Raise your hand if you like to clean. Yeah, that’s not too many of you – which means you are my people. Cleaning is the worst, but like death and taxes – it’s inevitable. Eventually, you just have to do it.
And lately, it seems like I’m cleaning all of the time. We have a new puppy (just three months old and she’s not completely trained to do her “business” outdoors yet), and we are putting our house on the market next week as we prepare for a move. So, I’m in a state of perpetual cleaning.
Because we have a puppy and I’m cleaning so often to make our home “show-ready” for prospective buyers, I was on the hunt for products that would not leave my home with that “chemical” smell that so many store-bought cleaning products seem to do. After all, bleach and synthetic fragrances just don’t smell good at all. Additionally, isn’t it just nice knowing you are cleaning your home with non-toxic, non-caustic products that are good for the environment and you?
That’s when I found SQUEAK. SQUEAK offers cleaning products that are safe for you and the environment, and the scents all come from essential oils.
The START RIGHT Bundle
SQUEAK offers a variety of products that includes an all-purpose cleaner, a glass cleaner, a room freshener, a yoga mat cleaner, a gentle scrub, and concentrated refills of the all-purpose cleaner. Some of the products have several scents to choose from depending on your preferences, which is a definite plus.
I chose the START RIGHT Bundle, which includes:
- In the CLEAR Glass Cleaner (geranium and lemongrass)
- FLOOR Me Floor Clean (pine, cedarwood, and juniper)
- All PERP OG All-Purpose Cleaner (citrus eucalyptus blend)
- Too Legit GRIT Gentle Scrub (rosemary and lemon)
- All PERP OG Concentrated Refill (citrus eucalyptus blend)
- Sponge Cloths (4-pack Reusable and 100% biodegradable)
The shipment arrived, and I’ll admit that I opened it and smelled all of the products – and then set it aside. After all, my realtor wasn’t stopping by, and my home was fairly clean. But, by the next day, my realtor called, and the puppy had an accident, and it was time to put it all to the test.
The Scent
I know, I know…these are cleaning products, so maybe I should start with how well they clean, but I’m actually not going to. I’m going to start with how they smell. For me, a fresh-smelling home is half the battle of having a clean home. Between a puppy and two teen boys who play sports, my house sometimes has a funky smell that I am not proud of nor “nose-blind” to.
The Too Legit GRIT smells amazingly fresh! I love everything about the smell of this product! The rosemary and lemon are perfect for spring cleaning and really made my sink area smell fantastic.
Next, I tried the All PERP OG in the citrus eucalyptus blend. Initially, I was not a fan of this one. It had a slight medicinal smell to it (which I’m sure was the eucalyptus), but it quickly dissipated (and I mean quickly), and the citrus scent came through.
The In the CLEAR glass cleaner was fresh smelling but more subtle than the rest of the scents.
And, finally, the FLOOR Me cleaner definitely had that “woodsy” scent you would expect from something with pine and cedarwood oils in it.
Overall, I was a fan of the scents. And my home smelled clean without smelling artificial or like a hospital that’s been sanitized.
But Do the Products Really Make Your Home SQUEAKy Clean?
The big question is, “Do they clean?” And they do! I cleaned all sorts of surfaces with these products. I cleaned my sink. My microwave. The sliding glass doors which had puppy nose prints on them. My glass cooktop. The hardwood floors that the puppy runs around on (and occasionally has accidents on). My kitchen countertops. The bathroom sinks and showers. You name it, I quickly ran around and cleaned it before the realtor showed up.
And they all were sparkling clean – or, I guess I should say SQUEAKy clean. In fact, my realtor commented on how good my home looked and smelled. The products were easy to use. And I love the reusable cloths that came with the START RIGHT bundle. (They’re just like Swedish dishcloths!)
To Use or Not to Use?
If you are looking for cleaning products that are non-toxic, non-caustic, and good for you and the environment, then you should check out SQUEAK. The prices are comparable to other such products on the market – which is to say, right in line with what you think you should be paying. And, while it’s still not going to make you love cleaning, you will love the way your home smells and feel good about the products you are using.