WASHINGTON (THE WASHINGTON POST) –Forget hunting for potions and gadgets to polish and scrub every cranny of your home. Housekeeping experts say you can clean many places with one simple product: dish soap.
“Honestly, I can’t think of anything we can’t use Dawn to clean, except maybe leather upholstery,” says Kevin Reynolds, co-founder of the American House Cleaners Association. It and other dish soaps get their dirt-and stain-fighting abilities from detergents and degreasers, says eco-cleaning expert Micaela Preston of Mindful Momma. “They’re just powerful cleaning agents, and the liquids help concentrate their power,” she says.
Dilute a few squirts with water for a spray cleaner that can sub in for other cleaning products. Or combine it with a couple teaspoons of baking soda to create a homemade scrub for tougher jobs.
“People fall prey to marketing, thinking they need separate cleaning products for everything,” says Kelley Jonkoff of Unfolde, a North Carolina organising company. “Making your own dish soap solution is simpler than having all those different things, and it cuts down on clutter, too.”
Here’s how to make dish soap your secret cleaning weapon.
Get your recipe right
First, no one is suggesting that you squeeze dish soap onto a rag and rub down all your surfaces. “A tiny bit goes a long way,” says Caroline Solomon, a professional organizer in New York City who makes cleaning-hack TikToks as @neat.caroline. “To create an all-purpose cleaner, take a spray bottle and add a teaspoon of dish soap, two cups of cold water, and 10 drops of essential oil if you want a subtle scent.”
Use it on fabric stains
Dish soap gets crud off pots and pans, so it makes sense that you can also deploy it to zap a red wine spill on the rug or a chocolate smudge on your white sofa. “I mix about three tablespoons of dish soap with the same amount of baking soda to form a paste,” says Jonkoff. “Just brush that onto the stain. It’s better than most cleaning products on grease spots, and really works well on natural fibres like wools and silks.”
Degrease kitchen countertops
“Dish soap is pH neutral, so it’s gentler on things like marble and quartz than vinegar, another simple cleaning solution,” says Soloman. (Vinegar is acidic, so it can damage stone surfaces.)
To tackle your counters, take your bottle of diluted dish soap and “spray down the surface, and let it sit for a minute or two before wiping it off,” she says. “That’ll help degrease things.” Since the soap is so watered down, you don’t need to worry about rinsing the counters off.
Get a streak-free shower door or mirror
For an effective DIY glass cleaner, follow the same recipe as above to create a water/dish soap spray, just be sure to use distilled water. Water from the tap may be “hard,” i.e. full of minerals that can leave behind residue and streaks. Distilled water, which has been purified by boiling, leaves shiny surfaces clear. “It’s a way to go the extra mile and really make things sparkle,” says Solomon.
Mop your floors with it
Dish soap also works on tile, cement or vinyl floors; simply pour your spray-bottle concoction into the reservoir of a squirt mop (or use it to douse a reusable mop pad). But be cautious about using the potion on wood floors, says Reynolds. “You can use dish soap on them, but if it’s too concentrated it can strip the wood over time.” Plus, too much water can cause wooden planks to warp.
Freshen your toilet
Yes, you can even clean a toilet bowl with dish soap – just swirl a few drops around in the water, leave it for a few minutes, scrub and flush. If you want to sanitise the toilet, though, you’ll need to include a stronger ingredient.
To kill bacteria and viruses, swirl two tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide and one tablespoon of dish soap in the toilet bowl, then repeat the cleaning steps above, says Preston. If it’s mold you need to clean, mix together half-a-cup white vinegar, two cups of water and a big squirt of dish soap. – JENNIFER BARGER
