How good are these $3 non-toxic cleaning products? We put them to the test.

I gave a thumbs-up to Brandless — the online grocery store where everything is $3 — after I tried out its line of conscientious beauty products that launched last August. The store has been steadily adding to its inventory, and just yesterday launched a collection of non-toxic cleaning products that I thought were worth checking out as well.

Now. Cleaning supplies are my least-ever favorite category of things to buy, but this got me one a little more excited  than usual — after all, the collection includes a balsamic greens and grapefruit-scented dish soap. Ooh.

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The 7 non-toxic cleaning products from Brandless include basics like lemon verbena surface cleaning wipes, cucumber mint glass cleaner, dish soap (in lilac and greens and grapefruit), and a multi-surface cleaner.

There’s also tub and tile cleaner (you know, the fun stuff) and toilet bowl cleaner, all scented like orange and lily of the valley. Plus there’s a granite and stone cleaner, something you don’t think of as having a scent like lavender.

And yes, I keep mentioning their scents, because when I’m up to my elbows in toilet scrubbing or slime-on-the-wall-removal-duty, I appreciate that the air I’m breathing isn’t thick with chemical smell. Or chemicals.

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Definitely not my counter

I find that all the product samples they sent (except the granite and stone cleaner, which I didn’t try because we don’t have marble countertops) are perfectly on par with the high-end non-toxic cleaning products you find at health foods stores or fancy pharmacies: fantastic for cleaning up all kinds of day-to-day messes from table spills, to tile grime, dirty dishes, and glass smears.

As for the aforementioned caked-on slime on the wall? Well, sadly, I had no luck there.

But in fairness, nothing has worked, because this mess evidently requires a sand blaster and a new coat of paint. Sigh.

While Brandless cleaning products have similar non-toxic and cruelty-free claims as similar products, the main difference is the price. You can get the entire collection of 8 Brandless cleaning products in total for just $24.

Wow.

I’d easily spend two or three times that elsewhere.

So yes, I can see myself purchasing more when my samples run out. Brandless cleaning products are effective, they’re non-toxic and dye-free, they smell good, they’re EPA Safer Choice Certified, and they cost next to nothing.

Which is especially important to me right now, because apparently I need to save up to buy a sand blaster.

Thanks to Brandless for providing sample products to CMP for review consideration. Find the whole lineup of non-toxic cleaning products at the Brandless site — and get $1 flat rate shipping on your first order.