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Pro tip: That fancy trash can I grabbed last month cleaned up nice with dish soap and a magic eraser
Found a stainless steel touchless trash can behind an apartment building last week. Looked rough with dried gunk all over the lid. Took a scrub with regular Dawn dish soap and a magic eraser, maybe 20 minutes total. Now it looks almost new and I saved about $150. Anyone else find good kitchen stuff that just needed a basic cleaning?
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gavin6924mo ago
I mean, I get why people do it but I'm not so sure about picking up someone else's discarded kitchen stuff. You never really know what kind of grime you're dealing with. That "dried gunk" could be anything. Roach droppings, old food residue that's been sitting out for days. Even if it looks clean after a scrub, bacteria can hang out in the crevices and sensors of those touchless cans. For the price of a Magic Eraser and some Dawn you could just buy a basic plastic can from the dollar store that's brand new and guaranteed clean.
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the_paul4mo ago
Yeah, I hear you @gavin692, and honestly that's kind of where I land on it too. I mean, I get the appeal of scoring a "free" touchless can that someone else paid sixty bucks for, but it's just not worth the ick factor for me. You never really know if that thing sat in a corner with mold growing in the battery compartment or if someone's dog licked it every day for two years. And like you said, even after you scrub it down, those little sensors and seams just trap stuff no amount of bleach can reach properly. I'd rather spend ten bucks on a cheap plastic can from Target and know exactly what's been in it. It's one of those things where the potential savings just don't outweigh the mental image of what might be lurking in there.
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brian3283mo ago
Aw man, I gotta push back a little here. You can definitely get dish soap and magic erasers for cheap but a basic plastic can from the dollar store is NOT the same as a touchless stainless steel one that costs $150 brand new. I mean a dollar store bin is gonna warp and crack in like two months, it's totally different. And honestly people are way too worried about the "ick" factor with stuff like this. A good soak and scrub with soap kills pretty much everything you're gonna find on a hard surface. I've cleaned up a TON of discarded pet stuff at my own place and a little Dawn goes a long way. Like the original person said, 20 minutes of work can save you a hundred fifty bucks. That's totally worth it to me.
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