How to Clean Your Home While Avoiding Target
We don't need 'em!
One of the most common items to shop for at Target, Walmart, or Amazon are cleaning products. Since they’re lower-price purchase items it can be hard to justify shopping online, and often you may need them in a pinch and want to go to a store to grab an item quickly. But - there are a lot of other options available besides these big players.
Local, Direct, and Non-Shopping Choices: Use your local grocery or hardware store for cleaning products. Grocery stores usually have all the basics, and hardware stores often have a decent cleaning product selection. These can be especially helpful if you need something in a pinch.
Direct: If you have a particular brand you like, search online to see if you can buy from them directly on their site.
Free/No Purchase: You can make your own! Good Housekeeping has a helpful how-to for a few different types of cleaners and there are even more ideas at this blog. Otherwise, it’s a bit harder to consistently source cleaning products from Buy Nothing groups, but people share a ton of stuff on there so you never know.
Online Options
Grove: Grove sells high-performing, eco-friendly products for the home and carries both existing brands you love and their own Grove-branded items. They also have their Beyond Plastic collection that focuses on reducing plastic waste in the packaging and shipment process. You can set up a monthly order and then add and remove items based on your needs, or place one-off orders if you need something right away. They are known for their cleaning and other home care products, but they also have diapers & other baby/kids care, pet care, vitamins, garden & home items, and even school and art supplies. I’ve been using Grove for my cleaning supplies for a couple years now and it’s been great! They even add a little note on each box delivered, which is a nice touch.
The Details: Grove is publicly traded with institutional investors as the largest shareholders. Grove is a Certified B Corp and supports DEI. In 2024, 13% of their virtual shelf space was dedicated to BIPOC-owned brands, and they are committed to partnering with women, BIPOC, LGBTA+, and veteran owned and founded suppliers. I do not believe they spent any money on lobbying as OpenSecrets only has a profile for Grove Assoc and I think that is for a different company or group.
What they have: Anything you could need for home cleaning, including both cleaning products and cleaning supplies like sponges, dish gloves, etc. They also have paper products, trash & recycling bags, personal care products, and food storage.
Price comparison: Grove’s Bamboo Paper Towel roll 6-pack is $15.19 with subscribe and save ($15.99 without) compared to a similar bamboo paper towel 6-pack at Target for $18.29.
Method and Mrs. Meyer’s: Method creates cleaning products with the environment in mind, while Mrs. Meyer’s focuses on cleaning products that smell good and are inspired by the garden with plant-based and other ingredients. These brands are sold at Target, Amazon, and Walmart but you can purchase from their site directly.
The Details: Both are owned by S.C. Johnson, a private company owned by the Johnson family. S.C. Johnson supports diversity and inclusion and was heralded for excellence by the NAACP local chapter president in their corporate headquarters’ city. They also scored highly on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index 2023-2024 report. However, S.C. Johnson spent $317K on lobbying in 2024 around recycling, plastic recycling and single use plastics, and the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024. I’m not sure if they were lobbying for or against more recycling regulations as one of the bills they were lobbying around were to put more responsibility on manufacturers like them for reducing plastic waste. But, on their company site they support reducing plastic waste so they may have wanted the bill passed so more manufacturers were on board and thus reducing competitive pressure for them from lower cost manufacturers. It’s hard to say. They also lobbied for malaria treatment and prevention funds which aligns with their commitment to help end malaria.
What they have: Method has staples like multi-surface cleaner, bathroom cleaner, glass cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, dish soap, hand soap, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, floor cleaners, tub & tile; and more specific cleaners like Stainless Steel cleaner, Wood Cleaner, stain and odor treatments. If you’re looking for a cleaning product, they likely have it. Mrs. Meyer’s has multi-surface cleaners, glass cleaner, toilet cleaner, tub and tile, drain maintenance, laundry & dish detergent. They also have candles and pet stain & odor cleaners.
Price comparison: Method’s Dish Soap is $3.50 with subscribe & save ($3.89 without) on their site vs. $4.99 on Target’s. Mrs. Meyer’s Multi-Surface cleaner is $4.99 on their site vs. $4.89 on Target’s.
Blueland: Blueland’s goal is to create sustainable, low-plastic or no plastic products for the home. They sell cleaning product tablets that you mix with water to create solutions, like a multi-purpose spray. By removing water from the product itself, they are able to reduce packaging, shipping costs, and plastic waste. You can get a starter kit for bottles or use existing ones you have. If you’re looking to reduce your plastic consumption, this could be a great fit for you.
The Details: Founded by Sarah Paiji Yoo and John Mascari and funded by BBG Ventures, a woman-founded and led venture capital company focused on funding underrepresented groups like women and minorities. Which is a real problem - wholly-women owned companies only received 1% of venture capital funding in 2024. They are a Certified B Corp and support DEI.
What they have: Multi-surface cleaner, bathroom cleaner, glass cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, dish soap, hand soap, laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent
Price comparison: Two tablets of their multi-surface cleaner, expected to last about 3 months for 1-2 people, is $4.50 with autoship ($5.00 without) compared to $4.29 for the Method All-Purpose spray at Target.
Dropps: Dropps makes laundry and dish detergent pods without harmful chemicals and focus on removing plastic waste throughout the process. I have been using Dropps for laundry for the last year or two, and I love them!
The Details: Founded and owned by mother and son team Lenore and Jonathan Propper with venture capital funding. They are a Certified B Corp and support DEI.
What they have: Laundry and dish pods, you can purchase one-time or setup a subscribe & save order and get 25% off.
Price Comparison: Dropps Odor & Stain Detergent, it’s $21.67 for 64 pods with a subscribe and save order ($28.89 without) vs. $29.99 for a similar 63 pack of Tide Pods at Target.
Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps: If you’re unfamiliar, this is the soap brand with all the crazy writing on the label. I had heard rumors years ago that they were a cult but turns out - they’re not! They’re actually pretty great. Their main product, Magic Soap, can be used to clean almost anything in your home or on your body. People who use it swear by it for its effectiveness and multi-purpose functionality.
The Details: Owned privately by the Bronner Family. They source 90% of their olive oil for production from Palestinian farmers, advocate for legalizing psychedelics and other drugs, cap their total compensation for the highest-paid employees at 5x the lowest paid employee, and they support a number of organizations around black, queer, trans, migrant rights and aid. They also re-affirmed their support for DEI in February 2025 and did not spend any money on lobbying in 2024.
What they have: Their namesake Magic Soap, all-purpose cleaner, organic sugar soaps, toothpaste, lotions, hair care, and shaving soaps.
Price comparison: A 32 ounce bottle of their magic soap is $17.49, a 38 ounce bottle of Dawn at Target is $7.29 (but think of all the cool causes you’ll support instead of a company that continually raises prices for no reason!).
In-Store Options
Costco: Publicly traded with institutional investors as the largest shareholders. They spent $0 in lobbying in 2024. Costco shareholders successfully voted down an anti-DEI motion from conservative shareholders in January 2025, maintaining their support for DEI. You can visit Costco in person, order online, or use Instacart for same-day delivery if you live near a store.
The Details: I know everyone loves Costco, but they very narrowly averted a strike from their unionized employees (approx. 8% of their workforce) in January 2025 as Costco tried to stall negotiations. During this process, Costco raised the pay by $1 each year for the next three years for non-union employees. Sure, that seems great at first, but keep in mind that’s an approximate 3% raise each year when prices and inflation are skyrocketing. On top of that, union employees enjoy more benefits like higher wages, pensions (vs. 401ks, and given the recent stock market performance pensions are a lot more secure!), and better paid holiday/time off policies. I hope all Costco stores are unionized in the future. If you’re in California, Washington, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey or New York and can shop at a unionized Costco store, please do!
What they have: All common cleaning products and cleaning tools like sponges, trash bags, paper towels, etc.
Price Comparison: Bounty Paper Towels 12 Rolls (669 sq. ft) are $32.99 while a similar 8-pack of Bounty Paper Towels (591 sq. ft) at Target is $36.99.
Hardware Stores: Ace Hardware and Do It Best are great options. TruValue was owned by private equity but was bought out by Do It Best at the end of last year, though how they’re incorporating those stores into Do It Best’s co-op ownership framework is yet to be seen. If TruValue is the best option for you locally, I think it’s fine to shop there.
AND - If you’re looking to save money on cleaning products I have two tips:
Buy the refill vs. a new bottle every time for cleaning solutions and soap. You can get an all-purpose cleaner refill from Method (68 oz) for $7.99 or buy two new bottles (56 oz) for $8.38 and still end up with less solution.
Group online orders together to reduce shipping costs. I group my purchases together on a monthly basis so I can get the staples I need and then shop locally if I need something last-minute. It can take a bit of upfront organizing but makes it easy to have your stuff consistently.
Was this helpful for you? Let me know in the comments and what you’d like me to tackle next. Follow me on TikTok and Instagram for recap videos, and subscribe to see more category deep dives every Friday. Thanks for reading <3
Note: all prices listed were found in early June 2025. Prices may have changed since publishing.