Consumer NZ staff picks: Our favourite cleaning products

So, over the last couple of weeks, I’ve bought a fair few cleaning products. Some have been a total waste of money, and some are so good, they have me dreading that, one day, they’ll be discontinued. It gave me the idea to ask around the office to see what products my colleagues can’t live without.

I should say now: none of these products have been officially tested – they’re just ones we personally swear by. I’ll start with mine – and I hope you’ll share yours in the comment section.

My favourite cleaning product is Hillmark Cerapol. It’s a cooktop cleaner, but one day, I had the thought it might also work on the water spots on my shower glass. I’m not a squeegee-every-day kind of person – life is too short. Instead, I just use Cerapol every now and then, when the soap scum starts to build up. No shower glass cleaners I’ve tried work as well. I just scrub it on in circles with a rough cleaning pad and rinse off with the shower head. I don’t know if this is a good idea; I just know it works for me. Try at your own risk and maybe do a little test first. I get it from Bunnings for about $11 and use about half a bottle each time.

Jacinta Allen is our business analyst / project manager, and she doesn’t seem like someone who’d let water spots form on shower glass. That’s because she’s someone who mops her walls. (I didn’t know I was meant to do that!) For that job, she loves Selleys Sugar Soap – she dilutes it and uses a mop to clean the walls and ceiling. Scott Gillan, our business relationships manager, is another fan of sugar soap. He uses the Selleys Sugar Soap Wipes. “They come in pretty handy for getting fly poo off the ceiling and lampshades,” Scott says.

To tackle the stains on his walls and ceiling, Paul Fuge, the manager of our Powerswitch programme, always has a Chux Magic Eraser handy. “It’s great for getting crayon or pen off walls – or any other disgusting immovable stains.”

Bex Robinson, our head of operations, had already put a lot of thought into this subject before I asked the question. “I weirdly think about this quite often when I’m cleaning,” she says. “I think if I could only have one cleaning product, my desert island product, it would have to be Jif – the classic cream cleanser that can do bathrooms and kitchens and tiles and ovens and all things.”

Bex’s strong feelings for Jif were matched by Frank Ramsden Bradley’s feelings about Bar Keepers Friend. “When I discovered this, I felt like I’d uncovered a deep secret of the universe,” says our digital experience manager. He uses the scouring powder to remove stuck-on bits and stains from his cookware. “It makes me feel like a scientist sprinkling the magic powder on my dishes. It’s an especially great combo when I use it with the Scrub Daddy.”

Abby Damen, our communications and campaigns adviser, tried to get three products onto this list, but I told her that was two too many. She eventually decided De-Solv-It is her fave. “I rate it highly for getting sticker residue off, and a little goes a long way. I also love how it smells,” she says.

Miranda Greeley, our consumer services manager, recently discovered Strike Glass Wipes at Woolworths. She says they’re perfect for little touch-ups when pup Freddie smears his nose to the windows. She also uses them to clean the microwave door and mirrors. “I love them!” she says.

Maggie Edwards, our consumer adviser, thought a bit outside the box and chose her Kmart steam mop. “I house-sat for my niece, and she has a steam mop, which made cleaning so much faster and easier than using a mop and bucket.” So when Maggie got home she bought the $59 steam mop from Kmart, which she says is perfect for quickly doing her bathroom floor.

But the person in the office who feels the most passionate about a cleaning product is Jessica Walker, our head of communications and campaigns. Jess loves Domestos so much that her daughter recently gave her a bottle as a birthday present. “It’s a super-thick bleach, so it really clings to the surface, which gives me confidence it’s doing its job well. The nozzle is really good at getting into tight spaces, like around the edges of the bath and under the toilet bowl rim,” she says. If that endorsement has you putting Domestos on your shopping list, Jess warns it can be hard to find in supermarkets. And she won’t be happy if it gets even harder to track down! “When I see it, I buy it in bulk. No matter how much it goes up in price, I will buy it.”

So, those are our favourites – what are yours?