There’s plenty of useless content on TikTok. However, sometimes in the midst of a two-hour-long scroll, a nugget of gold that can genuinely improve your life pops up.
Most of the time for me, this comes in the form of some kind of #Cleantok content, and I’m always hooked.
Given spring has positively sprung and we are all beginning to crawl out of our winter dungeons (as much as La Niña will permit), I thought it was probably time to actually road-test one of the tips found in the 150,000 cleaning videos I’ve saved with the intention of revisiting.
Now, I’m a pretty clean person — I wouldn’t call myself a domestic goddess, but I do enjoy a bit of a therapeutic scrub. Although, like most folks, I prefer spending my free time doing things other than hacking off the gunk and grime I’ve created, so any time-saving/convenience hack is worth trying.
The first one I tried out intrigued me. I tested it out mostly because it looked fun. The hack is to spray shaving cream on the floor around your toilet to get rid of any grime build-up from, I guess, fluids that have missed the toilet. Given I share the bathroom with a male, I was absolutely ready to rid my tiles of any gunk for good.
@mumcentral 🚽 SHAVING CREAM TOILET FLOOR CLEANING HACK: TRIED AND TESTED!🚽 If you have boys at home you know how they can make a smelly mess of a toilet floor! Eradicate lingering smells with this easy shaving cream cleaning hack! 🚽💦 #cleaninghacks #bathroomhack #mumlife #housework #mintyfreshness ♬ 9 to 5 – Dolly Parton
Verdict: Loved it and would recommend (mostly because it was fun and reminded me of a bubble bath) — however, you definitely DO NOT need as much shaving cream as this creator used. The fresh smell is way better than your standard toilet cleaner scent, and it definitely de-grimed the floor — temporarily. If you’re really looking to get into the nitty gritty of bathroom floor grime, using a tool like RYOBI’s Compact Power Scrubber will probably do the trick a lot better than shaving cream.
Mmm, cream.
The next tip I tried was from a video that’s clocked in just over 2 million views since it was posted back in 2020. With that many views, it’s gotta be worth something, right?
My sink has been clogged for a while —, not problematically clogged but the kind of clogged where if I leave the water running for too long while brushing my teeth it gets a little dicey. Basically, this hack involves cramming bi-carb soda into your sink, leaving it for a bit and pouring white vinegar over the top to rid the drain of its perils.
@sorryimannie Cleaning the clogged sink drain 🤮 follow me for more videos #bakingsoda #vinegar #bakingsodaandvinegar #asmrcleaning #sink #satisfying #fyp ♬ original sound – Annie 💕
Verdict: I filled the drain with bi-carb and packed it in tightly, poured over my vinegar and it didn’t work. Sorry folks.
While it was reminiscent of a Year 7 science experiment and watching things fuzz up is fun, it didn’t work. I did read in the comments that using boiling water after the vinegar is dissolved helps, so if the clogging persists, I might give it a go.
It’s a no from me.
The last one I tried was this ‘ole shower cleaning hack. Now, no one likes cleaning the shower. It’s the worst of all the cleaning tasks. If you enjoy it, you probably also love walking in wet socks. It’s just annoying because there are way more fun cleaning tasks to do where you get completely wet. For example, I would love to spend a spring day walloping the dirt off my outside window sills with one of these RYOBI cordless power washers.
Anywho, this hack involves filling up one of those nifty sponge brushes with dishwashing liquid and white vinegar.
@vanesamaro91 #cleaningtip #cleaningtiktok #clean #tiktok #lifehack #learnontiktok #cleaning #cleaninghack #PepsiApplePieChallenge ♬ FEEL THE GROOVE – Queens Road, Fabian Graetz
Verdict: The creator kind of ate on this one. It’s perfect if you’re a short king/queen and find it difficult to reach up to the top of the shower, and you can literally do it while you’re washing your bod.
Not only was it convenient and easy, it really rinsed the shower screen of all my soapy scum (ew). It also reminded me that I should probably clean the shower more before it gets to this point.
Given there are a million other cleaning hacks to be found on TikTok, I can’t make an overall verdict on whether they’re all worth your time or not. But, given the ones I tried weren’t entirely crash-hot, it’s probably best to just invest your cash in products like RYOBI’s new cleaning range that are guaranteed to get into every nook and cranny. There’s also a bunch of #CleanTok hacks that feature the products too (that you can suss here and here) if you’re really looking to level up your spring cleaning game.
