Over the last several days it's been hopping around the blogosphere that you could in fact get your mirrors and windows cleaner if you changed your clothes before doing so. How so you ask? It's been reported that wearing black clothing helps you to see streaks that still need cleaning and although this might be true, I ask you, in what world do people change clothes to clean mirrors. Has the world of home care gone too far?
The long and the short of that answer is yes and no. You can never go too far when it comes to the love of your home and how you present yourself to others. That said, I'm pretty sure I've been managing to to clean my mirrors for years without having to wear all black as it's been suggested.
It first started over at Shelterpop and was then noticed by the folks at Real Simple. Today Lifehacker picked up the tip but instead of passing it on to you, we're going to question the advice and say that all you really need to clean your windows and mirrors is a bit of vinegar — not a change in clothes.
Where do you stand on the idea? Is it silly? Would it help you? Are you one to miss seeing streaks until a day later when you inevitably say, "Hey, I just cleaned that!" Sound off in the comments below!
HELPFUL LINKS
• How To Clean A Window
• How To Clean and De-Fog Bathroom Mirrors, Toxin-Free
Image: Flickr member ldhren licensed for use by Creative Commons
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Maybe if you do it professionaly? Like, for cleaning ladies in a hotel it might make sense to wear black clothing (black uniform) since they have to clean a lot of mirrors in a short amount of time. But I never would change clothing just to clean my private mirrors.
I'm short so wearing black would only help with the bottom 1/3rd or so of wall-mounted mirrors. Maybe I should be wearing a really tall black top hat.
i tend to wear black while cleaning anyway, but not because it will make me clean 'better'.
i've got a tried and true system of cleaning (mostly every sunday, basically all day to prepare for the dirty week ahead) and i only wear black because i tend to get everything else stained in the process.
oh, and i've never noticed my mirrors being any dirtier, or cleaner for that matter, by wearing black. i notice when sunlight hits it.
engineergirl is Abe Lincoln in disguise.
"You can never go too far when it comes ... to how you present yourself to others."
are you serious? I don't give a hoot what others think of my house and my style. If I did, I'd have a drab beige 'neutral' hellhole of a midcentury place without any books (because they're construed as clutter) or with the books organized by size or colour. how soulless is that?
Good grief. I think the bigger house-cleaning issue is our obsession with anti-bacterial this and that. Yes, you should absolutely keep a clean house, and yes, food-borne illness blah blah blah is important.
But our society's made up fear and obsession with eradicating bacteria (which you've all lived with for years, and which has made you healthier for it) I think comes out of these weird "wear black to clean your mirrors" kind of tips.
Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I recently saw the 'touchless' soap dispenser commercial for your house? Holy Monkeys, YOU CAN TOUCH THE SOAP DISPENSER WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO SCRUB YOUR HANDS WITH SAID SOAP!
Perhaps I need to sit down. (Carry on, I'll be ok.)
jweddel is absolutely right. Wearing black is a nifty trick but that's hardly going too far. Going too far is using hospital grade sanitizers to clean our homes. We need germs to get on us and build up our immune systems. I stopped using antibacterial anything for this reason. Regular old soap kills enough germs for me.
I make multiple wardrobe changes when I clean the house, some for functionality, some for fun, and some to better conform to whatever song is playing on my custom iPod playlist featuring music especially selected to enhance the cleaning experience.
Not.
I read a great book about the history of the lightbulb - Brilliant - and it mentioned that getting electric lights into households actually was a curse for women (who were in charge of cleaning the home) because all of a sudden you could see how dirty everything was. Sounds about right to me. Forget wearing black - get a dimmer for your lights instead!
"Chic and slimmer"? Unhappyhipsters was made for sites like Shelterpop.
Jweddel - preach it, girl! (Boy!?) You are so spot-on. For heaven's sake - people have been around germs for millennia, happily coexisting. Antibiotics have bread us the supergerms, and more antibacterials will likely only lead to more of them.
LOL Indy Jeffrey.
@Jweddel and Mary B C: thats always something which surprises me on American blogs- germs, germs, germs, this is unsafe, don't do that. For example, yesterday when there was a tipp on either thekitchen or renest to let your food cool down before putting them into the fridge to reduce the amount of electricity the fridge uses, some people were commenting that "its safer to put the food right away in the fridge". I think according to those people its a miracle I still live!
Home body, I read 'Brilliant'. A big reason why the house was so dirty is that other light sources (candles, oil lamps) created soot that went on everything.
In my opinion, the wearing-black "tip" says more about the surplus of bloggers and their need to provide frequent copy than it does about our need to clean to perfection.
"I make multiple wardrobe changes when I clean the house..." - Indy Jeffrey
This comment reminded me of the Lady Gaga's "You and I" video I saw this morning. Random (and unnecessary IMHO) wardrobe changes, JUST BECAUSE I CAN! I think we should apply this to our daily lives including while cleaning. :o)
I just switched all my household cleaner to water and vinegar (and baking soda as needed). problem solved. and I refuse to buy anything "antibacterial" because that's overkill.(or scam, depending on who you ask)
And perhaps a black ski mask to complete the ensemble? Then you could rob a bank after your windows and mirrors are all shiny and streak-free.
I think that it is ironic that "Real Simple" seems to always promote "real complicated" tasks. If one were to take all their advice, they would be tortured by the amount of rituals needed to get through the day. It really is all about creating new content, unfortunately.
The pleather boots bother me more than the tip... but at least the photoshoot wan't high budget. It's just a need to fill space... consider the amount of time AT is just filling up posts with misspellings and pointless tid-bits. It's all about the ad $$.
Couldn't be bothered. If it's spotty and I can see it, it gets cleaned. If I don't see the spots neither will you when you come to my house. You came for good company right?
Oh Lord, I am NOT changing my clothes (although, I have all black on right now coincidentally) -I'm just happy if they get cleaned at all!
I'm like engineergirl, except I wear a Mister Peanut costume. The monocle is a great advantage.