Since my oldest skipped the "coloring on walls" phase, I had no idea what was ahead for me with the next two kids. Alas, my middle child went through such a heavy duty phase, that I had to start hiding all the crayons and markers so that they are now too high even for me to reach. A friend of mine swears by the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, so I thought I'd give that a shot. I bought a four pack at Safeway for $3.50 and was ready for magic to happen.

Opening the box, I found what looked like a 3" x 5" piece of foam. Little did I know the power held within. After dampening the Magic Eraser, I went to one of the green crayon spots on my living room wall. After five seconds of wiping with pressure, I noticed that the green was fading away. Yes! Mr. Clean had come to save my home! Then I glanced at the Magic Eraser and noticed a little bit of beige around that green. Another glance at the wall proved that the Magic Eraser had indeed erased some of my wall's paint, leaving me disappointed that we are now going to have to wait until the little guy is five and repaint our entire house.

Since I still had two whole erasers left and a barely used first one (it looked as good as new after a quick rinse and squeeze), I decided to find other uses for it. Here's what I found: the Magic Eraser works well for "erasing" crayon off of most plastic toys. It also does a good job of erasing fruity and chocolaty fingerprints off of baseboards and stair railings, as long as the finish is at least a semi-gloss. Okay, I thought, this could be a good back up to have for random stains.

After reading the "suggested uses" of the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser  on the manufacturer's website, I decided to try cleaning up the grout in my shower. Here, I found mixed results. You really have to work it into the crevices between the tiles, and doing so will result in rubbings coming off of the eraser (much like a pencil eraser). While I never saw the grout get less yucky, the Magic Eraser worked wonders on the soap scum and general foot dirt on the floor of my shower stall. I usually use Scrubbing Bubbles on that area, and it never got it as white as the Magic Eraser did.

What really gave me the "wow" reaction to the Magic Eraser, though, was my hardwood floor. Someone left a permanent marker where my little Destructo Boy could reach it a few months ago, and he made a cute little scribble on the floor of my breakfast nook. I've scrubbed at that with All Purpose Cleaner, to no avail. Going over it with my steam mop made it fade a little, but it still looked like that mark wasn't going any where. This morning I decided to try the Magic Eraser on it, and the Sharpie scribbles were gone in less than a minute! Now I feel I that I must have a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser in the house at all times, just in case.

For the most part, the Magic Eraser can be re-used as many times as you want. At some point it will become too dirty (even after rinsing it out following each use) or shriveled, but in the mean time, this baby is ready to take a stab at your tough household stains.

Recommendation
If you have a relatively clean household and/or colored walls, the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser will probably end up spending most of its time in your closet. For homes with white walls and/or young kids, though, you need a Magic Eraser on hand for unwanted markings.

Recommended: Yes