You might recognize Charlie’s Soap Indoor/Outdoor Surface Cleaner from my post about green cleaning on the go. I have a little travel-sized spray bottle of it that I always take with me when we stay at Airbnbns (yikes, is that a real word?), but I also use it quite a bit at home. Here’s why!

First, let me start out by saying that I’ve tried (and then donated) so many different all-purpose cleaners, I can’t even begin to count. I don’t typically use all-purpose cleaners on kitchen surfaces (granite countertop, tops of appliances etc.), since those get cleaned with water and microfiber. I also use a scouring paste on our ceramic cooktop. So why so many all purpose cleaners, you ask? The answer lies in our stainless steel sink.

This is our sink after a couple of days of use: you can really see the water spots!

I’m not a fan of using abrasive cleaners on the sink since I feel that those are not good for the stainless, however no matter how hard I tried I could not find a spray cleaner that was strong enough to tackle the sink. I’d spray it on, scrub, let sit, scrub some more and rinse off with hot water, which should be enough, right? Well, for some reason it never was. The sink was never truly shiny, and I could still see leftover grease/water spots.

Then about a year ago the Charlie’s Soap team sent me a sample of their all-purpose cleaner, the Charlie’s Soap Indoor/Outdoor Surface Cleaner, and I’ve been using the stuff ever since.

Here’s a close up of the surface after a quick clean with Charlie’s Soap Indoor/Outdoor Surface Cleaner and air dry

This cleaner has pretty much the same ingredients as Charlie’s Soap laundry detergent, with the main active ingredient being C12-15 Pareth-2, a strong surfactant/degreaser. It comes in many forms, however I prefer the 32 oz spray bottle that costs roughly $8. There is no added fragrance, however the liquid itself does have a bit of a chemical-y scent that I wouldn’t call pleasant, but it goes away very quickly and doesn’t linger.

Charlie’s spray manages to cut through grease and dirt right away – but what really impressed me is that it cleans so well that water “sheets” off of the surface after rinsing instead of beading up and leaving behind water spots. I just spray the sink, scrub with a dedicated sink sponge, rinse with hot water and in a few minutes I am left with a clean, shiny sink – no wiping needed! Previously I’d only seen that kind of sheeting action with Cerama Bryte.

It’s a bit tricky to capture on camera, but can you see how the water is sheeting off, and not drying in droplets?

The Charlie’s spray cleaner is however quite concentrated and sudsy – I personally wouldn’t use this on countertops, since rinsing it off would be a bit of a hassle. I’ve used it in the bathroom, and on other tough cleaning jobs including getting dirty sneaker soles bright white again, and other than the sudsing it’s really an incredibly powerful cleaner. I haven’t tested it out yet, but I think it would also be great on grease stains on clothes.

While the label claims that you don’t need gloves, I always wear gloves when using any kind of household cleaner, no matter how green.

To wrap this up, if you need something to keep your stainless steel sink shiny with minimal effort, I can’t recommend the Charlie’s Soap Indoor/Outdoor Surface Cleaner enough!

Shiny sink with no wiping necessary

I was initially sent a sample of charlie’s Soap Indoor/Outdoor Surface Cleaner by the Charlie’s soap team to test out, however I have since repurchased at full price. THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS THAT WILL GIVE ME A SMALL COMMISSION ON ANY PURCHASES MADE THROUGH THE LINKS.