I never used to use nail files. The traditional metal or wooden nail files that I grew up with always felt unpleasant to me, maybe because I’m autistic. But recently I wanted to try filing again, so I could get a better shape on my nails. So I decided to try glass nail files. Here’s what I found out and what I think are the best glass nail files.
Not all glass/crystal files are the same: nano vs. glass
Now all I knew was I wanted to try a glass nail file. I did not realize that there are actually two types and they are VERY different.
Glass files are a piece of rough glass
Nano files are a piece of glass with a special gritty coating
As they are totally different, they have totally different results and characteristics. The one thing they have in common is they are both pieces of glass that will break when dropped, so be careful with them no matter which you choose.
Glass/crystal (top) and Nano (bottom)
Glass/Crystal Files
The glass file I own is the Simply Crystal Nail File from Bliss Kiss made by Mont Bleu out of renowned Czech crystal/glass. The glass is tempered into a rough texture. Feel-wise it was slightly better than traditional metal/wood nail files for me, but not that much better. It requires some practice to get a smooth edge, and if you use the wrong angle it can look bad.
Nano Glass Nail Files
I got the Crystal Nail File by Terra Beauty on Grove. It’s a piece of glass with a rough coating on one end. The coating looks almost like a printed 3d dot matrix. Feel wise it’s totally different from other files. It feels smooth and doesn’t bother me at all. It easily produces a shiny edge as well. Reportedly the effect is produced by the file removing keratin from the outer layer of the nail and can be used to buff as well, though this will thin the nail. Bliss Kiss makes one that has two textures, one that can be used for milder buffing of flaking nails.
Nano Glass vs. Glass/Crystal Nail Files
Here’s a handy comparison table
Nano
Glass/Crystal
What they are
A piece of glass with a rough 3d coating printed on one side
Tempered glass, both sides usable
Made in
China
Glass is usually Czech though they are sometimes assembled in China
Feel
In my opinion I can barely feel the filing action
To me the filing experience is not nice, like nails on a chalkboard
Durability
6-9 months, the coating eventually wears off
A year or more, depending on use
Ease of use
Easily produces a smooth edge
Requires getting the angle right, which takes practice
Cleaning
You can’t easily wipe them off as things get caught in the grit
Easily washed and wiped off
Macro picture of nano surface (the white areas are pieces of towel I tried to clean it with oops) vs. glass surface
Overall Recommendation
I’d recommend choosing based on your personal preferences for things like feel and durability. If you have sensory issues like autism or sensory processing disorder, the nano is the better choice IMHO. My experience buying from Bliss Kiss was positive and they have a lot of good well-researched info on their site, as well as offering a two texture nano file, so I can recommend both of theirs:
I bought my first Pact Organic waffle weave towel in 2019, just for myself. Once I moved in with my boyfriend in 2020, I bought a full set including bath sheets and hand towels. The waffle weave appealed to me as I heard it dried faster and I also just liked the look. Being organic cotton wasn’t a requirement, but it’s nice to have. I chose a grey color, which I now regret since I can’t bleach them. Now that it’s 2023, how are they holding up?
My Pact organic towels, left one is normal color, right one turned a weird color
First towel from 2019: a regular bath towel for me. This has held up great! Except one HUGE caveat. As you can see from the picture (it’s the towel on the right) it turned a weird reddish color at one point. I don’t know why, as I don’t really own anything red and nothing else turned red. I have noticed other people mention this issue on the Spotless Podcast, so I’m wondering if it’s something with the dye? If it were white I could bleach it, but it’s not. It’s not a nice color but I don’t like to get rid of things that work fine, so I’ll keep using it.
2020 batch: These are all in good condition, except one bath sheet that has frayed. I wish I’d realized it was fraying because I could have probably stopped it, but at this point it’s unraveling. My boyfriend uses this one and says it’s probably because he always washes it after using instead of hanging to dry. However the other bath sheet, bath towel, and hand towels look great!
Overall review: With those two caveats these have held up well. The only other issue I have with them is that they do not dry as fast as I’d like. We have a bathroom without windows (UGH) so sometimes they stay damp longer than they should. They do dry faster than traditional terry though. If I do end up replacing them, I’m considering thinner cotton towels like Coyuchi’s Mediterranean series or Oddbird’s handloom towels. Both aren’t cheap, but I have other products from these companies (lounge dress from Oddbird and blanket from Coyuchi) and they are very high quality. From what I’ve read, this type of towel dries much faster than waffle weave towels. They are very different from the terry towels I grew up with though, so they may take some time getting used to.
I’m a big fan of foaming hand soap. It’s gentle on my hands (really important for the cold, dry winters we get here), easy to use, and kids love it. I also love concentrated cleaning products— instead of buying a whole new bottle, you buy small concentrated refills. Concentrated refills are good for the environment and easier to store. I’ve been using Blueland’s foaming Hand Soap for awhile and I am very happy with the quality and the scents. However, I use Dropps products for my laundry, so when they came out with a new foaming soap product, I thought it was worth trying to potentially consolidate my cleaning product orders.
So I tried Dropps foaming hand soap and here’s how it compares to Blueland’s.
Foaming Hand Soap Dispensers
The Blueland foaming hand soap dispenser is slightly larger at 9 oz. vs. the Dropp dispenser’s 8 oz. They also look quite different style-wise. Blueland has an advantage as it offers several different style dispensers in different colors and with different decorative accents.
That said, my Blueland dispenser broke within a year and was always much harder to press than the metal dispenser that Dropps offers.
Winner: Tie
Refill Type
Dropps refill (left) vs. Blueland refill (right)
Blueland foaming hand soap refills come as small tablets in compostable packaging. Dropps foaming hand soap refills are in the form of pods (kind of like laundry or detergent pods).
I prefer the Blueland refills because they are less delicate (if a pod breaks it’s a mess) and more compact for storage. The foaming action is a bit more fun to watch too.
Winner: Blueland
Scents
Blueland’s foaming hand soap comes in Iris Agave, Perrine Lemon, and Lavender Eucalyptus scents, plus a few seasonal scents (I’m a fan of the winter Evergreen scent). I have tried all the scents and find them really nice, though I prefer some more than others. None are too strong.
Dropp’s foaming hand soap offers 3 scents: Jasmine Honeysuckle, Lemon Verbana, and Lavender Camomile. They also offer an unscented option which is nice.
The only scent of Dropps I tried was Lemon Verbana. Unfortunately I had to stop using it almost immediately because I found the scent too strong. My boyfriend didn’t like it either. It had a strong detergent odor that lingered long after washing my hands. I would describe it as smelling like laundry detergent. I would try other scents but I think the smell I didn’t like was coming from the basic detergents in the product rather than the scent.
Winner: Blueland
Texture
It’s a shame I hated the Dropps scent so much because it had a much more lush texture than Blueland’s. Dropps also contains multiple moisturizing ingredients like marshmallow extract, aloe, shea oil, and Vitamin E. Blueland only has two moisturizing ingredients: algin and sorbitol.
Winner: Dropps
Price
It’s hard to compare price because the dispenser and texture are a factor. One reviewer on the Dropp’s website said they needed more pumps of Dropps vs. other foaming hand soaps though I didn’t find this to be the case myself.
That said, based on ounces:
Dropps: $12 for 4 refills, 8 oz bottle = 32 oz. = $0.38 per oz.
Blueland: $10 for 5 refills, 9 oz bottle = 45 oz. = $0.22 per oz.
Blueland is slightly cheaper. Each company offers significant discounts for subscriptions and for buying larger amounts.
Winner: Blueland
Eco-friendly
Both Dropps and Blueland offer recyclable paper packaging, but Blueland’s refills come in a compostable packaging, which has advantages over just recyclable packaging (you can recycle yourself in your own compost pile).
I really wanted to love the Dropps foaming hand soap but the strong detergent scent was a deal breaker. While Dropps has a very nice dispenser and texture, Blueland wins out in price, scents, eco-friendliness and refill types.
I’ve had my American Giant No BS Pant since February 2019, over 3 years, and they are still in great condition. In my How Well Does It Age reviews I focus on an item that I’ve owned a long time like this one. Is it barely hanging on for dear life or has it stood the test of time? Some items even get better with age.
My American Giant No BS Pant have stood the test of time and still look and wear great. Read on for more details.
Back in 2019 this item was called The Pant and may have had slight differences from the current No BS Pant.
3+ years
Wear & Tear
These pants look about as good as new. I wear them several times a month and have traveled with them extensively.
(shoes from Mohinders)
No repairs needed
No stretching
Almost no visible piling
Color has not faded
No special care, I just threw these in the regular laundry (which is usually cold, but sometimes hot)
The Only Downside: Synthetic Fibers
I try to mainly buy natural fibers like cotton and linen, but there is no way to make stretch pants without synthetic fibers. The American Giant No BS Pant is made from modal, nylon, and spandex. Synthetic fibers can contribute to microplastic pollution. This can be mitigated by washing them in a Guppyfriend bag or installing a filter in your washer.
Why I Love American Giant’s No BS Pant
The American Giant No BS Pant is one of the first items I reach for when making an outfit. They feel like leggings (comfortable!) but are much thicker and look less casual. I’ve worn them with more formal items like blazers and more casual items like tees. American Giant’s products are also made in the US.
Back when I bought them I thought they were kind of on the expensive side, especially for synthetic fibers. However, they’ve outlived many, many other cheaper stretch pants and leggings.
I highly recommend investing in any of American Giant’s pants.
Did you know that bottles of conventional cleaning products are mostly water? Why buy, carry home, and store a bunch of water? And plastic cleaning product containers are bad for the environment. With concentrated cleaning products you just buy one durable glass bottle and a concentrate containing the active ingredients. Fill with some tap water and you’re ready to clean. An added benefit is that you can keep dozens of refills in the same space as one extra bottle of standard cleaner. Plus, as a car-free person, I find it much easier to carry these products home.
Grove and Blueland are two of the most popular options for concentrated cleaning systems. I’ve tried both and this is my honest evaluation.
I’ll assign points for things I think are especially good about their products, and detract for especially bad things. In the end I’ll add up all the points and declare the winners.
What Grove and Blueland Have in Common
Blueland and Grove’s concentrated cleaning products have a lot in common. Each sells refillable containers like spray bottles. To refill, you just mix in the concentrate with water. Voila!
Unlike many traditional cleaning brands, both companies are transparent about their ingredients, with a full ingredient list offered for every product.
Both Blueland and Grove are Leaping Bunny Certified cruelty free and EPA safer choice. They are free of phosphates, which can pollute water, causing overgrowh of algae which leads to “dead zones.”
Neither brand contains antibacterial agents. You might be thinking is this a good thing? But actually the FDA says they are unnecessary and there is no evidence they are good for anything. Many antibacterial agents are known to be toxic, especially to children. And the FDA notes there is some research showing these antibacterials might contribute to antibiotic resistance. According to the FDA, studies show that surfactants, which both brands contain, do a fine job in killing bacteria. Personally if I need really powerful disinfecting, I use my Bissell Steam-shot Pro, which uses very hot steam to clean instead of chemicals.
I’ve used many of both Grove and Blueland’s cleaning products over the years and found them to be effective at cleaning up most messes. I will occasionally reach for my steam cleaner or Blue Dawn for the worst messes like built up hard water deposits or extremely greasy surfaces.
Note while Blueland only offers concentrates, Grove offers non-concentrated products and additionally sells products from different brands on their site.
Difference 1: Refill types
While both Grove and Blueland refills are concentrates, they come in very different forms. Grove offers liquid concentrates in tiny glass bottles. Blueland offers tablets that foam when you mix with water, and that’s quite fun to watch.
Blueland Foaming Soap refill in compostable packaging and Grove Multi-purpose Cleaner refill in recyclable glass bottle
+ 1 Blueland: refills are more compact
As you can see in this picture, I can fit A LOT Of Blueland refills in a very tiny space. They are much more compact and lighter weight. The Grove Refills come in a paper package with three tiny glass bottles, with metal lids.
+ 1 Blueland: Compostable refill packaging
Blueland refills come in compostable packaging. The Grove packaging is recyclable, but compostable packaging is different because it is fully biodegradable and you don’t need to worry about whether or not your locality has a particular type of recycling. If you have your own compost heap, you can throw it in there.
Spray Bottles
For spray cleaners, a good spray bottle can make or break the experience.
Do Blueland’s Bottles Still Have Durability Issues?
If you bought Blueland spray bottles in the past and they broke, you should e-mail Blueland for a replacement. The new bottles are more durable.
I initially was going to take a point off of Blueland’s score because when I bought their spray bottles in 2019, all three broke within a year. One developed a hairline fracture I didn’t notice and then leaked in my bathroom cabinet. UGH. But I emailed Blueland last month to see if anything had changed and they told me the new bottles are made with a shatter-proof plastic called Tritan. They also offered to replace my bottles even though it’s been years. If I do try them, I’ll update this review.
+ 1 Grove Spray Bottle Design
But I think the Grove spray bottles are the perfect spray cleaning bottles, especially the newer ones. They are a sturdy glass with a silicone sleeve, which makes them less likely to slip out of your hands or off surfaces. The newer spray bottles also have an easy labeling system which is important because my boyfriend is colorblind and I can’t just tell him “the glass cleaner is in a blue bottle.” I also like that they are shorter than the Blueland ones, which makes them easier for me to store.
Old Grove spray bottle (left) vs. Newer Twist & Slide (right)
You can’t beat the durability of Grove’s spray bottles. The one on the left in the picture above (with my own horribly written label) was bought in 2019 according to my records. That means the Grove spray bottle has survived years of my clumsiness.
Note they offer two designs now, and I’ve only tried the Twist & Slide.
Twist & Slide: taller silicone sleeve, labels printed on glass
The only problem I have with the Twist & Slide is taking the silicone sleeve on and off is harder than it looks. You can’t really twist it, it’s more like remove the whole thing and rotate it. The glass under the silicone here was also cloudy and needed to be cleaned. This is a brand new bottle right out of the box.
But otherwise it’s a welcome improvement over the old labels I used (a poorly written sharpie).
Spray Cleaners
The original Blueland flagship product is their spray cleaners. They offer Multi-surface, Bathroom, and Glass cleaner. Grove offers similar products plus an after-shower spray. If you’re trying to understand why you’d need separate products, I found this blog post useful.
+ 1 Grove For Offering More Scents and Unscented
As I found both brands products effective, the main differentiator to me is the scents. Blueland’s spray cleaners each only come in one option each. Bathroom is Eucalyptus Mint, Multi-Surface in Fresh Lemon, and Glass + Mirror in Fragrance-free.
Grove offers all their main line in fragrance free as well as four other scents
Lemon and Eucalyptus
Lavender & Thyme
Apple & Pear Blossom
Orange and Rosemary
This is useful options to have whether you hate scents, like having a choice of scents, or are just picky about scents. I don’t care for floral scents, so I usually buy the Orange and Rosemary scented products.
Foaming Soap Dispensers
Foam soap dispensers use a special pump to dispense foaming hand soap. Unfortunately the pump is prone to problems. My Blueland pump stopped pumping after a year, and my Grove pump developed gross brown deposits after a year. I can’t give any of them any points here.
Foaming Soap
Weirdly while Grove sells the foaming soap dispenser they don’t sell their own brand of foaming soap. Blueland’s foaming soap is the product I order the most from them.
+ 1 For Blueland’s Foaming Soap, An Excellent Product
Unlike traditional liquid soap, I find Blueland’s foaming soap very gentle on my hands, which is important in Chicago’s dry winters. They come in many scents, though some are seasonal. Evergreen, only available in the winter, is my favorite and I always stock up on it.
Toilet Cleaner
Only Blueland sells a concentrated toilet cleaner.
+ 1 Blueland Toilet Cleaner, Another Excellent Product
And the toilet cleaner deserves a point because the toilet is the thing I clean most in my apartment and toilet cleaner bottles take up a lot of space. Blueland’s toilet cleaner is effective and takes up very little space.
Customer Service + Shopping
+ 1 Blueland: Offered to replace broken product
When I emailed Blueland about the broken spray bottles they went above and beyond. Blueland not only offered to replace my bottles (even though it has been years), but also offered useful information about how they’d improved their product so it’s less likely to break.
To contrast, when I emailed Grove about my broken foaming soap dispenser they only offered me some troubleshooting tips.
– 1 Grove: Autosubscriptions
You have to be careful with Grove because if you order an item, you’ll be auto-subscribed for future deliveries. It’s easy enough to delete and they do send out an email before they send out the subscriptions. But I think you shouldn’t be automatically enrolled in a subscription just because you buy something.
+1 Grove: Easy Availability At Target
Blueland’s products are only available online, but Grove’s concentrates are now available at most Target stores.
Products not reviewed:
I did not consider the following concentrated products because I haven’t tried them yet
Adding up the points, Blueland is the obvious winner. However, for specific products like the spray bottles, there are still many reasons to try Grove as well.
IRobot Braava floor sweeping/mop robot wheel treads break down over time. As the treads wear down, the wheels lose traction and your robot will no longer be able to move properly. IRobot doesn’t sell replacement wheels or treads, but there is still a way to fix them with these handy IRobot Braava wheel tread replacements sold on Amazon. In this post I’ll show you how these plastic treads work and how to use install them.
The treads are compatible with older models as well. The model in the pictures is the Mint from 2013 (!). Amazon says these treads should work for models 320, 321, 375t, 390t, Mint Plus 5200, and 4200.
How to install the tread replacements
Installation is pretty easy and should take your less than 30 minute. You do have to take the robot apart to fully access the wheels, which requires a small phillip’s head screwdriver and may void your warranty. There are four tiny screws — make sure you have something to store them in so they don’t get lost. If you’d like to also clean the inside of your robot (it can get pretty grimy), you might also want to have a can of compressed air.
These are the four screws you’ll need to take out
After you take the four screws out, you should be able to separate the top from the body as shown in the next picture.
Now you should be able to stretch the new IRobot Braava wheel tread replacements over the wheels. I didn’t bother trying to remove the remnants of the old treads.
Obviously you’ll finally want to put the top back on the body and replace the screws.
Wheel tread replacement long term performance
I bought these IRobot Braava wheel tread replacements back in 2020 and they are still going strong in 2022, with no obvious wear. I honestly think they perform better than the original treads because they have so much more traction and don’t pick up dirt as easily.
Some of the links in this post are Amazon affiliate links, which help support my writing.
Written by
Melissa McEwen
Hi! I’m Melissa McEwen and I hate chores. So I’ve been trying to avoid them for years. This is my blog with tips and tricks for avoiding chores and other living tips.
Don’t think much of dishwashers? Blame your landlord. With the right care, a dishwasher is a messy person’s savior. The benefits of a dishwasher far outweigh any annoyances.
I’m putting a real post on this blog just to respond to the AGAINST THE DISHWASHER but I’m hoping this blog will be a place where I can generally rant about bad cleaning advice (stop telling me to use vinegar for everything!!!!). It’s not that I’m a clean person. No, not at all. I am human entropy. Every room I move into I leave a trail of disorder in my wake. This is why I need a dishwasher.
I lived for many years without one. And hated every moment. Somehow when I get near a sink I manage to destroy everything within a 3 foot radius with splattering of both clean and dirty water. I am not good at stuff like that. I leave the kitchen worse than it was before. Everything takes me five times longer than it should.
Dishwashers are great. They have so many benefits, including preventing me from destroying the kitchen. Contrary to popular opinion you don’t need to rinse anything before you put it in the dishwasher, just remove any large debris and stick it in. Don’t believe me? Look at your dishwasher’s manual. If you even have one.
That’s the problem, you even have a dishwasher, it’s probably one that your landlord purchased in 1990. They use it to mark up the rent and don’t maintain it unless you are incredibly lucky. You’re probably better off buying your own mini dishwasher than renting a marked-up apartment just for the appliances. The bonus with those are that you can run small loads and not have to deal with trying to muster up a full dishwasher, especially important when dealing with roommate chaos.
As far as maintenance I’ve encountered all manners of horrors in rental dishwashers. For one, if you have both a garbage disposal and a dishwasher, if they are installed improperly (without the right air gap), you get garbage disposal odors in your dishwasher. I sadly know this from experience. The other thing is dishwashers need to be cleaned. And anecdotally I feel like most people don’t know that? Especially in Chicago where we have cursed hard water that will make any dishwasher perform terribly if it’s not regularly treated with an acidic descaler. I hate to admit this, but dishwasher cleaning is one of the rare chores where vinegar actually is a good solution, though I prefer odorless citric acid or if I’m lazy I just buy Dishwasher Magic.
Also try to find a copy of the manual if you can. Some dishwashers have filters you need to take out and clean. I’ve never encountered this and I am thankful because I can’t imagine the previous tenants would have ever done such a thing and it would have probably been a eldritch horror. I have cleaned the gasket (the rubber seal) and that is often pretty gross and can cause odors. Get an old tooth brush and get all that gunk out.
The other problem I encounter is “natural” dishwashing detergents. I’m sorry but I’ve tried like 10 and they never work, so I use the most poisonous looking pods I can find (the Finish ones that look like Tide Pods) and pray using less water makes me less of an environmental criminal.
So in conclusion:
Find out if your dishwasher has a filter and clean it.
Clean the gasket.
Use a dishwasher cleaning product regularly, especially if you have hard water.
You actually have to use rinse aid, otherwise your glasses will look very terrible.
Don’t rent an apartment just for the dishwasher, it’s probably bad.
I do whole-heartedly agree that it’s way too hard to find out if the dishes in a dishwasher are clean. I remember growing up we had a magnet that you could switch from dirty to clean, but none of my dishwashers have had magnetic-compatible surfaces. It is very weird. I’ve tried stick on things but the cats take them away.
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Written by
Melissa McEwen
Hi! I’m Melissa McEwen and I hate chores. So I’ve been trying to avoid them for years. This is my blog with tips and tricks for avoiding chores and other living tips.
My tub had soap scum stains for ages. I knew I needed to clean them off. And I wanted a nice clean tub. But I found myself unable to even start. With ADHD, projects like caked on tub grime can feel impossible. Cleaning the tub required more than a scrub brush, it required unpacking my feelings around cleaning. Here’s how I did it.
Many of us have emotional baggage around deep cleaning. We may have had parents who berated us for not doing it or not doing it “well enough.” Deep cleaning is one of those neurotypical mysteries. How do NTs learn their cleaning skills? No one ever taught me, yet I was expected to know. I associated tub cleaning with the many years I cleaned my tub with a bottle of bathroom cleaner and a basic sponge. It felt Sisyphean. I’d scrub to no avail. I learned to just live with a dirty tub, even though it nagged at me. I pulled the shower curtain to hide the tub if anyone came over.
What helped me was realizing that deep cleaning is a learned skill. Turns out I wasn’t even close to using an effective technique for tackling tub grime. Cleaning is a skill and there is no shame to learning proper tub cleaning at 34 like I did. I researched cleaning the tub. And armed with Barkeepers Friend and a tough scrub brush, I scrubbed away the grime. That first cleaning wasn’t easy, but it was also extremely rewarding to see a bunch of gunk disappearing. Once ADHDers start a rewarding task like this, we often get really into it. But that wasn’t the end of my journey.
What about maintaining my new grime-free lifestyle? For me that meant letting go of perfect and embracing a grime-free-ish lifestyle. It’s common with ADHD to dislike unrewarding tasks. The maintenance work that helps prevent gunk like soap scum is frankly not very rewarding to me. Unlike the deep scrub I described, you don’t get to see dirt disappear. Once I realized this, I knew I had to craft my own rewards or turn it into a habit. I used the “Tiny Habits” method to remember to spray some cleaner after I shower. And use my Habitica gamified task list for a weekly wipedown.
Is my tub spotless right now? Nope. But when I look at it, it’s not a backlog of scum that feels impossible to deal with.
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Written by
Melissa McEwen
Hi! I’m Melissa McEwen and I hate chores. So I’ve been trying to avoid them for years. This is my blog with tips and tricks for avoiding chores and other living tips.
