The best cleaning cloths you can buy

Advertisement
The best cleaning cloths you can buy
  • Spills, stains, and smudges happen.
  • Using the right type of cloth to clean up the mess will make the task easier and may even protect your belongings.
  • Zwipes Microfiber Cloths can clean up nearly every kind of grime without the use of harsh chemicals on the surfaces in your home.
Advertisement

If you feel like you are keeping the paper towel industry in business, it's time to invest in some good cleaning cloths. Most cloths can be tossed in the washer to sanitize them so they can be used over and over; saving you money and reducing the amount of trash headed to landfills.

By selecting the right type of cloth for each task, you can also reduce potential damage to the item you're cleaning. Paper towels and some fabric towels can cause minute scratches on finishes or leave lint that looks awful and can damage electronics.

When something needs to be cleaned, most of us just grab a cloth and dive in. But, there is a proper way to use any cleaning cloth to prevent redepositing soil on surfaces or cross-contamination between tasks. No matter how great the cleaning cloth may be, once it is full of soil, it won't collect any more. If the cloth is saturated, you are simply swiping dirt or germs all over the surface, not removing them.

When you begin working with any type of cleaning cloth, fold it in half, then fold in half again. This gives you eight clean sides to use. As you move from one area or task in a room to the next, refold the cloth to a clean side. This gives you a fresh and soil-free cleaning cloth for each job.

To help prevent cross-contamination between bathrooms, kitchens, and living areas, use different colored cloths for each room. Even very young kids can help with cleaning and learn their colors at the same time! Once cleaning cloths are heavily soiled or beginning to fray, use them one last time for a really messy job like cleaning a greasy outdoor grill or dirty car wheels before tossing.

Advertisement

I've been using and testing cleaning products and cloths for many years as a home economist for companies and publications. There have been so many advances in cleaning from the days of just using an old shirt or cotton towel. Some cloths even have cleaning solutions embedded in the fibers so you don't need anything else to complete the cleaning or polishing job. I'm always looking for the most effective, easiest to use, and the best value in products for myself and others.

Here are the best cleaning cloths you can buy in 2019:

Keep scrolling to check out our top picks.

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Find all the best offers at our Coupons page.

Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Insider Picks team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at insiderpicks@businessinsider.com.

{{}}

The best cleaning cloth overall

The best cleaning cloth overall
From wiping up spills on a floor to scrubbing a sink to making mirrors sparkle, Zwipes Microfiber Cloths are up to the task.

If you haven't discovered the cleaning power of microfiber, you're just making your cleaning life more difficult. Microfiber literally means "small fibers" and when a cleaning cloth has millions of small fibers it is more effective in absorbing water and attracting dirt molecules.

With microfiber cloths and just a bit of water to loosen visible soil, you can often clean without the need for detergents or other chemicals. With so many fibers (usually polyamide AKA nylon and polyester), the dirt and bacteria are trapped in the cloth until you use laundry detergent and water to flush them away.

When researching the best microfiber cloths, Zwipes Microfiber Cloths rose to the top. The package of 12 comes with four 12 x 16-inch cloths in blue, yellow, and green so you can keep bathroom, kitchen, and dusting towels separate. Each cloth is quite plush with 110,000 fibers per square inch to trap dirt and dust without having to use lots of cleaning chemicals. Each lint-free cloth will absorb eight times its weight in water and is non-abrasive.

More than 5,000 buyers have shared their reviews on Amazon giving Zwipes a 4.6-star rating. One shopper named Lizzy left a review that simply reinforces all of my testing and the science behind microfiber: "These wipes make cleaning so much easier, faster and so much less frustrating. It now takes me a minute to wipe off my range every night and any time I see some soap or hair on a bathroom vanity, a quick wipe and they are clean. They are thin but sturdy wipes and just the right size for household cleaning. I fold them into quarters and just flip to a clean side while I am using them. I color-code them by task and throw them all into the washer once a week and they are good as new. I can't imagine going back to cleaning without them and highly recommend them."

One quick tip to help Zwipes work even more efficiently, before you use them for the first time, rinse each cloth well in cool water and allow it to air dry. This will remove any lint and residue from shipping or manufacturing. Then, go forth and clean.

Pros: Lint-free, leaves no streaks, cleans surfaces with little or no need for cleaning chemicals, comes in different colors, reusable after washing

Cons: Cloths are thinner and smaller than some other brands, can leave lint if not rinsed before using

Buy Zwipes Microfiber Cloths in a 12-count pack on Amazon for $9.77 (originally $15.20)

The best cleaning cloth for tough messes

The best cleaning cloth for tough messes
If you appreciate the cleaning power of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, you'll love the flexibility of Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Sheets.

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers use melamine-foam activated with water as micro-scrubbers to remove scuff marks and stuck-on grime from nearly every type of surface. As the years have passed, the erasers have become available in different sizes, with added cleaners, and finally, in 2019, we have Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Sheets.

What makes these sheets any better than the erasers? They are thin and easily conform to tight spaces like appliance door crevices or those little groves in a stovetop or that tiny space behind a bathroom faucet. I love the Erasers, but could never get them down into that final small space. With the sheets, I can reach every bit of caked-on dirt because they are less than 1/16-inch thick. I often cut the sheets in half for a small job and then toss away the soiled part when the job is done.

Reviewers on Target's site have discovered the new sheets and have given them a nearly five-star rating. Zanna 7783 writes, "I absolutely love these! I always used the magic eraser pad, but these are a game changer. I can clean everything and it's nice and thin and I use it until it's gone and not have to have a dirty pad laying around. Love these!"

My favorite thing about the sheets is that no additional chemicals are needed to remove tough grime. I do recommend that the freshly cleaned area get a rinse with a damp microfiber cloth to remove any foam particles that might remain.

Pros: Sheet conforms to tight spaces, can be cut to fit cleaning job, disposable, removes really tough grime

Cons: Cannot be used on highly polished surfaces or wood

Buy Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Sheets in an 8-count package at Target for $2.99
Advertisement

The best kitchen cleaning cloth

The best kitchen cleaning cloth
Super absorbent and durable, Libman Microfiber Sponge Cloths remove dirt and grime without the use of detergents and without the bacterial growth common in thicker sponges.

If you love using a sponge in the kitchen but are concerned about the number of coliform bacteria (Salmonella or E.coli) that can lurk in the pores, Libman Microfiber Sponge Cloths are for you. Combining the best parts of a sponge and a microfiber cloth, they are perfect for washing dishes and cleaning kitchen appliances and counters.

Available in a 3-pack of hot pink, green, and blue, the 7.5 x 6.5-inch cloths have a thin, synthetic sponge quilted between two microfiber cloths. The sponge adds to the cloths' absorbency while the microfiber produces streak-free surfaces whether using them wet or dry.

I love that each cloth is small enough to wash the inside of drinking glasses and coffee cups. When they are soiled, I simply toss them in the washer and I have fresh clean cloths. One tip for any type of microfiber cloth is to never use fabric softener or dryer sheets (I hang mine to air dry) when cleaning. The fabric softener will coat the microfibers and make them less absorbent. I find that each cloth stands up to about 25 or so washes until I'm ready to replace it.

This is a new product in the Libman line but the reviewers on Amazon have given the cloths a 4.3-star rating. One Amazon shopper writes, "These cleaning cloths are great and exceeded my expectations the first time I used them. My husband dropped a large bowl of melted ice cream and the big sticky mess was much easier to clean using this cloth due to the microfiber and the absorbency and saved me from having to use a roll of paper towels to clean it up. The cloths have washed out great and not to mention they're pretty colors. I would recommend them to busy families or anyone that likes a practical way to clean and gets tired of spending so much on those costly paper towels."

Pros: Very absorbent, lint-free, washable, quick drying, naturally anti-bacterial

Cons: Cloths can be stiff until washed several times

Buy Libman Microfiber Sponge Cloths in a 3-pack on Amazon for $4.15 (originally $7.09)

The best cleaning cloth for electronics

The best cleaning cloth for electronics
The last thing you want on your television, smartphone, tablet or computer monitor is scratches, but with Magic Fiber Microfiber Cleaning Cloths, everything will be crystal clear.

Our electronic devices are so essential to our daily lives that they take a great deal of abuse. They are besieged with greasy smudges and countless bacteria and become covered with dust. When it's time to clean them, you shouldn't use just any kind of cloth that's handy. Paper and cotton towels can leave lint and cause scratches on the screens. That's why Magic Fiber Microfiber Cleaning Cloths are so important.

Magic Fiber Cloths are finely woven from microfiber to produce no lint, no rough surfaces and to clean screens without leaving streaks or microscopic scratches. The microfiber attracts dust and holds onto it until the screen is clean instead of dragging the particles across the surface. To use the cloth again, simply rinse in plain water and allow it to air dry.

I use the 6 x 7-inch cloths to keep all of my devices, sunglasses, and eyeglasses clean. Most of the time, just a few wipes with the dry cloth will take care of the problems. If the screens or lenses have lots of soil or smudges, just barely dampening the cloth with plain water will help.

With nearly 12,000 reviews on Amazon, these cloths have a 4.8-star rating. One reviewer named Patty T. writes, "My adult son bought an expensive DLSR camera and I asked if he needed anything to go with it. He had everything major but did need some lens cleaning cloths. ... He looked for quite a while and these are the ones he chose. He especially liked the gray one because it helps with his photography in getting the right white balance as well as cleans his lenses. The black ones are great too for anything that needs a soft microfiber cloth. He gave me two black ones and I use them on my phone, TV, glasses, and many other things. They work great. No lint and no streaking. My son says the gray cloth does just what he wants it to do and is very happy with the black ones as well for his lenses as well as other things he owns."

Pros: Leaves no lint or streaks, available in grey and black, individually packaged, can be washed and reused

Cons: Black cloths may leach dye when wet and should be hand washed separately from other fabrics

Buy Magic Fiber Microfiber Cleaning Cloths in a 6-count pack on Amazon for $8.99
Advertisement

The best metal polishing cloth

The best metal polishing cloth
If you spend hours polishing silver or brass with messy creams and liquids, Sunshine Cleaning and Polishing Cloths will make your metals gleam.

It was always my job to polish the silver dinnerware and serving pieces before every holiday gathering. It took hours of rubbing on smelly paste silver cleaner, rinsing it off, and hand-drying every piece so that there would be no water spots. My kids have avoided the torture because I found Sunshine Cleaning and Polishing Cloths.

These cloths are amazing. The soft microfiber fabric has a polishing agent embedded in the fibers. As you polish sterling silver, gold, brass, or copper, the dark oxidation that dulls the finish is transferred to the Sunshine Cleaning Cloth. When the cloth has turned black, toss it away. You cannot wash it and reuse it effectively.

The cloths are sold in a 3-count and are individually stored in plastic tubes to keep them moist. I keep a couple in the dining room/kitchen and one in my bedroom to keep my jewelry gleaming.

Amazon offers around 350 reviews and buyers have given the cloths a 4.7-star rating. One reviewer named Ban writes, "I bought 3 tubes and went through them pretty fast because I had A LOT of jewelry that desperately needed cleaning. They shined my jewelry SOOO well and it was so easy to clean (you just rub the fabric on the item!) that I was amazed. I bought three more tubes! From now on...no more messy liquids that erode metal. This is what I'm going to have on hand always. One thing though: Because jewelry does get dingy...while rubbing them clean, you may get some on your hands but it's not harmful and washes off in a sec."

Pros: Cleans metal without messy liquids and pastes, leaves jewelry, dinnerware, and decorative metal pieces polished and streak free

Cons: Cannot be washed and reused

Buy Sunshine Cleaning Cloths in a 3-count pack on Amazon for $12
Next StoryHow to watch 'The Handmaid's Tale' on Hulu before the season 3 premiere