yuk jetted tub cleaner, because bubble bath season is 365 days a year, IMHO. This will clean your jets in just 15 minutes and is named for exactly what you'll say when you see all the gunk that was hiding in them.
It's from a family-owned, Minnesota-based company!
Promising review: "Oh my gosh! You think your tub is clean and then you see what comes out with this! I followed the directions (fill tub over jets, pour in cleaner, turn on jets). Almost immediately, disgusting residue shot out. And then most came out as the chemical had time to circulate. So glad I got this cleaner instead of sitting in filth, especially because we just bought a new house and I thought, 'Maybe I should try to find out if there is a special cleaner for these tubs.' Glad I did and can know my tub is cleaned out." —Aaron Johnson
Get it from Amazon for $17.84 (or $16.06 with the Subscribe & Save option).
3. The powerful Angry Orange pet odor eliminator necessary if you share your home with a stinky and accident-prone fur monster. In addition to banishing smells leftover from pet messes, this magic stuff can help with the stains, too!
Promising review: "This product is amazing!!!! We have a Rottweiler pup and a Bichon pup and our house was feeling the PAIN! I tried everything and use to tell my wife, 'with all the science and technology in the world we still can’t come up with something that gets rid of the dog mark smell!' This product does everything and more. Just ordered another round. We were about to throw away some furniture due to the smell and now after use we can keep it. Saved me hundreds. Well worth the money." —clayton s tonkin
Get it from Amazon for $15.97 (or $14.37 with the Subscribe & Save option).
4. Or a multi-surface pet stain and odor eliminator that over 71,000 people (and presumably their mess-making furry friends) give 5 stars for banishing nasty stains.
This stuff is from a small, family-run business, and you can use it on floors, clothes, carpets, furniture, and pretty much anything else. Check out BuzzFeed's full write-up on Rocco & Roxie stain remover.
Promising review: "LIQUID GOLD. This is an exceptional product! We are an unofficial rescue home for dogs and cats. The latest dog is an 8-year-old Chihuahua, and she was not house trained because she had a doggy door that allowed her to go outside whenever she needed to. So during the transition period from untrained to at least my being trained to understanding her sign language, we have had our share of accidents. We also had some leftover stains from previous dogs in spite of our efforts with other cleaners. New or old urine, this cleaner is phenomenal. The stains sometimes disappear right in front of you. I have to mark the spot I am cleaning so I know where to go back to in order to apply the clean rag or towel to absorb any residual liquid. Don't know how many products we have tried. This is the very first one that deserved a 5-star review. So I just ordered the gallon bottle and will put it on Subscribe & Save as well. I highly recommend it. Obviously." —Gkayemarie
Get it from Amazon for $19.97 (or $18.97 with the Subscribe & Save option).
5. *OR* Sunny & Honey Carpet Miracle, a cruelty-free formula you can use in most any carpet cleaning machine to battle stains made by humans and pets alike. Your dog isn't the only one who sometimes has accidents, though yours are less the bathroom variety and more the spilling-a-full-glass-of-Merlot variety.
It's from a family-run small business that specializes in cleaning products, especially ones for homes with pets!
Promising review: "Worth every penny. I’ve bought this product so many times now I have it on autoship! Saw the reviews and figured I’d give it a try. My cat likes to pee over the litter box and stained the brand new carpet. I used this in my Bissell and it took all the stain and smell out!!! I’ll never use another cleaner." —Wendy
Get it from Amazon for $19.97 (or Subscribe & Save for $18.97).
6. Affresh washing machine cleaning tablets, which over 7,000 reviewers swear by for keeping their washer in great shape. The best part? You only need to use one about once a month!
Just pop one into your empty machine, run a cycle, and let it do its thing!
Promising review: "I have been using bleach to clean my machine for some time, but decided to give this a try a few months ago. My very first clean with Affresh left me surprised and delighted, for not only did it clean my machine, it eliminated the nasty smell that always transferred to my clothes thanks to a buildup of mold I didn't even know about. Every month now, I toss a tablet into the drum and let it work its magic. Now, my machine is cleaner than ever, and my clothes always smell wonderfully fresh. I highly recommend this to everyone." —Kelli Crawford
Get a box of six tablets from Amazon for $11.95 (or $10.16 with the Subscribe & Save option).
7. A trio of power scrubber brushes you can attach your drill and instantly create a super-powered deep-cleaning device.
These are from a New York-based small business!
Promising review: "These brushes are freaking fantastic. I tried them on a portion of my shower and bathroom floor tiles and grout. I immediately had to do the rest because it made the cleaner sections look dirty. I also tried it on the side of my fridge that is next to my stove top. It did a pretty good job there as well at removing grease and stains. The only downside is that it made me enjoy cleaning!" —Eric T. Ma
Get it from Amazon for $18.95 (available in six colors, each with a different stiffness/purpose).
8. Howard Feed-N-Wax Wood Polish and Conditioner, a beeswax and orange oil formula that's basically like a spa treatment for your wood surfaces. In addition to polishing, it adds a protective layer and helps prevent the wood from drying out or fading, so it's time to cue a rom-com makeover montage for your beat-up cabinet doors.
Check out BuzzFeed's full write-up on this polish!
Promising review: "I read about this in a BuzzFeed article, read the reviews, and looked at the images posted by reviewers. I figured why not. Our house is about 20 years old, and things are starting to just look worn. Add kids and a dog to the house, and you have plenty of scratched-up or water-stained wood. This is magic in a bottle! The wood was trashed, but now it looks brand-new." —ByteMe
Get it from Amazon for $9.98.
9. A handy toilet wand with disposable cleaning pads that'll make cleaning the john so much less gross, you'll actually DO IT for once, dammit. Reusing that toilet brush crusted with old who-knows-what? I'll pass, thanks.
Because I mean actually, you DO know what's on that old brush.
Instead having one toilet brush that you always reuse to clean the crap (sometimes literally) out of your toilet and then store in your bathroom to be used another day (ick), this lets you use dispose of the cleaning pad after each use. Just press the button on the handle, and it'll eject the pad right into the garbage! Plus, each cleaning pad is already loaded with Clorox Cleaner, so it's the only product you'll need. Check out BuzzFeed's full write-up on Clorox toilet wands.
Promising review: "This is the best toilet cleaner EVER! It contains a cleaning product, plus the sponges conform to every bend in the toilet and work easily in the rim. It didn’t require any elbow grease either! I promptly threw away my top-of-the-line brush with its fancy under-the-rim attachment that never worked. I am 100% all about this." —Kingfisher
Get the wand, caddy, and six cleaning heads from Amazon for $11.98 (or $11.38 with the Subscribe & Save option).
10. Miraculous Folex instant carpet spot remover, which also works on upholstery to make stains do a Houdini-level vanishing act. Plus, it's odor free for scentsitive folks.
Promising review: "Can I give it 10 stars? I'm really disappointed I lived without this product for so long. However, I have an overpriced wool carpet that my dogs have destroyed with accidents, bully sticks, and just general recklessness. I gave up on this rug ever being clean again. I've had it professionally cleaned and tried a dozen things myself...and no difference. And so I thought I'd try this assuming that it wouldn't work on the stain-determined rug but that'd I use it on my less tenacious ones. I sprayed it on, reading the instructions saying that I didn't need to scrub it, etc. And minutes later, freaking magic. My very pale-blue-and-white rug is virginal. I admit that I did rub it in a little on the harsher stains/discoloration, but there were plenty of areas that didn't require any follow up rubbing. I'm sincerely blown away and just ordered a second bottle. The price of this product is minimal if you're looking to make your rug/carpet like new again, so I would absolutely recommend trying it. I don't think I've ever been this impressed with anything I've ever purchased. I feel cheated for not knowing about this sooner." —bubbleslovesoap
Get it from Amazon for $6.65.
11. Washable microfiber mop pads that'll fit on your trusty Swiffer WetJet or similar mops so you can kick wasteful and pricey disposable pads to the curb. You'll be shocked — and perhaps horrified — by how much more ick they can pick up than the mop heads you have been using.
One pad can last up to 100 washes and works on pretty much any surface, from wood to tile to stone.
Promising review: "I wanted to reduce waste with disposable pads and I was pleasantly surprised by these. This photo was AFTER I cleaned the floor with the disposable pad! I was able to get a super clean floor, spots were easier to clean up, and it didn’t sound like it was scratching my floors. This was easy to use, didn’t use more cleaner then the disposable pads, and got my floor cleaner. Definitely gonna but more if the two I got ever wear out." —Riley
Get a pack of two from Amazon for $17.97.
12. Durable all-purpose wipes made with aloe vera and vitamin E for everything from your hands to your car to tricky stains like grease, makeup, adhesives, and permanent marker. Paper towels are cancelled.
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Note that while these are great for messes and stains, they don't disinfect.
Promising reviews: "These towels are awesome for so many things. They are large and very sturdy, so they work well for household cleaning. The real benefit for me, though, is having a wipe that works for things like the grill, the oven, the dashboard of my car, muddy shoes, chairs and umbrellas that go to soccer games and practices, and lawn furniture. I frequently wipe something down, rinse the towel, and wipe again. The wipes are heavy enough to go through three to four rinses and wipes and still hold up. The smell is mild and doesn't linger on my hands or what I've wiped down. I use these almost daily, so the 90-count canister lasts about three months and the last towel is never dried out when I get to it. The lid closes securely, yet is easy to open and the towels dispense easily through the opening without getting bunched up. Because the canister is heavier than most, and the lid fits well, it's easy to throw one of these in the trunk or cargo area, and I don't worry about it leaking. The canister (minus the lid) is recyclable when the towels are gone — an added bonus." —COMom
"My son had painted on numerous different items in my house. I thought it was the end after trying baby wipes, Clorox wipes, and paper towels....I then tried these after a final act of desperation, and they wiped up the dried acrylic paint like it was butter!!!! 100,000/10 recommendation." —RyanH
Get a pack of 90 from Amazon for $14.94.