Mr. Clean eraser is incredible. What won't it do? My husband was cleaning his boat (fiberglass hull) and it had scuff marks along the sides and on the floor. He tried brush and soap, a nylon scrubbie and was planning to get steel wool when I stopped him and told him to use my Mr. Clean eraser. He scoffed and said these marks were so stubborn that a "sponge" will do nothing. I insisted he try it and they were EASILY removed! It took him just a minute or two remove all the scuffs, and he had been laboring for nearly an hour with the other items. He was amazed! I have several on hand at all times for shower doors, scuff marks on floors, baseboards and walls. I also used it to remove specks of dried paint from woodwork. Use a light hand though, because it will remove the finish if you are over zealous.

I worked for a dry cleaner for several years in my (sort of) misspent youth. I worked in the alterations department and I also learned to press which meant I spent a lot of time "out back" with the dry cleaner and the spotter. I learned a TON about fabric care and when I no longer worked that job (and no longer received free dry cleaning!) I began learning how to properly launder things, by reading old sewing and Home Economics books I picked up at yard sales. "Dry clean only" is the safety net for manufacturers. If they slap that label on something they're protected from liability. Consider that both sheep and geese routinely get wet. ;) Cold water and a dilute solution of my favorite laundry detergent is how I wash things like comforters. I will take them to a laundromat to use the extractor to really get remaining water out of them and use their dryers (I don't have a dryer). I routinely wash our feather pillows by first soaking them with the garden hose (this keeps them from floating in the washer). I put them in the washing machine with a cup of ammonia and run the cycle. I rinse them twice. Ammonia cuts grease (and everyone's hair is oily and sometimes we sweat while we're in bed). I take them to the laundromat and "extract" them and then dry them, finishing with a full day in the sunshine on top of the car, turning every couple of hours. They look nearly brand new when I'm done. They're now nearly 15 yrs. old, too. I use ammonia a lot actually; esp. for woolens. I use it for hats, socks, mittens (I rinse carefully and add a capful of lanolin to the final rinse to add water repellency and promote elasticity in the wool fibres). I block and dry them flat or, in the case of socks, on stretchers.

Besides ensuring I use a cold water setting, I always pull my jeans inside out before washing to preserve the color from fading. Then I hang to dry and iron them when they are just barely damp, for a crisp polished look. Alternately, if I have a load of dark clothes ready to go into the dryer, I throw my 'non-dryer' clothes that dried by hanging into the dryer with the wet clothes. This takes out any wrinkles they got from hanging and fluffs them while they are tossed around in the dryer. I have never had them shrink by putting them in with the wet clothes, as long as they were completely dried by hanging before adding them to my wet load in the dryer.

You'd be amazed at the harsh chemicals they use to clean bottles and cans that are used for food storage. But ... they wash out. The chemicals in your dishwasher and washing machine cleaners aren't that nice either. Good that they wash out. The question is less how harsh they are, and more how soluble they are. The ones you named are highly soluble. Granted that some ugly petrochemicals aren't that soluble in water, but can be broken down with soap.