apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I thought this blog was all about cleaning green!

; )

I use one to clean my whiteboard at work.

I never thought it was all about cleaning green. but in a way, a magic eraser can actually save you from using lots of icky chemicals, so it's better than a lot of things.

the only bad experience I've had with one was on painted walls. but it really is fine to do as long as you push very very lightly.

I've also used them successfully on stains on my kitchen counters (laminate) and cleaning off tables (I have an off white table that gets lots of pencil marks on it).

I use it on my painted ceiling in the bathroom, to get mildew off.

Melamine foam? Melamine is not very eco-friendly. I don't like the idea of Melamine being washed into the environment.

Melamine? Isn't that what killed all the doggies and kitties? =(

I have used this, but I wonder about it's safety, both to humans and to loads of it entering the water. Based on my very quick read on this in wikipedia, the current evidence doesn't seem to show it being bad for human health (unless you're eating the stuff everyday), but I don't know about environmental effects of everyone suddenly starting to use this stuff.

its

Yes, the dogs and cats - check the wikipedia listing for it.

Also, do NOT use it on your micro fiber sofa. It took the stain AND the nap of the fabric right off of mine.

By the way, I don't use my magic eraser very often, but every month or so I use it to clean the linoleum floors in my kitchen and bathroom and my refrigarator doors (indcluding the seal that gets all mildewy). It works great. Much easier and much better than anything else I have tried.

use it to clean my ibook.

I have found this product to be mediocre at best but more typically to be utterly useless and can not figure out why everyone raves about it.

My husband cannot live without it. Sometimes it's embarrassing when he can't find it. He gets upset.

i used it to try and take tape gunk off my walls in my first apaprtment and it took the paint off with it.

So bad on painted walls, especially painted plaster walls. Just a few rubs and plaster dust starts coming through. I really haven't found anything in my home that Mr. Magic Eraser is good for and I get the heebie-jeebies from the texture of the thing.

it did REALLY well on the fridge and on the million year old kitchen tile that i used it on, however. it think it's really best to stay away from any kind of porous surface with it.

Amen to the painted walls thing - took the paint right off without pressing too hard. But I've used it to good effect to clean my cabinets. The eco-concerns to give me pause, though.

Alex in DC --my experience has been the same.

I use mine sparingly, only when nothing else seems to work. Main usage: scuff marks off floors and walls, rubber scuffs off shiny dress shoes.

robyn, I've "erased" on painted plaster walls no problem (many layers of paint, mind you). Could the dust you're seeing be the eraser disintegrating from the use?

I am in there with Alex in DC and Pixie. A waste of money and probably bad for the enviroment.

They can cause chemical burns on sensitive (read: children's) skin, and rumours of traces of formaldyhyde still exist, as well as the slew of other chemicals in them.

I threw mine away. I wish I'd have been able to save them and throw them on the Enviro Day where you can bring in hazardous materials, but I just didn't want them in my house.

I use mine sparingly as well, but to my amazement, it removed black felt tip market from a leather chair, with no noticeable impact on the leather.

Michelle of Montreal - no, definitely plaster dust, it took the paint off right down to the plaster. I believe that the 2 coats of paint I applied when I moved in were the first since the original paint (circa 1930) so that could have a lot to do with it.

I think they're swell - I use mine to get rid of iron stains in my shower. Better than the harsh chemicals that go into my septic system and into my lungs and onto my skin!

> They can cause chemical burns on sensitive (read: children's)
> skin, and rumours of traces of formaldyhyde still exist,

Umm...no.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/eraser.asp

I have had to throw this product out, as well as many others, because I have put down three pets in the past three months and suffered staggering vet bills and grief that may kill me , so I will not support any company that sold me poison labeled as premium pet food.
Considering the spin and lies and delays by the big corporations I may be making a lot of purchasing choices based on that rather than how green a company SAYS a product is. They lie a lot.

I will tell you what the big pet food companies refused to tell you, if your pet starts drinking too much water, vomits, or becomes lethargic RUN to the vet, you needed to know this three months ago but since there is STILL poison pet food on store shelves you may very well need to know it for the future too. More info can be found at http://www.petconnection.com/blog/.

And oh, yeah, it is in human food too.

witchdoc, I am terribly sorry for your loss.

I've used it to clean pencil markings -- pretty extensive toddler masterpieces -- off painted plaster walls, and it worked fine. The marks washed off and the paint stayed on. Perhaps it is our paint? I've used it on Benjamin Moore's washable flat finish as well as Farrow and Ball's flat and gloss finishes.

I purchased one of these per the advice of a friend and used it to salvage one of my white plastic eiffel chairs. It had a very visible stain of what I *think* was dye from dark denim and I literally tried everything else out there to remove it with minimal success. The magic eraser removed the stain and the chair looks new. Devilish.

witchdoc, I'm sorry, also. But I thought I read that melamine was an additive (otherwise harmless) used to falsely boost the perceived protein level of pet food, and that what was killing pets was something else--the gluten in pet food that includes "gravy."

Melamine is NOT something you want in your house, not in this form. A glancing look at the crystals in the kidneys in the dead pets who have been necropsied may help explain this to you.
They are now finding melamine in the flesh of farmed catfish who got fed the poisoned food, people ate the 20 million chickens and the 56 thousand pigs who also ate the poison and the FDA has a lovely set of instructions on the hazmat suits that the inspectors must wear while testing this stuff, it states also that no pregnant women may be involved in testing and I just don't need something that toxic in my home.

This stuff kills a lot more than stains and is far, far from green.
melamine is a coal by product.

witchdoc, I understand all of that but are you eating a magic eraser? It's just not intended for food!

They taste like tofu.

I use mine for what Mrs. Meyer's can't get out (which isn't much). Mostly for the moving into a new apartment and want to make sure it's *really* clean. The eraser took up dirt that hands and knees brush scouring couldn't get out of linoleum--it was a totally different color. It's okay used gingerly on things painted with high-gloss enamel (like kitchen walls), but I'd test first.

My cleaning progression is natural methods to chemicals to this. I'm not sure that this is a worse thing than going through an entire bottle of something like super-strength Tilex when a minute with the eraser will get the job done. I'll be sure to clean up well after myself and keep these where the dog can't get them.

Wendy Mesley (top Canadian tv journalist who was diagnosed with breast cancer in her forties a couple of years ago) did a special report on carcinogens in every day products, and focussed on this exact one! In fact, I seem to recall she confronted the head of the Canadian Cancer Society with this little eraser. Forget what the actual carcinogen is though...

What's wrong with a good ole SCOTCH-BRITE scouring pad?

99.5% of cleaning products are a ruse...IMHO.

My household cleaning supplies:
Simple Green (diluted into spray bottles)
Stainless Steel cleaner (for streakless stovetops as well as SS)
Scotch-brite pad
Sponge
Toilet bowl brush
Rags
Microfiber dust mop

Good grief, give witchdoc a break!!! S/he lost 3 pets fer crissakes!! Witchdoc, I believe it was the combination of melamine and the cyanuric acid found together in petfood that caused kidney failures in so many of our pets.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/05/pet_food_recall41.html

I had no idea this was made of melamine. That it disintegrates into a powder is slightly alarming to me as well. I'm not the greenest person on the planet, but I DO try to keep my dog as chemical free as possible. This includes processed pet food. Eww. Witchdoc, do examine the option of either rawfeeding or homecooking for your pets. I've been rawfeeding for a year now, and my dog has never been healthier.

I loooooove Mr. Clean Magic Erasers! I keep one in the shower and will scrub the tile every few days as I'm showering. How's that for multi-tasking? ;)

I've also used mine to clean the tile in my entryway. Because the tile isn't smooth, it tends to disintegrate the Magic Eraser faster than usual, but it still cleans great and takes half the time as any other product.

posted by summerinbrooklyn on 2007-05-31 18:35:36
Thank you for the kind thoughts.
I have one dog who is ok and one cat who is still struggling to survive, they and any other pets I ever have will never touch the garbage that Proctor and Gamble foist off on a trusting public. The cyanuric acid is a breakdown product of melamine and the fact that these sponges turn to powder when they are used is not reassuring to me.
Besides, buying a Proctor and Gamble product has cost me more than enough already, thousands of dollars in vet bills, three months of hell and the deaths of my pets and enough tears that I could mop the floor with them.
Paying for a toxic product and bringing it into my home is one thing I hope to avoid, those that choose to bring this into their home have every right to do so, just not to claim it is in any way "green", it is a byproduct of coal and a carcinogen.

Wow, good find, going to have to try this out this weekend. My shower is FILTHY.

JenPDX,

If you want something that is environmentally friendly and inexpensive, yet effective, to clean your stainless steel, you may want to try club soda. Good cleaner and no rinsing needed.

I can only deeply sympathize with those who have lost pets (I sincerely can't imagine how terrible that loss must be), and I have huge respect for almost all of those dedicated to improving the environment and ensuring the best possible use of the world's resources. There is so much that we can all do to minimize our personal contributions to waste and pollution, and I still have sincere optimism that "we the people" can successfully curb the negative effects of those entities who are inordinately much more to blame for the threats to our environment than all of us individuals combined.

That said, I just can't help but get frustrated with the tendency of the most zealous advocates to try to instill what appears to be irrational fear (and guilt) in the general public about small consumer products and each individual's actions. Yes, there are plenty of corporations with far too few safeguards on the impact of their products, and yes, there are innumerable things we each can do to live greenER, but I just wish more people would channel their passion for environmental issues into unbiased education and emphasis on the big-time offenders rather than anything (really, ANYTHING) going on in individual homes.

I just can't help feeling like we're picking the wrong battles when we scoff at and chastise individuals who have a truly negligible environmental impact with the small, infrequent choice of a cleaning product, when every other ounce of those peoples' time and energy might well be dedicated to helping kids learn to read, helping to create jobs, lobbying Congress for cleaner energy policies, raising fun families, working in nursing homes, writing informative blogs, creating great new recipes for kumquats, bringing joy to those around them, etc..

And all of THAT said, I'm a little tipsy - and cranky - this evening, so feel free to disregard all of the above.

helloat,
Those of us who lost pets ARE doing our best to lobby congress, we just helped Senator Durbin with input on food safety, at his request and it really is a big deal that poison has been shipped by the metric ton into the entire food supply for many years. Country of origin labeling and closer inspection of the nations food supply has taken up a LOT of my time the past 3 months and there were thousands of grieving pet owners right there with me, we got to work to pull recalled pet food off store shelves before others suffered as we had.

Did a Senator ask your advice on food safety for the nation because of the extent of the investigative work you had been doing? I think we have been doing a heck of a job and if you don't then you are sadly uninformed.

Use what you want in your home, I will not use something as nasty as this item and told you why. The stuff is toxic to 6 decimal places, turns into a handy for inhaling dust with use and is a carcinogen.
Eat it on toast for breakfast if that is your choice but posting while intoxicated, on subjects you obviously know very little about, is not the best way to promote your views

OMG! Almonds have cyanide in them! What would happen if my child ACTUALLY ATE ALMONDS! Won't someone THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

OMG! Pets drink anti-freeze and die! Anti-freeze is used almost exclusively in CARS! FORD and GM are PET KILLERS!

OMG! Salt has CHLORINE in it! Terrorists in Iraq are using CHLORINE bombs! If you use salt YOU'RE HELPING THE TERRORISTS!

OMG! If you drink too much water, you can ACTUALLY DIE! Don't drink water, OR YOU COULD DIE TOO!

But most of all:

If someones pet is involved, let's make sure absolutely no critical thinking is involved in commenting on the situation.

kjs3, that comment was really silly and uncalled for. I don't think what witchdoc is doing is anything like that kneejerk type reaction you are ridiculing. I agree with you - hysterical knee jerk reactions are exactly that - hysterical. Unnecessary. I think though that what witchdoc is doing is far from a knee-jerk reaction. I think it's a very well thought-out, judiciously worked on plan. I commend his/her efforts. I wish I had the chutzpah to be that dedicated.

I DO think that witchdoc's comments on why s/he doesn't use the Mr Clean Magic Cleaner IS extremely critical. Didn't s/he lay out exactly why??

If you invest your time, effort and emotion into caring for a pet - feeding, training, interacting with - you would appreciate anyone's efforts in making his/her pet's lives comfortable, and not ridicule them for taking care of their animals the best way they know how. No need for shameful petty commentry.

quote: "...those that choose to bring this into their home have every right to do so, just not to claim it is in any way "green", it is a byproduct of coal and a carcinogen."

witchdoc - I don't think anyone is trying to say that the magic eraser is a green product. I haven't seen anyone say that. I think most people have been saying that they use it when other green products fail or that it might be better than using a large amount of other non-green chemicals.

On topic:

I had finger marks on AZEK trim boards as a result of the contractor using an oily nail gun (yes I've used them on the interior). I tried everything to clean them with no success and after a call to the manufacturer they recommended Magic Eraser. It worked liked, well, magic.

BTW: AZEK is considered sustainable insofar as it's product life cycle, albeit the content of recyclables from the initial manufacturing process is need of some improvement.

I'm in apartment management; I don't know what I did before finding the magic eraser. I use it for everything, not so impressed with derivatives of the original; Their smaller and don't work nearly as good. I've only been in this business since 99, but I've sought to eliminate as many of the harsh chemicals as possible. I do however use a oven cleaning product by Zep chemical that's pretty caustic; in unison with eraser for difficult showers. I never knew it was possible to turn a shower/tub combo orange. On soap scum and dirt clean up the eraser cleans showers and tub with very little effort.Counters that are 30 years old it cleans it will take paint off counters, red crayon off walls use caution as latex water based paint will come off too. I just love them I recommend it to everyone.