Magic Erasers Clean like Magic

Remember back in the 1970s when the iconic Mr. Clean, with his shiny, bald head and single earring, was synonymous with clean floors and contented housewives? Well, Mr. Clean is still working his magic these days, in the form of Magic Erasers.

A small, white rectangle about the size of a bar of soap, it looks like a sort of a sponge. But get it a little damp and begin lightly scrubbing a dirty spot that you've been unable to remove with anything else, and you'll quickly see that it's not like any sponge you've used before. It rubs like a sponge, dissolves like the eraser you used in elementary school, and cleans like nobody's business. It will remove ground on dirt, crayon and scuff marks off of painted surfaces or floors, shine up tubs and sinks from soap scum, make silver sparkle and clean knick-knacks back to their original sheen. Family members have sworn to me that they removed pizza sauce from a cream colored carpet and spaghetti sauce from a dining room chair cushion. A friend who manages a lot of rentals cannot live without them since using one to clean up the impossible mess left by tenants, using a damp Magic Eraser and a little bit of elbow grease.

A box of 4 retails for about $5 and they are worth their weight in gold. There was a rumor going around that they were dangerous because they supposedly had formaldehyde in their ingredients, but according to Snopes, that rumor is false and they are safe to use. They are not toys, however, and children, who might ingest them, should not be using them unsupervised. But adults who begin using them will probably find themselves going around looking for things to clean!

The acid test occurred one day when our son was sealing the roof of the back porch with roofing tar. Someone in the family accidentally tracked roofing tar in on my brand new Pergo floor. I knew of nothing that would take off roofing tar. But as I stood gazing in numb despair, I suddenly remembered my Magic Eraser. In the manner of a terminally ill patient who grasps desperately at an experimental treatment in the hope of a miracle, I took my Magic Eraser, dampened it, and began scrubbing the spot. To my amazement and delight, the tar came right up, and in about five minutes my floor looked as good as new. The treatment removed the tar without tarnishing the finish of the floor at all. After that episode, Magic Erasers earned an honored spot in my pantry.

Sometimes I feel like one of the women in the old Mr. Clean commercials. I'll be discouraged or dismayed over some cleaning catastrophe, and suddenly I'll remember my Magic Eraser waiting quietly in the pantry. I'll get it a little damp, scrub a little and once again, my house will sparkle and shine. The cleaning miracles continue to accumulate, and sometimes I can almost see Mr. Clean wink at me just like in the old commercials.