It's weird. I didn't believe in magic before now. I live in grad housing and these things are a lifesaver considering the WHITE laminate countertops. They do all they say they do!

I love these things. I am in the process of a massive cleanout and organization of my kitchen/pantry and obviously cleaning as I go. These things take off the stubborn grease and spilled food buildup like no other. Consider me a devoted fan!

They're not new at all, and yes, they are magic.

Words cannot express how much I love these things! I have them at work and at home. I use them everywhere- walls, counter tops, cabinetry, tile, laminate, painted surfaces. I just recently moved into a new office and they seriously helped getting off all the random marks and smudges from the previous occupant. Love!

These are excellent, as are the bathroom versions!!

I've been using these for a couple years now and yeah, they're great! They work wonders for cleaning those old cast iron bath tubs in older apartments!

Pretty pricey for every day use. I save them for tough marks and things I can't get out with my usual homemade cleaners and a rag. I did find some generic brand ones at Wal-Mart though. Seem to work the same, but less expensive. Still too expensive for everyday though, plus it's made from a petroleum product and I try to limit use of those as much as possible.

You do have to be careful using these. They are very effective, but sometimes too much so. We used these once to try to remove scuff marks on a textured wall, and it removed all the texture from the wall as well, and left exposed what was behind the wall (something metallic I think.)

these are awesome. But, work too well...makes me wonder what's in it? In a worriesome way.

I was sold when it effortlessly took pencil markings off my wall. I don't use them for everything (ditto on what digigirl said), but for really tough jobs like wall smudges and grease buildup, they're wonderful.

These are wonderful, but be warned: these are an abrasive, so if you use them on painted surfaces too often (or too vigrously) they will remove paint. Of course this goes for any other surface that could be damaged by abrasive cleaners.

But the fact that they are a NON-chemical way to clean makes me so happy! And they really do work like magic!

i remember a discussion on Renest about its safety and environmental non friendly concerns...hmm..and a different take here at the kitchn

Did this accidentally get reposted from 5 years ago? :P

But in seriousness, it is a good product. I buy the store brand version. And I agree - you have to be careful on painted surfaces!

They really are amazing. I've always wondered who invented it and what it's really made of and how it works? And do the generic versions work just as well?

I love these things. They are wonderful for cleaning up old toys (like Barbie dolls and My Little Ponies). I have found them more effect on gloss paint than matte or satin finishes. I typically reserve their use for special things, and definitely don't use them daily.

They are great for cleaning a white macbook... but dont use it on any of the printed areas like the keys or where it says "macbook." Also, don't get water in your computer. duh.

They are literally the only things that get scuff marks (and unknown marks) off the old and fugly linoleum in our kitchen. Also fantastic for soap scum!

I found these to be really hard on my hands, and have to wear gloves when I use them, but for really tough stuff they are a dream. Especially scuffed white work shoes. They also have WAY more cleaner in them than you need for basically anything, so because they are expensive I cut them up into little blocks. The only thing for getting Bulldog off your walls--they have a tendency to rub their faces on walls and to get drool everywhere such that the bottom two feet of your wall gets crazy dirty.

yes, they can be a bit rough on painted surfaces, but I love them for cleaning wall scuffs. I'm more careful about the higher up scuffs since these can wear away at the paint a bit, but for the lower marks (where shoes may have bumped the wall) these are perfect!

These magic sponges contain formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. Remember to pull out the rubber gloves before scrubbing!

I use these for everything--the Target brand works great. Especially handy to wipe down the rubber on my kid's Converse if I forgot to toss them in the wash over the weekend.

man i hate those things. creepy.

It's hard for me to believe that these are completely non-toxic. I will stick with my bar mop cloths, thanks!

I second the sneaker use

I agree that these things feel a little 'too good to be true' but these appear to be made of a special type of foam that works on a micro-fiber sort of level. As far as them having formaldehyde, Snopes has the answer: http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/eraser.asp (tl;dr: it's an old, very false urban legend)

Yeah. It's amazing how myths like this stick around.

I used these to clean out some very dirty grout in my new house. Also works great for soap scum in the shower (glass).

I love them, but they do start to crumble after a while, which is kind of annoying.

Yea, these came out like a decade ago. Did you really just discover these?? Lol.

I love em, but for specific things. Messes on a wall? Amazing. Dirty light plates, floorboards? Perfect. Counters or anything shiny? Not so much. Leaves a gross white film on everything. GREAT for getting deep stains or gunk up, but I finish it up with something more cleaner-y for smooth surfaces.

These are nothing new, but they do work amazingly well. They're fantastic on the shower and tub!

These are amazing. They are the only thing that works on my stainless steel stovetop. I found two cheap sources for these magic sponges. First, Home Depot sells them in packs of 6 for a lot less than the "Mr. Clean" versions. Second, I found them in the Japanese dollar store (Daiso?) for very cheap, too, and they seem to be the exact same product. Apparently they've been used in Japan for much longer than they've been known in the US.

Fantastic product! We use it all the time to clean walls whenever we're doing a professional end of tenancy cleaning. The result is always great.

I love these for keyboards! Dasio stocks their version in a bunch of shapes and are super cheap ($1.50 for 3 Mr. Clean size equivalents).

are they bio degradable? or can you recycle them???

they kind of disintegrate while you're using them so by the time you're done there isn't much to recycle.. i did hear that whatever the shizen they're made of, it gives you cancer so i always use rubber gloves and make sure that the surfaces i use them on are thoroughly cleaned afterwards.

Even though these things are non-toxic, they are not for use on skin.

A few years back my wife went out of town and left me with three kids. My only mission that day was to get them to a piano recital in the early afternoon. I woke up to 3 kids grinning with clown faces colored on with black marksalot permanent markers. We had used the magic erasers with great success in removing permanent marker so I figured it was worth a shot. There were no warnings on the box regarding use on skin so I went to work. After cleaning the oldest child and halfway through the middle one, the oldest started screaming "It burns! It burns!" so I stopped. The places I cleaned eventually scabbed over and healed.

I recently noticed the magic erasers now have an admonition not to use on skin.

Wow, that is interesting info about the skin irritation - I'm sorry to hear about that. I had a different experience in that I had a red pen explode while I was writing and had red ink all over my hands that I couldn't get off with any soap. I tried the trusty Magic Eraser and lo and behold, off the ink came, like Magic! I was lucky and didn't have the irritation. If anyone wants to use it for this, maybe test it in a spot first to make sure you won't have a reaction. For non-human use, I find this works great on cleaning tea and coffee stains on my vanilla-colored counters!

Magical, indeed! Just seeing that package brings back a flood of memories about the time in university when I accidentially set fire to my kitchen (really). Boiling an egg, in the heat of summer. It was pretty bad. In the ensuing weeks (literally, weeks) of cleaning up of our soot-dusted apartment, my (exceedingly gracious and understanding) roommate and I came to adore these pads. They were the only product that actually made us feel that we were making a dent in the overwhelming cleaning task ahead of us. Surprisingly, our roommate-ship lasted through that ordeal and it's one of the few cleaning experiences of which I have fond memories.

I only use it when nothing else works-- it was truly magic for getting crayon off the wall. But I am not comfortable using it for everyday, primarily because I use very simple, non-synthetic cleaners for everyday cleaning. Better Basics for the Home is a great book for making your own non toxic cleaning products.

I wanted to hate them and refused to use them for a long time. But, as it turns out, they're pretty rad. I use the target brand, too. They're wayyyy less gnarly than most cleaning products, so I don't worry too much about that.

I have been using these for a long time, but only recently found that they are great for removing rust from metal. I accidentally left a baking sheet in my damp, stainless steel sink and came back a few days later to find that rust spots had developed. I tried everything in my regular cleaning arsenal (bleach/elbow grease/etc.) to no avail, but when I tried the magic erasers the spots came right off!

I did just discover them! Well, I knew they existed, just didn't think I needed them. Tried them on bathroom grout, and am hooked. They are considered a fine grit sandpaper (the melamine), but aren't toxic, nor do they have chemicals in them.

I'm a teacher and use these to erase my white board, leaves it spotless every time! no "cleaning the board" on Fridays needed!

Did somebody say they used magic erasers ON THEIR CHILDS SKIN?? Tell me I imagined that??

'....the places I cleaned eventually scabbed over and healed'

Speechless.