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A miracle for shower mold, a simple oven hack, and a one-step stainless steel cleaner. ::bookmarks immediately::

Yes, you read that correctly: As a freelancer for BuzzFeed way back in 2013 and 2014, I wrote my first deep cleaning and speed cleaning tip stories. After I joined the staff in 2015, I never stopped writing about it. Cleaning can be so annoying. I had to find ways to make it faster and easier while still being thorough! Through the years, I've personally tried dozens of the ideas and products I've written about. Here are a bunch of ones that work so well, I use them every time I need them. 

2026 Update: Yes, it's like a giant electric toothbrush, but y'all, it REALLY works. Since testing it for the first time back in 2017, I've tackled all kinds of obstinate dirt, hard water, and mystery spots that responded to nothing else, and it always, always delivers. Sure, like I say below, it's overkill for minor messes. But it's excellent for grout and useful to have on hand for the occasional stubborn situation. Although I don't use it for mold stains — stay tuned for my rec for that. 

My review from 2017: The BEST use of this baby is on tile grout, hands down. I cleaned half of my bathroom's grout (using the grout brush) in about 40 minutes, and days later, I'm still marveling over it every time I open the door. I dipped the bristles in a Castile soap dilution (2 drops of soap + 1/2 cup of water), then lazily ran the scrubber back and forth over a 6-inch section of grimy, dark-gray grout — and it only took about 30 seconds for that grout to go from dingy to bright.

This brush can clean other surfaces too, but that's where its usefulness is kind of lost on me. Usually, a cleaning wipe or all-purpose cleaner can do the same job with less mess than scrubbing with the bigger brush head. BUT if you live somewhere with hard water stains that drive you nuts, Amazon reviews attest to its power with buildup, and the larger head could be totally worth it for the time you'd save.

2026 Update: I do exactly this about every six months or so after first trying it back in 2017, and it works every single time!

My review from 2017: I love my apartment, but because our bathroom is basically a tiled closet with no windows, my shower mildews suuuper quickly, which you can see above. I could have just wiped the mildew off, but I suspect that the vinegar found its way a few centimeters up into the shower's little holes, so this helped tackle that, too. IMO, the final result was night and day, and to sum up? This worked perfectly.

You just insert it down your drain, twist it a few times with the handle, and let the grabby micro-hooks at the tip (similar to Velcro) do their work on the stuck, clogging hair and debris. Then pull it up, and your sink will drain like it's new! This reader tried and loved it! 

My review: I used it myself in 2023, and it worked wonders: It wasn't hair clogging my sink, but the remains of a luxury soap bar that made so much gross residue it built up over time. It was gross, yes, and I had to insert it, clean it, and re-insert it a few times, but it was sooooo worth it — and effortlessly removed all the grime, leaving the sink draining nicely again. The refills were nice too, because apparently I didn't learn my lesson and had to do the same thing again in 2024, this time for a luxury liquid soap. Thankfully, this worked yet again!

Get one with five included refills from Amazon for $19.99.

My review: The magic of chemistry! When I initially tested it on a small section of caulk (pictured above), the mold completely vanished in just two hours. Application is as easy as using a bottle of elementary school liquid glue. Err on the side of laying it down thickly, so it covers every little bit of the mold on the caulk — you can see a few tiny spots in the after photo that didn't get covered. Not surprisingly, they disappeared when I touched them up, and I finished bleaching the rest of the mold with flawless results. 

Yes, it contains bleach, but because it doesn't run at all, I find it easier to use without accidentally staining my clothes than other bleach products. Though I still wear an old t-shirt to be safe! As long as I run the bathroom fan, it doesn't smell too fume-y. 

Some reviewers report needing to let it sit for four to five hours (or even overnight) for full effect, but the results are still worth it. It likely depends on your grout, humidity, and how thickly you apply it. 

BTW, if you have mold in your front-loading washing machine gaskets, reviewers say this can clean that, too!

This fits over pretty much any drain, whether it pops up, sinks in, or is flat and flush with the rest of the tub. 

My review: As anyone with long hair knows, you have two choices: Collect your shed hair while you shower to prevent clogs later, or deal with a slimy, stinky clog (ewww) every once in a while. Enter this simple device! The weighted top holds it in place, and your hair stays trapped while the water flows through. I clean my hair off and let the cover fully dry after every shower, but beyond that, it requires no maintenance. It catches all my hair, and I've been in this apartment with a pop-up drain for over a year with zero clog issues. Success!! 

My review: I've known about the toilet seat tip for ages (h/t Ask Anna Moseley, who has a full tutorial on this) and finally tried it myself, as you can see in the pictures above. I wasn't able to persuade the screws all the way off, but I got them loose enough that my trusty all-purpose cleaner and I could quickly banish the disgusting gunk that had gathered underneath the spot where the toilet seat screws into the toilet.

2026 Update: Since having a baby, I've used this stuff on my carpet at least once a week. First, it was spit-up, now it's food stains from when he decides to throw pasta sauce or blackberries. (We're working on it.) Still works like a charm! In the gif, I'm cleaning up a ketchup stain. I sprayed and blotted three times to get every little bit out of the fibers, but the stain disappeared after the first blot. 

My review from 2022: I first discovered Folex thanks to this job — the dozens of amazing before and after photos on Amazon really sold me on it! — and have used it dozens of times with great success: on both blueberry smoothie and dog poop on rugs, when I dropped hummus on my sweater, for multiple drink spills on the couch, and, as illustrated above, when I accidentally melted a chocolate chip into my favorite fuzzy pillow and discovered it like, three days later.  

To succeed with Folex, it's important to know how it works. Technically, it's a surfactant, which basically means it stirs up the little particles that are causing the stain and grabs onto them, so you can then soak it up with a paper towel to pull them off whatever surface they were staining. The directions ask you to spray it on liberally, gently massage the stain with your fingers to help the liquid grab a bunch of the stain particles, then use a paper towel to soak it up. For the pillow example, I repeated the spray-and-soak process about three times, and now you can't even find where the stain was in the first place! That's why I have two after pics here — when I came back after it had dried to take a pic a few days later, I literally couldn't find the spot the pillow had been stained again, so I wanted to show y'all both sides for proof.

I will say it's not the best for pet accidents, because those tend to need an enzyme to help really get rid of the smell (like the popular Rocco & Roxie cleaner), but it definitely works in a pinch. And I still — luckily! — haven't needed to try it out on red wine, non-food grease, ink, or makeup stains, all of which reviewers say they've had success with. I couldn't recommend it more for all the random food and drink spills that are bound to happen in life! 

Get it from Amazon for $12.08+ (also available in multi-packs). 

My review from 2024: I recently went through my jewelry chest after, for various reasons, it sat mostly untouched for about five years — and realized just HOW DIRTY so much of my collection was, this ring among them! Since I knew it was silver and had a few other tarnished silver pieces, I immediately ordered the cleaning cloth for it.

I didn't doubt it would work, thanks to the tens of thousands of 5-star ratings on Amazon, so, of course, it did the trick! Paired with the same brand's Diamond Dazzle Stik for the stones, which naturally made both my J. Crew costume jewelry and 'real' rocks sparkle again; this cloth helped me make all my silver jewelry look brand new with very little effort, even if it was caked with tarnish. And so far, six months later, it's all stayed that way!

My review: I bought a bottle of this stuff when I moved in 2021 — it was super useful then, and since that point I've used it to clean stubborn grease off of kitchen cabinets and my stove's hood several times, and pulled it out for several other mystery sticky stains and messes, always with excellent results. But the move story is the most compelling: 

Back then, my partner had hung up these posters that used big foam adhesive squares (no, they were not Command Strips), and when we pulled them off the wall, they left a bunch of foam and sticky stuff behind. Goo Gone (plus a plastic scraper) came to the rescue! It took a little patience, but the stuff would never have come off without the Goo Gone. It helped break down both the foam stuff and the adhesive, which came off in little bits, leaving nothing behind. We did then wash off the paint with some dish soap and water — Goo Gone is super greasy — but by the end, you couldn't tell anything had been there at all, and the paint was undamaged. 

Get two bottles from Amazon for $15.97 (they also make a spray-on version for $19.98).

My in-laws and sister both have dogs who shed everywhere all the time, so I have extensive experience using both of these products at their homes. Here's a bit about each to help you decide which one might be right for you!

My review: It's super quick, cheaper, and more compact than the vacuum (so, good if you have a small space), and easily picks up mountains of hair from couches, chairs, and other upholstered furniture! It does require a little bit of elbow grease in the form of semi-rigorous rolling up and down, as the gif above shows. You open up the back to empty the hair when you're done, and it's ready to reuse, and literally lasts for years, even with daily use. I'd say it takes about four minutes total to pick up all the hair from a regular-sized couch. The one I use regularly at my in-laws is six or seven years old and still works flawlessly. 

Get it for $24.95 from Amazon (available in four colors).

My review: It's like a turbo-charged upgrade to the roller: all you do is pick it up, turn it on, and run it over the piles of hair to make every last bit vanish! Since it's a vacuum, it's bigger and heavier than the roller, but I'm a five-foot-three thirty-something and have no issues using it with just one hand. You'll probably want a convenient but hidden spot to store it while it's charging, so it's ready to suck up pet hair at any moment. It has three specialized attachments, but the motorized brush head is the key for most upholstery! And like most handheld vacuums, no bags are required; you simply press a button to open the dust compartment and empty it. I can vacuum my in-laws' large sectional with this in about two minutes!

TBH, there's not a bad choice here. Either way you go, you'll have SO much less pet hair in your life!

Humble Suds is a small business based in Denver, Colorado, that sells plant-based cleaning essentials.

My review: Approximately two minutes into rubbing this citrusy-scented balm on my clean cutting board and knife handle, I sprinted into the living room because I just HAD to show my partner what a difference it made!! I've always known that I was 'supposed' to oil my wooden kitchen tools, but I never made it happen....until I got my hands on this wood and leather balm from Humble Suds. 

Now, I give them a fresh coat a couple of times a year to keep the wood happy and glowing. A little goes a long way too — I first wrote this review in 2022, and four years of regular use later, I have a little less than half the container left. 

The photos really speak for themselves here! With very little effort (I spent maybe 10 minutes max fully oiling up the board and the two knives in the pic), you can prevent the risk that your treasured board or spoons will crack one day, *and* bring out the beauty of the wood. Just remember to rub it in with the grain! Let them all sit and soak up the balm's goodness overnight, then simply use a clean part of the cloth to rub off any excess that remains. It's a little sticky at first, but after wiping off the extra, all the wood becomes perfectly smooth and ready to help you prep your next meal.

Get it from Humble Suds on Etsy for $24.95.

My review: Together, they work for a bunch of cleaning tasks: your phone, your earbuds, your DSLR, watches, and TBH even jewelry with hard-to-reach spots. It can capture the gunk in the tiniest gaps, like on the side of each keyboard key. I have one of these and find the silicone wiper especially invaluable for scraping earwax off my AirPods! I also pull it out to sweep away pesky chips and bread crumbs that, um, somehow find their way onto my keyboard on a regular basis.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Get it from Amazon for $9.99 (available in two colors).

My review: My mom's had stainless appliances for well over a decade and a half now, and discovered this spray from reading our posts, and said it works *wonderfully*, truly 100% better than any other kind of stainless cleaners she'd tried in the past!! So naturally, I bought a bottle when we moved to a place with stainless steel appliances, and I second every word she says. It's fast, cleans off all kinds of stains, and leaves a like-new shiny finish with a simple spray and wipe! If I'm in a hurry, I'll also use it on our granite counters and wood cabinets, and it works well there, too.

Because this product also includes a polish, it cleans off current fingerprints and smudges and helps protect the surface of your stainless steel from future messiness. The 16-oz bottle comes with a large microfiber cleaning cloth — the key is to spritz the cleaner on the cloth, so you don't end up with too much product on your appliance (which can cause fingerprints) *or* a slippery residue on your floor. One reviewer notes that it needed to be left to dry for a bit after buffing before it became fingerprint-resistant.

Get a bottle and the included cloth from Amazon for $19.95.

My review: I don't use it all the time, but when I'm dealing with cooked-on oil and residue from roasting vegetables or baking cakes or casseroles, it's a must-have. You do still have to scrape off like, chunks of chicken or broccoli, but it still does the job with a fraction of the elbow grease that manual scrubbing would take. 

Get four bottles from Amazon for $16.63.

My review: Since having a kiddo, we eat frozen pizza pretty much once a week, and we like the ones that cook directly on the rack best for that perfectly crispy crust. So this works well to prevent rogue pieces of cheese from sizzling their way into stains! Occasionally, a food bit drops in the front, but that the pan catches most of them along with other greasy messes too. I 100% prefer washing it all off the pan in the sink (love you, Dawn Powerwash) over scouring them off the oven bottom. 

You shouldn't put foil on the bottom of your oven (that surface gets incredibly hot, and it could very well melt the foil) or, according to GE, even line your bottom rack with foil (it would disrupt airflow and heat, because the heat reflects off of it). But a shallow pan, a cookie sheet, or a heat-safe liner you can cut to size is OK if it sits on your lowest rack and doesn't touch the back or either edge. 

Get two Nordic Ware half-sheet pans like mine from Amazon for $32. 

This also works with water + vinegar, or honestly just plain water. And, of course, you can wipe it off with a sponge instead.

2026 Update: I've been doing this for years after first trying it back in 2017, and have yet to find a gross microwave where this doesn't work wonders.

My review from 2017: "I want everything in my life to work as well as this hack. It even smelled good, despite the vinegar. I've eaten a lot of chili and spaghetti the past two weeks, so dried, cooked-on splatters coated the inside of the microwave. I used a single paper towel on this mess — half of it, I dampened slightly in the vinegar-lemon liquid and just wiped, once, over the whole inside of my microwave. That was all it took to get the grime out. The other half I used to dry everything. Done and done."

Read my full review or watch the Nifty video.

My review: That's exactly what I did with our filter, which hadn't been cleaned or replaced in over three years, and it worked like a charm! Yep, I took these pictures myself! And yes, I also made sure the PB jar's lid wasn't close to submerged, and I washed the jar afterward.  

Sure, it's not expensive to buy a new filter (they run about $10 from Amazon), but we're renters, and I wasn't sure which brand we needed. Our NYC landlord was not about to replace it for us without a loooooot of hassle. Aluminum ones like these are perfectly washable. If you have a charcoal filter, though, you'll need to replace it if you want it to remove odors the way it's designed to. 

Get a large Dawn dish soap refill from Amazon for $8.69. 

My review: It works flawlessly! Mineral oil's a little easier because you can just wipe and go. Wipe off as much excess as possible if you use vegetable or olive oil, then rinse with soap to prevent it from going rancid. For something that smells good — although it's more expensive — I like the Therapy Wood & Cabinet cleaner ($24.95 for two bottles), which uses a mix of mineral oil, coconut oil, essential oils, and surfactants. 

Get a 16-ounce bottle of mineral oil from Amazon for $8.55.

My review: You probably know how useful lint rollers can be. But you may not have thought to use them when you clean! While I don't always use them for pet hair situations because that gets wasteful (see my reviews above for what I *do* use), I find enough other uses for them that I like to keep them around. 

Get a pack of five lint rollers from Amazon for $19.99.

My review: I moved to the suburbs in 2025, and finally have an in-unit washer/dryer in my apartment for the first time in my adult life. (In NYC, you're lucky to get a washer/dryer in your building, much less in your apartment.) The top loader smelled a little musty off the bat. But I'd written about these for years, so I knew exactly what to buy. And yep, they work as described! It's easy-peasy to run one through a hot water cycle every month, and the smell hasn't come back. One reviewer points out that it's because the tablet sticks around for all of the cycles; instead of simply getting rinsed away, the way adding vinegar might. 

If you have a front-loader, you have to manually clean around the gasket too, and may need to enlist a bleach gel ($9.99 from Amazon) to eliminate any mold. Then, every single time you're done washing for the day, prevent mold by thoroughly drying the gasket and any other removable parts with a clean towel. 

Get a pack of six from Amazon for $11.98.

My review: Because these only really work on hard floors like wood or tile, I don't wear them in my current, mostly carpeted place. And even on hard floors, they'll pick up *some* stuff, but not everything — to pick up more dust, crumbs, and debris, you have to put a little effort into sweeping with your feet and gathering everything into one pile. But when I wore them for a week back in an apartment that had only hard floors, I did that way more often than I expected to, and my floors were cleaner because of it!

One commenter on my original review said, "I bought those cleaning slippers as a joke. Joke's on me because they're amazing. Nothing gets up grime like using these babies and some vinegar/citrus/water blend. Plus, they're just fun." —sessaleigh

The pair I got from Amazon is sold out, but you can get the pictured bear version for $13.59, or a pack of 5 brightly colored elastic pairs that slip over socks for $9.89.

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Plus, laundry detergent for sensitive skin and finds from Walmart.

BuzzFeed Shopping is service journalism first: our writers and editors spend all day shopping so you don’t have to, vetting products, fact-checking brand claims, and surfacing what actually helps in real life. We center readers over revenue, recommend products with authenticity (using real experiences, not ad-speak), and reflect our diverse audience, inclusive of a variety of price points, people, and needs. We cut through fake deals, favor useful info over glossy fluff, and recommend both budget and splurge options with context so you can decide what’s right for you — and still have a little fun along the way.

Natalie Brown, a mom, Senior Editor on the BuzzFeed Shopping team, and BuzzFeeder since 2015, is constantly on the lookout for smart, genuinely effective problem-solvers, especially anything cleaning, home, parenting, fashion, and skincare related.