Your phone case is one of the most disgusting things on planet Earth.
Not only does it look dirty, it actually is dirty.
Just take a quick sec to think about where this phone goes each day.
So this week we're going to clean it.
♪ [music] ♪
Well, plastic is relatively easy to bring back to near new condition.
If you have part of your case as a silicone case like I do, stained silicone
is indeed stained silicone. You can lessen the appearance
of some stains, but anyone who tells you a stain will magically disappear
if you use a little bit of this or a pinch of that are being clickbaity.
I spent two hours in the CMS laboratory this morning fiddling around with
different solutions, rubbing alcohol, acetone, rubber erasers, magic erasers,
oxygen bleach, hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, baking soda, eye makeup remover,
alcohol, enzyme cleaners, laundry detergent, and fairy dust.
I also machine washed it, but I didn't boil it because that could shrink it.
Now, some of these things work to an extent.
Some will straight up ruin your silicone case, and some
will just clean the case, as in remove the bacteria,
but won't leave the stains any less apparent.
This is called thorough and honest reporting people.
So what I'm going to do is give you the straight goods,
the best way to clean your case while getting rid of as many stains
and bacteria as possible after everything that I've tried.
Now, since I've done all of the legwork, thankfully you'll only
really need a couple of items for this job, and I'm willing to bet
that you have these things around your home already.
Dish soap, warm water, a cleaning toothbrush, a microfiber cloth,
preferably a flat microfiber cloth. You can also have some
rubbing alcohol handy, which I'll cover off in a moment,
as well as some baking soda if you really want to get fancy.
These are the phone cases I'm going to clean.
This one is mine, which I already put through the ringer this morning.
And this one is Chad's, and I've got to be honest.
I am surprised at how much cleaner his is than mine.
Now, these are both OtterBox brand phone cases.
They represent most of the phone cases out there,
I would say, that are either made from plastic and silicone
or plastic or silicone. However, you'll notice that there are
no jewels or fancy trinkets on my phone. So you might want to be extra careful
if that's your situation. [scary music]
Goes without saying, make sure you remove your phone
from your case before you get started, and I will just tell
you our cases have not really been cleaned in ever.
So without further ado, let's get right to it.
Simply add a drop or two of dish liquid to a bowl filled
with warm water, mix it up, and voila, you just made warm soapy water.
Now, take this warm soapy water and using your cleaning toothbrush,
scrub away all of the dirt and debris and oily buildup from the plastic part
of the case just using a gentle back and forth motion.
For anything tough, you can sprinkle on a
bit of baking soda, and that will help scrub off the stains as well.
Use the soapy water and the toothbrush for the silicone part of the case as well.
Be gentle because you don't want to scrape that silicone.
I wouldn't recommend anything else for the silicone.
It's a waste of time, and you might ruin your case. Just saying.
Finish up by rinsing and using the cloth to carefully wipe everything clean
and just letting that case air dry for an hour or so just to ensure
there's no residual moisture in there.
Now for that optional step of disinfecting your phone case,
simply take some rubbing alcohol, anything above 70% should work,
and spray both the plastic and silicone parts of your case,
and then just wipe quickly with a lint-free cloth.
You can also use an alcohol wipe if you have one of those handy.
Although this is an optional step, it is important to remember
that your phone and phone case can harbor more bacteria
than a toilet seat. So just think about that for a moment.
To keep phone cases looking good in between cleanings, you can quickly
spray a microfiber cloth with a little bit of dish soap and water, and wipe them
down on a somewhat regular basis.
You can do the same thing with that rubbing alcohol treatment
we talked about, from time to time, because every little bit helps.
Just know that some stains, like dye transfer from denim
and food stains and dirty hand stains, are permanent on silicone.
So a level of acceptance is needed here.
I know many of us don't think about cleaning our phone cases
on a regular basis. But remember, most of us use this device
more than any other, and we're constantly transferring all sorts of dirt and grime
and bacteria from our hands onto the phone case and vice versa.
So this is a job that you're going to want to do monthly to keep
your phone case as fresh as possible. And if discolored silicone really
grinds your gears, just pick up a black case next time and end the madness.
This week's comment question is: How many times a day do you check your phone?
I probably check mine, I don't know, 30 times a day.
[Chad] More like a hundred. No. You check your phone
like a hundred times a day. Maybe like 40 for me.
[clears throat] Anyway, let me know how many times a day you check your phone
in the comments down below. And also I didn't have much luck cleaning
this silicone part of my phone case without causing damage, but I'd love
to know if you guys have figured out some special little hack.
So please let me know about that in the comments below as well.
There's a button down there that let's me know you care.
So click it if you liked this video, and click this button right here
to subscribe and join the 263,000 plus people who have joined
the Clean My Space nation to start their journey to a cleaner life.
Thanks so much for watching, and we'll see you next time.
Thank you for sticking around to the very end of this video
where we recommend some other great videos for your viewing pleasure.
And by the way, Molly has been sitting here the entire time I've been filming,
and like a true Clean My Space family member, she has been cleaning herself.
Anyway, to my left, your right, you will see two videos.
One is about a highly neglected cleaning task.
That is cleaning your oven racks. And the other one is actually about
how to clean your phone. So this video will show you everything
that you need to know about cleaning and caring for your electronic best friend.
See you guys next week.