Magic!

[firstfrost]

When I was in the CVS the other day to buy dish soap, I experimentally picked up some "magic eraser" sponges, as they said they were good for cleaning stove tops, and I was thinking that needed doing. HOLY COW THEY ARE MAGIC. They don't smell like any sort of cleaner - just a fine-textured white sponge that you get wet - but they wiped up stove grime with no scrubbing or effort or anything. I randomly cleaned off the side of the fridge that has been accumulating little spatters for forever. I wrote on the wall with a Sharpie (just to see) and wiped it off - okay, that took more than one pass, but it still didn't require *scrubbing*. What the heck is *in* these things? I suspect nanites. (Wikipedia tells me it is "melamine foam".)

I'm kind of embarassed to be so agog over a cleaning supply, having been raised to think that there is no such thing as a soap or detergent or cleanser or cleaner or powder or paste or wax or bleach, that will make cleaning fun.... but, you know, at least this time, especially when I was testing the Sharpie I had written on the wall with... it was fun.

Comments

[mjperson.livejournal.com]

What was your plan had it not worked? You wrote on the wall with a sharpie!

[fredrickegerman.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was wondering about that one.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Well, the *first* time I wrote on the wall it was in an out-of-the-way location, in the pantry. The *second* time was in the front hallway to show Charles.

[fredrickegerman.livejournal.com]

Gosh. So you use them straight, without soap etc.?

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Soap does not seem to be necessary.

[jdbakermn.livejournal.com]

I used them to clean the white walls in my apartment when I left after five years. Cleaned up a lot of scuffs. In the end, the walls looked like new and they didn't have to paint. I was pleased to get my entire deposit back. Magical!

I did try them on some of the walls at my house and while it removed the scuff, it ended up making the yellow paint a lighter color. I didn't try again since all of the walls had colored paint.

[chengesu.livejournal.com]

Look around you carefully. Do you see an audience watching everything you do? A phone number hanging in the air in front of you? You may've accidentally wandered into an infomercial. Whatever you do, don't "call now" or you may be trapped forever.

[remcat.livejournal.com]

Aren't those things amazing?? I did find they take a tiny bit of matte paint off the wall -- but still better than marker, marker everywhere.

[navrins]

I believe I mentioned that some years ago. They're pretty cool.

[nakor.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reminder of Housework (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R191kEaAJ3k). I hadn't thought of it in forever, and it's surprisingly tricky to find on the web.

[bakedweasels.livejournal.com]

Do I get a deal if I call to order right NOW?

[izmirian.livejournal.com]

If I advertise them in my LiveJournal can I get paid too? Actually, they do sound pretty cool. Did they have any warnings on them? I'd be sort of worried that they contain something dangerous or else why wouldn't all sponges work this well?

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

They don't have any warnings, though I wouldn't try eating them or anything. I think they're more like micro-steel-wool in function, not chemical-based. They seem to be this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melamine_foam).

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

And for all that they're abrasive-based, all of my experimentation was using my bare hands, and they didn't end up abraded or unhappy.

[cfox.livejournal.com]

There's a "OMG chemical burns" meme running around; I think the manufacturer settled with someone who caused an abrasion injury by cleaning their child's face with one.

So, no, not actually dangerous. Knowing that the green and yellow scrubby sponges come out the other end of a dog intact does make me wonder what would happen, though...

[fredrickegerman.livejournal.com]

Well, don't powder them and put them in your milk, certainly. But I suspect big discrete bits aren't so dangerous. :-)

[izmirian.livejournal.com]

Cool!