A Better Bag of Groceries

Two of My Favorite Things: Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and The Shark

Friday, January 29, 2010 at 07:13 AM

This Friday definitely calls for an installment of Two of My Favorite things – a reader’s favorite feature here on A Better Bag of Groceries.  This week, the topic is cleaning – which is not one of my favorite things. 

Here’s the thing about cleaning.  It’s not that I don’t like cleaning, it’s that after all the energy I put into meal-planning, cooking, parenting, work, and fitness, there’s not much time left for cleaning.  So, full disclosure here (always!) – I have cleaning people that come every two weeks.  I’m not wealthy and I don’t have a big house, but I would rather go teach two fitness classes a week and use that money to pay the cleaning people.  It’s a better use of time and energy.  And cleaning for the cleaning people (that would be all the picking up that has to happen before they come) keeps our house pretty well-organized.

With 2 young kids in the house, I get to take in the Clean House After-Glow for all of about 20 minutes.  And that is why a few years ago I bought The Shark.  I found it at Macy’s for $30.  Think of the Shark as a dustbuster that you don’t have to get on your hands and knees to use.  It’s light and nimble and so much easier than dragging out the big vacuum.  My kids love it when I ask them to run The Shark around.

You can use The Shark on carpets, wood floors, linoleum or tile – whatever you’ve got.

Too bad The Shark can’t pick up the green tractor in the hallway, the paper airplanes that are all over my coffee table and sofa, or the Littlest Pet Shop toy that’s been left on the floor.  But, it does pick up soggy Cheerios.  In fact, this is my new baby shower gift.  Forget diaper bags and Pack & Plays, I want to give all new Moms the Shark. 

Emptying the Shark is so easy – even a 6-year-old can do it.  In fact, I think that’s my son’s favorite part.  He’s such a boy – he loves to see all the gross stuff he picked up. 

So, with the floors clean, let’s move on to the walls.  My newest favorite cleaning lifesaver is the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. 

I learned about this at ballet class.  Not my ballet class (oh, how I wish!) but my daughter’s ballet class.  Every Saturday morning, I chat it up with the other moms as we watch our 4-year-old ballerinas through a mirrored window.  That is how I learned about the Magic Eraser.  These moms were swooning over it.  They said that using the Magic Eraser is addictive.  You just can’t stop cleaning.  I just had to get myself a product that would keep me cleaning forever. 

So, I tried it out and they were right.  I could not stop cleaning.  The Magic Eraser got marks off the wall that I thought were going to be there for eternity.  It even gets off Sharpie marker! 

Check out my before and after pictures.  Here is my wall, going up the staircase.

You can practically see the finger prints!  I took the Magic Eraser to this little area for about 45 seconds and ouila…

No more marks.  So this is where the addicting part comes in.  I find myself cleaning and cleaning and cleaning.  I just can’t stop.  I think it definitely counts as toning exercise for the upper body!

The Magic Eraser is all I can talk about these days.  I found out that my sister April used it to remove a wallpaper border in her daughter’s room.  “It was the only thing that would do the trick,” she told me.  My colleage, Caryn, who manages Marketing for NuVal, loves it too, although she warns that it can remove paint from walls and cabinets.  I did find that on my red kitchen cabinets.  So, scrub away, but not too hard!

There you have it, something old and something new, which seems to be a theme with My Two Favorite Things.  Soon, I am going to have a spotless house!  And great arms!  Happy Cleaning!

Posted by: Melissa 13 comments

Posted in: Two Favorite Things

Tags: Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, The Shark