I hate cleaning. I really do. But I hate strangers messing with my stuff too, so I’ve never paid for a cleaning lady either (although I may do that when I move into my new pad next month). So every couple of months my tub will get to the point where a little wipe down with Soft Scrub just won’t do and I’ll have to suck it up and put some elbow grease into it. If I get really lazy for extended periods, it gets extraordinarily tough to clean. That’s what has happened recently, especially since I knew I was going to be moving out. So usually when the tub gets this grimy, I have to step up the chemical assault and the best thing I’ve found is CLR which is some industrial strength shit from Home Depot that is supposed to remove calcium, lime and rust. It’s made for commercial applications, but believe me, when a tub hasn’t been cleaned for about 6 months, it’s time to bring out the heavy artillery. The downside is that CLR will stink up the joint, and it takes a while to work it’s magic. Evenn then, you still need to put some hard scrubbing to get the gunk off, but at least the CLR morphs the grime into something that actually will come off of the tub. So that had been my usual ritual; slack for a few months and then bring out the toxic stuff and scrub away. Still a pain in the ass.

Well a while back I was in CVS buying sponges (kitchen not contraceptive) and saw something that looked interesting. It was the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. It said on the package that you’re supposed to soak it with water, squeeze out the excess, and then use it to wipe stains off of walls, like if your kid writes on the wall with crayon. It was cheap, so I bought it even though I had no wall stains or bratty kids to speak of. I bought it and chucked it in with my cleaning supplies and then totally forgot about it. So today I’m going to go grab the CLR when I notice the Magic Eraser package so I decide to try it out- on the tub! It’s a bright white spongy material that kind of reminds me of the stuff that double sided tape is made of. I ran it under water and squeeze out the excess and then took it to the tub. I made one quick pass over the tub with it and I was suddenly speechless. The Magic Eraser is indeed magic. It shockingly started wiping away the grime with almost no effort. I don’t know what it’s made of or how it works, but it really works well! I could not believe I didn’t have to use any chemical agents to get that gross film off the bottom of the tub. I’ve tried a lot of cleaning products through the years, including infomercial things like the Steam Buggy, but I gotta say, the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser absolutely takes the cake. Incredible!