All About Cleaning

When our children were little and my husband worked long hours, I made a habit of not doing housework on the weekend (apart from dishes and beds and several loads of washing). Now that I'm working, and weekends are precious, I try to ensure housework is up to date before Saturday morning. Doesn't always work, but it's a good goal.

Hence I avoid, as much as possible, working Friday afternoon - so that I can use that time to rush around like a lunatic cleaning and polishing and making our home spic 'n' span.

There is something relaxing, for me at least, to be able to sit down on Friday evening and marvel at a clean house.

But sometimes the effort required to get to that state is ... monumental.

Until recently when a friend (and clever salesperson) gave me Norwex cloths to trial. After three hours of cleaning I was hooked! With just plain water (yes, water!) and a cloth I was able to achieve a home that was sparkling clean.

Who wouldn't want to be able to clean with just water and reduce the use of chemicals? (Would you believe me if I said my home even feels and smells cleaner than before Norwex/E-Cloth - all with the use of just water?)

But the price!

Online research suggested that E-Cloth offered a similar product at a fraction of the cost. I purchased some of each, and this then is my unprofessional, un-sponsored, unbiased (maybe) review of the two products.
 
Norwex Kick Start Kit containing EnviroCloth, Window Cloth, and Dusting Mitt.



Norwex EnviroCloth. Loved, loved it! To be able to clean an entire house with one cloth was wonderful. For the first time ever I was able to remove soap scum in the shower with just plain ol' water. Imagine! However, my hands were not happy afterwards (red and dry and split and painful) but I had cleaned solidly for three hours, not wanting to stop when I saw the amazing results.

Norwex Window Cloth. After years of never having windows that sparkled despite untold effort, this cloth was a marvel. A spray of water, a wipe over and windows and mirrors were sparkling clean. And they seemed to stay that way longer (apart from doggy prints and granddaughters' sticky paws which no cloth could prevent).

Norwex Dusting Mitt. This worked well but I found it cumbersome. My preference would be to have two EnviroCloths and keep one dry and one wet for a wide range of cleaning purposes.

E-Cloth 8-Piece Home Cleaning Kit containing the following eight cloths:



E-Cloth Bathroom Cloth. As far as I'm concerned, this works as well as the EnviroCloth. I love that the E-Cloth pack has separate cloths for bathroom and kitchen. That alone makes them seem more hygienic. Of course, you could just have two EnviroCloths if you preferred.

E-Cloth Kitchen Cloth. This has a pocket for your finger for heavy duty scrubbing. I haven't used it yet. But the cloth works great in my opinion - as great as the Norwex.

E-Cloth Hob and Oven. This is another great cloth. Cleaned my gas hobs and oven with just water. The polishing cloth left my stove bright and shining.

E-Cloth Stainless Steel Cloth. This worked well. I'm just not sure it's necessary as the kitchen cloth seemed to work just as well. But it was in the 8-pack that I bought so I used it and will continue to do so. And it did leave my sink and chrome-ware gleaming so what's not to love about it?

E-Cloth Duster. I prefer this to the Norwex Mitt since I found it easier to use. However the Norwex Mitt was incredible on venetian blinds - and worth it just for that.

E-Cloth Window. I was sceptical of this cloth since it was a two-step process: wipe with cloth then finish up with polishing cloth. But I tried it and it worked and the extra step was worth the effort.

E-Cloth Glass and Polishing Cloths x2. There were two in the box which is very handy as I found one quickly became wet and they're best used dry. These work great on glass. And on granite. Especially on granite. And on my Falcon stove. I've decided to keep one in my kitchen along with the Kitchen Cloth so that I can always have shiny granite.

Verdict: The Norwex three-pack will clean an entire house but it's expensive. The Norwex Window Cloth is amazing but the E-Cloth Window is as good. (The Norwex Window Cloth may have been marginally better although the E-Cloth polishing cloth levelled the playing field.) The Norwex Dusting Mitt makes cleaning venetian blinds child's play but I found it cumbersome for general dusting.

The E-Cloth eight-pack provides a variety of cloths which performed as well as the Norwex, at a fraction of the price. I liked that there are separate cloths for bathroom and kitchen and the polishing cloth was amazing. I also think the E-Cloths were slightly smaller and thus a more manageable size in my opinion.

As much as I loved the Norwex - probably because I tried this brand first and was amazed at the results - I would probably recommend the E-Cloths to friends and family since they performed to the same standard and were a lot kinder on the wallet.

Whether Norwex or E-Cloth: maximum results for minimum effort.

Now, please excuse me while I go and sit back and enjoy my sparkling home. 

Comments