The $5 item that keeps selling out at Bunnings for a VERY specific reason: 'Holy grail'
Home expert Caroline Solomon regularly shares cleaning content to her social media channels, including a string of videos that highlight different methods to clean a variety of white sneakers.
One helpful explainer video about 'how to clean your white leather sneakers' sees her incorporate a cleaning product that's not traditionally thought of as a shoe cleaner.
'I'm sharing two easy ways to make your white leather sneakers look brand new again,' Caroline said at the start of the TikTok video.
'The first thing you need of course is a Magic Eraser.'
For the uninitiated, a 'Magic Eraser' is a cleaning block sponge made of melamine foam, and is best known for its ability to remove grime and scuff marks on walls and floors.
But as per the Mr Clean website, their melamine sponge is not only superb for 'removing marks from all around the house' but can also be used as a 'sneaker cleaner'.
In Australia, Bunnings sell a large Mr Clean Eraser Pad Block for $4.98 - or you could buy a 4 pack of Mr Clean Melamine Eraser Cleaning Pads for $7.49.
Caroline explained the method to clean dirty white sneakers with the Magic Eraser, starting by first running the melamine sponge under water to get it 'damp, but not soaked'.
Then, she demonstrated gently scrubbing the foam block along both 'the sneaker and the rubber sole of the shoe'. (But always do a patch test to ensure it isn't too abrasive.)
The result? Instantly refreshed looking sneakers.
To up the ante of, the cleaning expert suggested additionally cleaning your shoelace.
She demonstrates this by removing the laces and soaking them in a warm soapy mix for 10 minutes, before using a cleaning toothbrush to further scrub them clean before hanging to dry.
The combination of the Magic Eraser cleaned shoes and washed shoelaces made the once-dirty white sneakers look refreshed.
The comments section was filled with replies from people who'd tried Caroline's suggestion.
'This worked for me,' read one reply.
A 9-pack of he original Mr Clean Magic Erasers can also be found on Amazon for $47.14, which equates to just over $5 per sponge
However, one queried the state of the Magic Eraser at the end of the cleaning procedure.
'This worked so good. Thank you! But, my Magic Eraser was completely torn apart once finished. Did yours? Totally worth it.'
To this point, Caroline agreed that she'd sacrificed the sponge for the tough cleaning job.
'Yes sadly it will take a toll on your Magic Eraser but agree it's well worth it.'
Another person chimed in: 'I cut mine in half to get more use out of them that way! They get worn faster when wet so I also only wet half of sponge.'
On the Bunnings website, the Mr Clean Eraser Pod Block has a stellar 4.9 stars rating, with many reviews raving about how it 'works great' to remove scuffs and marks from walls and floors.
However, none of the reviews made mention of its bonus use to clean up dirty sneakers.
Meanwhile, one of Caroline's other white sneaker cleaning videos offered alternative advice for tackling dirty 'white canvas sneakers'.
In one of the videos, Caroline recommended making a paste from 'equal parts baking soda and dish soap in a bowl' - using about a tablespoon of each.
Once stirred into a paste consistency, Caroline demonstrated painting the white canvas sneaker with the mix and using a cleaning toothbrush to scrub it section by section.
The sneaker was left to sit with the mix applied for a couple of hours before being rinsed off 'with a damp paper towel' and left to dry overnight.
For more set-in stains on white sneakers, another one of Caroline's white sneaker cleaning videos suggested a more potent DIY cleaning formula, comprised of '1 tablespoon of baking soda, half a tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide, and half a tablespoon of warm water'.
This mix was spot applied and scrubbed into the shoe with a cleaning toothbrush, before being wiped off with a damp sponge.
'Lay them out to air dry and voila,' Caroline concluded.
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