Someone asked us recently, how we survived with our home on the market for 11+ months. How we made it work, with you know… three kids and two massive dogs and everything so… white and bright.
But I’ll back up for a second to remind you of what it looked like when we originally purchased it. When we first moved in nearly ten years ago, our home looked like this. Like every other house on the block, really. Which was absolutely fine just the way it was. But it wasn’t us. And over time, we let go of our fears and we realized we had a choice: We could pine away for the “next house” and live in a brown home for the next decade, or decide to really make it reflect us. I guess you know which one we went with.
In the meantime, we brought two more babies home to this house and built the foundations for our family here. We had three toddlers who banged pots and pans and raced their cars up and down these walls and tracked in from a day full of play in the back yard. They put their sticky fingers on every surface after eating yogurt and graham crackers. We’ve lived hard here. And then a few years later when we were out of toddler stage, after saying a painful goodbye to an old friend in Chloe {our first fur baby}… we brought home two more puppies who needed a home, to be a part of our family. We have done real life here. And all the while, these bright colors and whitest of whites, have held up beautifully.
So with our home on the market, it had to hold up even more. It was time to bring our A-game. Through unpredictable endless parades of showings and just having to stay on top of it all.
And yes, much to our dismay, it was for eleven months of doing that. It wasn’t fun. It was really hard. But we had a secret weapon.
Because these beauty shots are fine and dandy, but when it came to showing our home, keeping it super neat and everything looking great… when it comes to the ins and outs of real life…
We had Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to literally swoop in help us out.
Because there are scratches and dings and crayon marks and finger prints and… real life. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers have always been our go-to.
Cue mystery mark on the back of our bedroom door. Because mystery marks are a given with three kiddos. I mean, did we drag a piece of furniture across it? A crayon? A book? Pudding? The world may never know. So random. So weird. We kind of thought we needed to repaint the door {Even though it had just been freshened up… sometimes things can feel ten kinds of impossible with a hard working house} Perfection is impossible, but when you’re keeping it neat… things like this have to go. I’d even scrubbed it with a few various cleaning supplies, trying to remove it.
So we brought in a little Magic Eraser and…
Tada! I’m a wizard.
It takes scuffs off of furniture. It helps keep our walls bright. And this is just scrubbing the surface with house maintenance… {pun totally intended because can’t stop won’t stop- it’s kind of a dream for an over the top cleaner like me. Jamin left me alone in the kitchen the other day and found me an hour later, still hunting down tiny marks. I’m all, Let’s play a game! Yes, I have issues.}
We also use it for that routine, deep spring cleaning every year. Hello grill. Hello oven. Hello all those places we didn’t think were possible to make fresh again. We even use them on our shoes. I know, right? Try it. Oh, and for years, we used it in our shower and bathtub for our tray at the bottom. You know how they can change colors and look a little grimy after years of use? I was scrubbing and scrubbing and a friend told me her trick. Magic Eraser. You’re welcome.
And just to show you what a super dork I am because sometimes walls are hard to show what a drastic difference they can make, this weekend we were purging for our big moving sale, when I stumbled across my childhood piggy bank. Did anyone else out there have one like this? My mom handed it down to me a few years ago, and I couldn’t bring myself to part with him. But he was grungy. I’d tried to wash him, and nothing was helping so I put him on a shelf for later. {I have no idea why he was so grungy… you’d think I’d buried him in the backyard or something. I probably did at some point} So I decided, duh. Let’s try old faithful, the Magic Eraser.
Mind. Blown. Because he’s like new. And I can’t wait to put him on a shelf again in their new shared space. The boys love anything that was once mine or Jamin’s, and we think it’s sweet. So the shelves in their new room he will adorn. It’s really starting to dawn on us how much limited space we will have at first with this downsize, so the little things to make it meaningful, truly mean a lot.
From salvaging pieces and making them last longer, and spring cleaning all the things, to restoring the beauty in spaces. Magic Eraser is definitely our go to. They kind of nailed it with the name, don’t ya think?
If you’re wondering if we will have light and bright spaces when we move, and if they’re livable with kids, yes. Absolutely yes. Cleaning lighter spaces are actually counterintuitive and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Magic Eraser makes it possible to not have to break out the touchup paint can every time real life happens. And it works so much better than all those spray cleaners without all the strong chemicals! #Winning – As with any cleaner, if you try it on a surface with paint, just make sure you try it out on a hidden area, first. Every home and space and finish… is different.
What are some of your favorite things to clean with Mr. Clean Magic Erasers? We would love to hear and can always use your tips! Please share away – we need all the help we can get with the impending move!
And if you need a little more inspiration to get to cleaning… check out this video! (refresh if it doesn’t load.)
This post sponsored through a partnership with Magic Eraser for more information on our brand relationships and disclosures please visit here.
Anna says
I love these tips. Always looking for new ideas for magic erasers- they’re our favorite. I can’t believe your home was on the market that long – crazy!
Layla says
Omg stop. I had that piggy bank! Love that you were able to fix it – now I need to find mine!
Rose L. says
I do not recommend this as I used the Mr. Clean Magic eraser on my walls to clean spots and over a period of a month, it altered the color of the paint so it was gray. All around the door knobs, edges of doors, walls, etc. they grayed and only where I used the Magic Eraser! I had to have everything repainted prior to listing!! It was a costly mistake.
jamin says
Hey Rose! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. I think I would also look at the paint used as a culprit. We have used Magic Eraser for years on everything and have not had a problem. I can tell you that I do know some paints will do this regardless of the cleaning agent used. Of course it is always a good idea to test any cleaning agent in a hidden place before going all in, you never know how two products will respond to each other.
Rose L. says
It was high end Sherwin Williams paint, which is expensive. I just will not use this product ever again. Glad you are not having problems with it.
Beth says
We also have had problems using magic erasers on our walls! I use them on my doors and trim with no problem, and I love the rough surfaces one {what’s that called?} for cleaning soot off the brick of my fireplace, but everywhere I use it on my walls, you can see the swipe marks. I still use it if I can’t get marks off any other way, but I wipe down the spot with a wet paper towel right afterward to minimize any marks. We use a high quality paint and while it hasn’t taken the paint off, it’s been a disappointment.
Jenna says
We’ve used ours on the walls for years and it’s been amazing. Helped us out with a house full! We also use ours to clean our shower tray.
Tammy says
Love Mr clean magic erasers – they’re our favorite – we’ve used them on hundreds of things probably. Definitely our favorite
Tori says
I literally use these things for everything from my kitchen to my bathroom! They work great on keeping my tile floors spotless after the kids bring in a mess from playing outside. Even used it to clean their sneakers and made them look brand new. Found a great website spongeoutlet.com where I bought them for .29 cents a piece shipped free to my door. Huge money saver since I go through so many!