Clean cup of Life

It isn't often that I post, or will post, about something that wasn't part of some freebie or deal of some sort; Or, of course, things I myself make or do. But as I am currently in the middle of tackling two sinks AND three counters AND a stove stacked and piled with dishes [Yayyyyy holidayyyys], I couldn't help but feel incredibly indebted to these little blue sponges.

Okay, I say little but these Lysol brand sponges are in fact the same size as any other dish-washing sponge.
What I love about these, is that they pretty much do and are exactly what they say on the packaging. In the below picture, you can see the claim that bacteria and such don't grow in it, preventing those horrible odors from striking a chorus. Those odors are why I've almost never wanted to do dishes. I'd rather use a dish rag than the best sponge in the world, if the sponge smelled like that. I've even left these sponges in nasty dish water overnight from where I'd had to leave a pan soaking [Such as cast iron skillets on steak night] overnight and forgot the sponge IN the pan. In the morning, I smelled the sponge to check, and there was a slight smell to it; but a good rinsing in hot water left the smell nowhere to be found.

Between the two pictures, you can see two different shapes to the sponges. The first as shown in the upper picture is a wiggly shape, where each end is equal and opposite to the other end. I found this shape was a bit hard to keep ahold of sometimes, especially with a soap that lathers quite a bit like Dawn. The second as shown in the lower picture is a slightly bent C shape, where each end is exactly equal the opposite end. While this usually means there's one comfortable way to hold it, it's a lot easier to keep in your hand.

They really do rinse off extremely easily, taking only a rub down under some hot water to get the scrubber truly clean and even this isn't usually necessary for normal washing. When brand new, the scrubber side is a good bit stiff, but after even a single washing [Washing should be used to reference a sink load at least] it softens up a lot. They have yet to scratch a single dish, pot or pan in my house and I don't see them doing so in the near future. They have an extremely long life, and in the past year or more I've only had to make two purchases of them, each purchase consisting of a two-pack of sponges. With your "standard" sponge, like Scotch Brite, I had to replace them at LEAST twice as often, usually due to afore-mentioned smell. Moreover, I replaced them long before some of them truly needed it. My issue rested with how much silverware, particularly forks and butter knives, I have to wash on a daily basis that causes some weakness/damage to the scrubber side of the sponge. The tines and ripples when rubbed in the same general places enough cause tiny bits and pieces of the scrubber and/or sponge to tear off or rip open leaving the ability for other objects to tear it off. Blame it on my OCD, but I couldn't stand the feeling of loose blue flakes between my fingers during hour long or more sessions of dish-washing.

In essence:

• Long-lasting
• Odorless unless retaining odorous liquid
• Non-scratch
• Excellent scrubbing ability
• What more could you ask for?