‘Pointless, dangerous & a waste of money’ cleaning expert warns as she slams 5 cleaning hacks that aren’t worth trying
PEOPLE are turning to social media for tips and advice more than ever these days.
But a cleaning expert has revealed that some of the “hacks” being peddled online are “pointless, dangerous and a waste of money“.
Sarah Dempsey, from MyJobQuote, spoke to us about the tips she would advise avoiding – kicking off with “putting multiple different chemicals in your toilet to clean it”.
Mixing chemicals to clean the toilet
“There is so much wrong with this that it’s difficult to know where to start,” Sarah sighed.
“OK, let’s start with NO.
“This is potentially a very dangerous thing to do.
“Mixing random chemicals without a degree in chemistry may clean your toilet, but it may also create toxic fumes that you are breathing in.”
As an example, ammonia and bleach mixed together can create chloramines, which “irritate the throat, eyes and nose and can create fluid in your lungs – potentially causing pneumonia”.
“Nausea, coughing and wheezing are all other symptoms of exposure to these dangerous fumes,” Sarah added.
“Chemical cleaning products are not cheap, so why would you want to use several of them at once when one does the job?
“It’s pointless, dangerous and a waste of money.”
Mopping floors with boiling water
“On the surface, pardon the pun, this may seem like a good idea,” Sarah said.
“Boiling water is used to sanitise things, so why would mopping your floors with it not be a good idea?”
However, there are very few flooring surfaces that are designed to withstand the heat of boiling water – and you could end up “ruining your floor”.
“A costly mistake if you have laminate, wooden flooring or vinyl!”
Sarah added that the “water is not going to stay boiling for very long”.
“So after five minutes or so you’ll have water that is the same temperature as what comes out of your tap,” she said.
“You’ll have to keep constantly boiling a kettle or pot of water, which is wasteful in terms of electricity or gas.”
Using cola to clean your loo
As this a chore most of us hate, it’s no surprise there are loads of viral hacks claiming to make the job easier.
Putting cola in the toilet is one of them, but Sarah said you’re literally pouring money down the loo if you try it out.
“As cola is acidic, it does have the ability to break down some stains in the toilet but it has no disinfectant qualities,” she said.
“Frequent use of cola as a toilet cleaner can also lead to the counterproductive effect of staining the toilet from the sugars it contains.
“Proper toilet cleaners with disinfectants are not that expensive and arguably cheaper than emptying a bottle of cola down your toilet.”
Lemon wedges in the dishwasher
Lemons contain citric acid – an effective degreasing and descaling agent – and also smell nice, with many people swearing by adding wedges in their dishwasher.
However, “the problem is that one whole lemon contains around a tablespoon of lemon juice, which is not enough to clean a full-size dishwasher”.
“You would need around half a cup of lemon juice for this hack to be effective, that’s about eight whole lemons,” Sarah added.
“Not exactly a cost-effective cleaning tip!”
Using baking soda and white vinegar as a multipurpose cleaner
While this has “long been presented as an environmentally friendly alternative to harsh chemicals”, it’s as individual cleaning products that baking soda and white vinegar are effective.
If you combine the two, the “fizz that the mixture creates lasts mere seconds” and therefore “has no real impact on the cleaning process”.
“In addition, the alkalinity of the baking soda and the acidity of the vinegar neutralise each other,” Sarah concluded.
“So, what you end up with is no different to a paste of water and baking soda.”