With the rise of CleanTok on popular social media app TikTok, some cleaning hacks can be more harmful than helpful. Some can even be dangerous to health and home.
Image: Dado Ruvic Reuters Illustration
Jolie Kerr
TikTok abounds with clever cleaning tips, and some are quite good. Using a dish wand to clean the shower? Great idea. Learning that your dishwasher racks are adjustable? A game changer. But many of the techniques popularised on CleanTok are very bad, indeed.
Bad CleanTok hacks vary in their relative badness: Some are simply a waste of time and money. Others will wreck your things - you may end up with warped floorboards, a ruined vacuum cleaner or a couch with bald spots. At its worst, bad cleaning advice on image- and video-centric social media platforms can sicken or even kill you, your children or your pets. Here are seven to avoid.
What it is: “Product overload” (or “cleaning overload”) is the term for mixing a rainbow of cleaning products in a sink, bathtub or toilet to create a cool-looking video. Unfortunately, doing so can also create a deadly mixture of chloramine gas.
Why you should skip it: It can, quite literally, kill you. In addition to being dangerous, product overload is incredibly wasteful and doesn’t actually help clean anything.
What to do instead: Use one product, as directed, to clean and sanitise hard surfaces in the bathroom and kitchen, and avoid mixing cleaning agents. Using more products won’t get things more clean.
What it is: Dissolving a laundry detergent pod in very hot water to create a mopping solution for hard flooring.
Why you should skip it: Safety, efficacy and cost. First up, detergent pods should never be punctured because they contain highly concentrated liquid that can cause skin irritation and are harmful if they come into contact with one’s eyes or mouth. Using laundry detergent to mop the floors also leaves a sticky residue that will attract and trap dirt, making the floors dirtier. And, over time, overexposure to water and detergent, especially very hot water, will dull and damage hardwood and laminate floors. Finally, detergent packs are expensive, compared with hard floor cleaners.
What to do instead: Vacuuming and/or sweeping regularly is the best way to keep floors clean. When mopping is called for, use a commercial hard floor cleaner or dilute a small amount of dish soap in cool water to make a mopping solution. Also bear in mind that hardwood and laminate floors should only be dry- or damp-mopped to avoid water damage.
What it is: This cleaning hack involves dissolving a laundry pod in boiling water, wrapping a rag around a pot lid, dipping the flat side into the solution and using the makeshift tool to wipe down upholstered furniture.
Why you should skip it: The biggest reason to avoid this cleaning hack is because scrubbing upholstery vigorously with concentrated detergent and boiling water wears fabric out fast. This method also leaves behind a lot of detergent residue, which can irritate sensitive skin and respiratory systems, especially in children and pets. Detergent residue also lends a dingy appearance to the furniture.
What to do instead: Regularly vacuuming upholstered furniture is the best way to keep grime at bay. As needed, spot-treat stains with diluted dish soap or liquid laundry detergent. For a deeper, allover clean, use an upholstery cleaning machine.
What it is: Bringing a pot of household cleaner to a boil, or mixing it with boiling or very hot water, to make a cleaning solution for floors and upholstery or to deodorise and freshen the home.
Why you should skip it: Boiling household cleaner - or any cleaning agent, for that matter - is a terrible idea. Exposure to the vapor or mist may irritate respiratory tract, which makes boiling it on the stove a quick way to cause breathing problems for you and other members of your household.
What to do instead: Use the appropriate cleaning agents for floors and upholstery, and always follow package instructions.
What it is: Putting laundry scent beads into a vacuum, either by scattering them on the floor and vacuuming them up or placing them in the vacuum’s dustbin. The idea is that the heat produced when the vacuum is running activates the scent beads, lending carpets and rugs - as well as the vacuum itself - a pleasant fragrance.
Why you should skip it: Vacuuming up scent beads, which contain essential oils, can ruin your vacuum cleaner, causing clogs and other malfunctions. It can also void the machine’s warranty. Scent beads can also trigger rashes, breathing issues and headaches in children, people who suffer from skin or respiratory allergies, and pets.
What to do instead: Vacuuming rugs weekly, and deep-cleaning them with a rug shampooer one to four times a year will keep them smelling fresh. Clean your vacuum and its filters regularly to prevent unpleasant odors.
What it is: Putting laundry products such as detergent pods and scent beads into decorative jars for aesthetic reasons.
Why you should skip it: Improper storage of cleaning items can increase the risk of accidental ingestion, particularly by children and pets. It is especially risky to use glass jars that mimic the look of candy shop displays, which can mislead children into thinking a detergent pod is a delicious sweet treat.
What to do instead: Keep laundry products in their original containers with the labels intact, and store them out of the reach of children, adults with cognitive impairments and pets.
What it is: Placing a bottle of concentrated multipurpose cleaner inside your toilet tank as an automatic bowl cleaner.
Why you should skip it: This hack is a plumbing disaster in the making - and nobody wants a plumbing disaster. Over the short term, putting a bottle of cleaner in the toilet tank displaces the water needed for a flush sufficient to move waste through pipes, resulting in backups. Over time, the chemicals can corrode flush valve components, shortening their lifespan.
What to do instead: Plumbing experts recommend skipping all in-bowl cleaners, even ones designed specially for the job. Instead, use a toilet bowl cleaner, microfiber cloths and a toilet brush to keep the commode sparkling.