This is what happens in my kitchen when I’m involved. I mean really! How is it even possible to do this when you’re just using it as intended?

It’s not like I was scrubbing the floor with it!!

In all good consciousness, I can NOT recommend this as a useful kitchen cleaning tool… just saying!

The thing is, I was looking for one with a handle because I’m SO tired of testing out other hand sponges… they get super smelly really fast so I end up throwing them away.

I did try bleaching a few of them once. FYI… bleach will dissolve sponges into itty bitty tiny particles. No, I didn’t know this. Now I do. 😛

So, I headed over to Amazon to see what they had in the way of kitchen sponges that people like best. I discovered a couple of things.

First, I’ve tested and tossed out WAY too many types of sponges and dish cleaning tools.

The bristle ones keep flattening out when I use them on my pans or miss spots on plates and such.

The scour pad ones range from “it would get cleaner if you licked the plate” to “oh hell, now I’m gonna have to replace my damn stick free pans!”.

The fake brillo type pads either hold up forever (of course I haven’t seen those type since the first time I bought them, so if you see them hiding in some remote location ever, PLEASE let me know!), or I have to cut them in half, knowing that if I have any left over after scrubbing a pan, it’s going to leave a rust stain on whatever surface I leave it on, causing me to have to hunt down yet ANOTHER scrubber to clean off the damn rust stain!

The 2-sided ones that have an old school sponge on one side and that green astro turf stuff on the other, work well until either the sponge side starts smelling to high heaven, or you use the turf side on a greasy pan. At either point, it becomes gross and worthless (and typically the pan still isn’t clean).

Second, they actually offer a couple that I haven’t tested out yet, so I’m going to add them to my next order and see how they stack up.

One’s called an Innovative Dish Washing Net Cloth, which I think technically isn’t a true sponge. It appears to be just the netting, so I’m not sure how well it will get those smoother surfaces. But if it can clean my dishes AND not get all icky, I’m willing to overlook the technicality!

The other is a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, which I vaguely remember seeing on a commercial years ago. And given that Mr. Clean is older than dirt (which yes, is older than me!), maybe he has something that works. I chose the kitchen and dish scrubber version after reading nearly 100 reviews to compare versions (Who knew a big bald man could be so popular!?).

You know it’s funny. I remember Mr. Clean commercials being around for almost as far back as I can remember, but I don’t remember mom ever having any of his products in the house. That doesn’t mean we didn’t… I just don’t remember… hmmmmmm.

Have a good one,

Debi aka @GenXBrat

p.s. Have you found basic cleaning tools that just fall apart on you? I like things that make cleaning simple, so if you know of any, please let me know in the comments!

p.p.s. Between you and me, I don’t care WHAT Amazon says is the best way to clean my dishes. As far as I’m concerned, the best way to get my dishes clean is to find someone else who’s willing to clean them! I wonder if Mr. Clean has any free time available…