Come on now… Coca-Cola can’t really clean a toilet, can it? And vinegar is the ultimate natural disinfectant, right?

There are a lot of cleaning tips floating around out there, and it can be hard to separate fact from fiction. We decided to shine some truth on five common cleaning tricks and find out which ones work, and which ones are simply myths.

You can use Coca-Cola to clean a toilet. True! If your toilet develops a rust ring, one way to get rid of it is by pouring a full can of Coke around the rim of your toilet so it fully coats the bowl. Let it sit for at least an hour while the carbonic, citric, and phosphoric acids in the Coke break down the stains. Scrub the stains with a toilet brush, and then flush. For more soda-cleaning ideas, read: Gettin’ Fizzy With It: Clean with Coke.

Vinegar is an effective, all-natural disinfectant. Not so fast! Vinegar will kill a range of household pathogens, but if you want to tackle the big guns like salmonella, it falls short. Instead of reaching for vinegar, try this non-toxic, homemade disinfectant. It was developed by a food scientist at Virginia Tech to remove salmonella from meat and vegetables, but it also works great for getting rid of cold and flu germs.

Jeans don’t need to be washed that much. Laundry-haters rejoice, it looks like you can wear your jeans multiple times before washing them. According to a semi-scientific test done by a student at the University of Alberta, jeans that weren’t washed for 15 months had about the same amount of bacteria as jeans that were washed after just two weeks. While we don’t recommend going over a year without washing your Levi’s, they can definitely skip a cycle or two.  

Newspapers make great mirror and window cleaners. This one is half-true. While newspaper is a better option than paper towels, it isn’t the best way to make a mirror shine! Newspaper can leave ink stains on your hands, which is messy and annoying. Instead, use coffee filters! Coffee filters don’t leave any residue, are really cheap (less that $1 a pack) and leave a streak-free shine.

You need to use a full cup of laundry detergent. Wrong! Using an entire cap of laundry detergent isn’t necessary. In fact, even with a full load of laundry you only need to use about half of the recommended amount. Your washing machine will do the rest! Not only will this change save you money on detergent, it will help reduce skin irritations and rashes, too! If you really want to save some cash, try making your own laundry detergent.

Have you heard any more cleaning myths you’d like us to bust? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll get the investigation underway!