Why Your Cleaner Puts on a Show
excerpt please
Most of what makes a cleaning product work is invisible. So the industry built a version you can see — and the manufacturers describe exactly why in their own patent filings.
Posts by author
Robin Murphy
66 posts
I think we’ve gotten cleaning all wrong. We treat it like a chore when it’s really one of the simplest ways to protect your health and take care of your life. After 30 years in the industry, that’s the idea I keep coming back to, and what I write about here.
Why Some Messes Feel Louder Than Others
There can be three sweaters on a chair and I barely notice them. One empty box in the hallway, and suddenly it has a personality. Some messes are louder than others, and it has almost nothing to do with size.
When Did Cleaning Become a Moral Test?
Somewhere along the way, cleaning stopped being household maintenance and became evidence of who we are. It isn't. Here's what a house can actually tell you, and what it can't.
The Refrigerator Is a Museum of Good Intentions
Every refrigerator contains at least one object purchased for the person we meant to be. The herbs for the dinner we planned to cook. The berries bought during a burst of nutritional optimism. The intention was real. The appetite was not.
Why More Cleaner Can Make Things Dirtier
no, give me another optoin
If one spray is good, six must be better. That instinct is why your floor turns sticky, your towels stop absorbing water, and your glasses are cloudy. More cleaner doesn't make a surface cleaner. It gives dirt somewhere to land.
Your House Has a Smell. You Just Can’t Smell It.
Your house has a smell. You just stopped noticing it. That's your nose turning down the volume, not evidence that nothing is there.
Your House Is Trying to Tell You Something
Houses are more talkative than we give them credit for. A musty smell, a slow drain, dust that won't stay gone. They're not separate annoyances. They're clues.
In Defense of the Feather Duster
The feather duster has terrible branding. It's also one of the best dusting tools I know. A defense of the most underestimated thing in the cleaning aisle.
The Room That Works While You Sleep
We optimize our sleep with apps, gadgets, and supplements, and mostly ignore the room it actually happens in. A look at the bedroom as something your body lives in, not just sleeps in.
I’ve Never Completely Trusted Microfiber
Microfiber is one of the best cleaning tools we have. I use it all the time. But after decades of cleaning and handling thousands of microfiber cloths, I've never completely trusted it. Here's why.