Happy Friday: Cleaning Supplies at Dollar Store
Sent from reader, Kristine:
We bought a house and moved last weekend (I’m still tired!) and I had lots of cleaning supplies to buy to clean our old and new house. I was planning to go to Target, but I stopped at the dollar store instead and was pleasantly surprised. They had dusters (similar to Swiffer) and generic magic erasers that worked great. My favorite find was the buckets. I was worried about how much the buckets would be at Target, so finding them for $1 was awesome. I ended up spending $10 for everything I needed!
HAPPY FRIDAY!
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Those $1 buckets have a tendency.to break when you put too much water in it. Mine did, with minimal use. Not being negative, just wanting peeps to be careful when carrying it. The 99 cents store released $1.99 buckets this week & they are thicker and looks like theyd last longer.
I found lime-a-way at the dollar store and was thrilled! Works great on the toilets
I just use the lime away and did wonders im planning to go back and buy 5 more bottled
Yes “The Works” toilet cleaner at the Dollar Tree is amazing at cleaning toilets!
Happy friday! thanks for sharing your finds.I just moved in may and i spend alot of tiime in the dollar tree buying stuff.I saw mops,cutting boards,i got vinegar&bakingsoda for cleaning.Pretty metallic gold paper to decorate planner notebook with.Balloons for my 5 year old son to have indoor fun when its raining like now.My 12 year old girl was blowing up the balloons.So much stuff.
I have buckets from the dollar tree that I’ve had for years and are still great! They’re the kind with the rope handle, they’re much thicker plastic.
I’m really impressed with the quality of dollar store cleaning products now-a-days. A couple of years ago they sucked (“you get what you pay for”). But now I don’t hesitate to stock up
Found medicine for $1
I was wondering if anyone with well water knows how to get the stubborn rust stains out of the toilet bowl. I’ve lived in my house for a year and have tried everything and nothing seems to work.
Have you tried Simple Green? Full strength
I have removed many stubborn toilet rings using a pumice stone. Hope this helps 🙂
I used Muratic acid from Lowes because all the other stuff mentioned didn’t work. Had to use heavy duty gloves (the yellow ones) and poured the Muratic acid on paper towels and put it on the toilet to sit for a good hour or so. I had to repeat the process a couple of times because the buildup of rust was so bad. Afterwards the Rust came out and the toilet looked brand new! Just be careful with the fumes.
as a person who owned a cleaning business for many years:
nicole is spot on: muriatic acid, works the best. be forward the stains eventually do come back. toilets and tubs were the worst for me, because of the well water turning everything brown. and as nicole stated. gloves are a must. the stuff is potent.
you will be very pleased with muriatic acid.
Try The Works. I had EXTREMELY hard well water when I lived in VA. It’s the only thing I ever found that worked.
I completely agree!!! The Works is the ONLY thing we used when we had well water for 18 years!!!
I use the works in my tub too for those nasty tub rings.
The Works is the best!
Have you tried ‘Iron Out’? I get it at Menards, but if you don’t have one nearby they might sell it at another Home Depot type store.
CLR cleaner it’s very strong and great on rust and calcium deposits. I used it all the time when we had well water. Let it soak for a few minutes before scrubbing
The best product I’ve ever used is ironically carried at Dollar Tree too. It’s called the works toilet bowl cleaner. It’s also carried at Walmart. We used it on the most stubborn rust stains on our pool that nothing else would get off.
We too have rusty well water. We use The Works toilet bowl cleaner. It is the only thing that works on our stains. It is usually about $1.48 at our Walmart. Cleans great and is cheap too!
Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I have actually not tried the works yet. I will definitely be trying that. Is it ok to use with a septic tank?
The works! But…the one at dollar tree is not the same as the one at walmart. It was not strog enough for my rust.
We got the scouring stick at Walmart and it has been the only thing that has worked! It’s with the cleaning supplies but it’s easy to miss! It comes in a longer narrow package. They are around 2 dollars but I will never use anything else! Our toilet had horrible rust and it’s completely gone now
Second the scouring stick! Walmart is the least expensive but all hardware stores should carry it. I worked for a white glove cleaning company and that I’d what they used. It’s also fantastic for baked on junk in the oven!
Most likely mineral buildup, porcelain doesn’t rust. Use a pumice stone, they do sell bigger ones for toliets, but any works.
The lime away did wonders for me and i tryed clr but wasnt too happy with it untill i tried lime away
I second the Lime Away. It works great. Just leave it sit for a while in the bowl, and then brush. Maybe use a pumice stone if it’s really bad. All the Dollar Tree stores in my area sell a small bottle of the lime away toilet bowl cleaner.
The Works toilet bowl cleaner
You might try citric acid powder. I buy 10 lb from amazon for around $25. I use a tsp or 2 in my dishwasher in each load with my finish and its amazing. Many reviewers use it for concrete or pools.
Lemishine worked beautifully on my hard water stains, might work for you. It’s with dish machine soap. It comes as a crystal powder, spread it all over the toilet sides and let the bowl water create a paste, leave it sit for a while, come back and brush off!
If you can get the water out of the bowl I would try Bar Keepers Friend. You can get it in a gel or powder. Your toilet shouldn’t have rust since it’s porcelain.
Absolutely agree with The Works! We use the toilet bowl cleaner and the shower cleaner. If you can get the bowl clean, then put some Rust out in the tank and let it set for several hours or overnight. That will help the tank. We also use Barkeerpers Friend for our sinks and bathtub.
If you also have it on your bathtub and it is textured bottom on it like mine, I will squirt The works shower cleaner on it and then sprinkle barkeepers friend on it and let it set. Then I use a brush and it comes whitel
Try 32 ounces of hydrogen peroxide and let it sit for 24 hours. We have heavy iron in our water and this is how I get the stains out of the bowls.
I have well water and couldn’t get the stains out the toilet either . But I have found that Lysol toilet bowl cleaner works great. But only the blue bottle that says Power on it . The other ones don’t work
Norwex has two products that we use for rust; Cleaning Paste and Descaler. The Cleaning Paste we use in the house and the Descaler we use in our garage shop. The Descaler works great for items that have been rusting for years and The Cleaning Paste has always removed all the rust and lime we have in the house. So, either one of them will work for your toilet.
We bought a lake cottage this summer and all my cleaning products and household goods came from Dollar Tree. Also I will no longer be shopping at Target. I went to purchase items with my coupons today and EVERY single item was out of stock. I find this everytime I go and being 30 miles away I can’t keep going to be dissapointed. I talked with employees at 2 different stores and they are aware that this is a problem. Plus it seems like “no rainchecks” is on most of the sale items.
I know how you feel! There are 2 targets near me and each one…every single week…has NOTHING in stock. EVER. I am amazed when I hear people say they love target. And I can’t beleive all the great deals that Collin gets at target. Happy for anyone that does but I let target go a long time ago.
If there was nothing in stock ever then the store would be empty and thus not a store at all. Just a building
I’m pretty sure she meant the items she was trying to get with coupons. I live in a city with a bunch of Targets, and if you’re not there Sunday morning at opening time the shelves are cleared by the afternoon. I’ve luckily made friends with the manager at mine and am able to substitute similar items for the good CW deals.
Seriously? Why even comment? Smh
Katie…I was only stating my experience and my opinion of the Target stores in my area. Kiddos to everyone who can get the great deals at Target. I however go elsewhere and I love dollar tree too. You have yourself a wonderful weekend.
I completely agree.
You must live in super couponer world. Nearly every deal blogger is posting these deals–and there are a lot of deal bloggers out there. That’s a lot of competition for a limited amount of product on the shelf. I kinda thought that the point of this particular post was that bypassing coupons and potential moneymakers might actually save you money in the bigger picture. Theoretically, this reader might have saved money by purchasing her dusters and cleaning products at Dollar Tree rather than wasting gas driving all over creation looking for “moneymaking” Swiffers but paying significantly more for all the other products she needed.
You should be able to check stock online for what you want and not waste the trip. Kind of an annoying extra step but it might be helpful. Also maybe call and find out when they get truck because if you are going once a month and they stock two days later, no wonder they run out.
I love the dollar store! I bought the blue bucket with rope handle and have been rough with it. I use it for car washes among other things. I also love the empty spray bottles. I buy concentrated simple green at hardware stores then have a spray bottle in the kitchen, bathrooms, garage,and laundry room. I used the black table cloth as a space galaxy back drop for my son’s star wars party. Put stars and spaceships on it. So much fun!
Vinegar gets the stubborn rust stains out.
I am sometimes amazed at what the Dollar Tree has.
This summer they had like an insanely huge can of Heinz pickles. I mean it was like 98 oz!
I got one of those too!
I do cleaning for living and buy all the dusters from the dollar store. But other products in bulk from price club.
The best cleaning and natural was to clean anything is “magic cleaner” how I call it lol. It is half vinegar and half dawn dish detergent, cleans EVERYTHING for very bad soap scum just spray it and leave for few minutes and everything is gone 🙂 I use it for glass, sink, bathroom everything. Also if you put 2-3 drops of essential oil ( I use lavender) on the filter of your vacuum cleaner your house will smell AMAZING 🙂
You mix equal parts vinegar and Dawn? Also, thanks for the essential oil tip!
I have a empty Windex bottle so I put almost half bottle vinegar then dawn I don’t measure but generous amount not quite half and some warm water, less than cup. Mix and that’s it. It works wonders trust me. BUT it has to be regular blue dawn. I tried others did not work good as this. It is natural, no chemicals.
Isn’t blue dawn made from chemicals?
How long can you keep this mixture under the sink? Or do you mix every time you need it?
I agree!! In fact I’ve cleared many clogged sinks by putting 2 cups of vinegar and 2 cups of water with a good squirt of dish soap into the microwave for about 7 minutes. I immediately dump it into the clogged drain and it will clear it right up! My husband is a happy camper that I didn’t have to get him involved.
Kat, thanks for the tip. Will this work on clogged toilets too? Would like to try this before forking money to a plumber as the last resort. Thanks so much!
For clogged toilets I just dump boiling water down and that works 🙂
We bought some bathroom cleaner at the dollar store and use it on EVERYTHING at our rental properties. We bough a house that the lady smoked in for 60 years and used the cleaner for the walls. I was going to write the company and commend them on their product. We bought 50+ and the lady looked at us like we were crazy. Better than paying $4 a bottle for same idea.
I went with my $1 off coupons in hand to Dollar Tree to get some free Swiffer Duster refills as seen on a Dollar Tree deals blog post online. Our silly Dollar Tree never seems to carry any brand name items and did not have the Swiffer brand. So I purchased the brand shown in the pic above. One refill only lasted ONE use before getting beat up looking and ineffective. And it kept falling off of the handle that it came with. Buyer beware. :-/
DT doesn’t sell Swiffer refills, just a 1 use Swiffer, handle plus 1 duster.
At least that’s what I’ve seen.
They have an awesome foaming shower cleaner and a good product for cleaning car interiors
I took my husband to Dollar Tree last week and he’s already been back on his own twice. Today he found a shelf full of the Jack Links jerky that was discussed previously in Hip2Save. We now have 22 packs! I’m going to look for The Works next time I’m there. Thanks.
LOVE LOVE LOVE the dollar stores…however, they are not as good as Hip2save!
I just moved to a new house too and it’s exhausting! Wish this post would have came up then 🙂
I love all the tips about cleaning hard water, rust, etc. very helpful!
I bought the same buckets from Rite Aid. They are $1 section and I get 20% discount so only $0.80. I don’t see quality issue. So next time at Rite Aid check the $1 section for these buckets.
I bought one of those orange paint buckets you get at Home depot to use as a mop bucket..It’s reasonably price and it’s strong and durable:)
Hope the above poster sees this! The BEST, hands down best way (after trying everything on the store shelf) to get rid of the orange stains from hard water is called Bar Keepers Friend. The powder kind, (like Comet but in a brown container instead of green) not the liquid kind by same company. To use on toilets you will have better luck emptying the water (just pour a bucket into bowl until it forces flush, tank won’t refill it until you flush again with handle). Sprinkle it on, work it into a paste, let it sit just a few minutes, scrub and you will be so amazed!
Also, I heartily agree with the “mAgic” cleaner of Dawn and White vinegar for other cleaning! I heat the vinegar up in micro before mixing a batch. Fill a spray bottle–wow! Sparkling clean!!
My favorite “find” at the Dollar Tree is their generic version of Spray & Wash. It’s amazing and works better than the name brand stuff IMHO. My DH is always spilling stuff on his shirts so I keep three bottles in the house (first floor, second floor, basement) for quick applications. It’s the best stuff out there hands down 🙂
Since we’re swapping recipes…what’s the best way to get junk (oil/grease) build-up off wood cabinets that have been painted? Preferably something natural or home made. Also need ideas for the metal screen on the kitchen stove hood. TIA to any responses.
Grease on grease works. I sprayed my metal fixtures with olive oil non stick spray, grabbed a light textured cloth & wiped it away. There were some tough spots, I simply put more oil on it.
1/2 c. Vinegar + 1 c. Water + 10-12 drops of Jojoba or Olive Oil may work well for cabinets. I use this recipe to dust my wood furniture and it works pretty good. (If you have flat paint, I would add more Jojoba or Olive Oil so that the acid from the vinegar doesn’t “strip” the paint).
I always buy cleaning supplies at the Dollar Tree for my kids when it’s time to go back to college. Buckets, toilet brush, scrubbers, broom etc. That way at the end of the year if we have to toss things out I don’t feel too guilty.