🎙️Inside the Cleaning Lab: Carolyn Forté on the Products and Habits That Actually Work
The Not Old - Better Show
Paul Vogelzang
4.7 • 106 Ratings
🗓️ 24 November 2025
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
🎙️Inside the Cleaning Lab: Carolyn Forté on the Products and Habits That Actually Work
The Not Old Better Show, Good Better Best Interview Series with Good Housekeeping
"Your home must be immaculate!"
That's what people say to Carolyn Forté — but the executive director of the Good Housekeeping Institute's Home Care and Cleaning Lab has a refreshingly honest answer: not always. Today's episode is brought to you by Aura Frames.
In this new episode of the Good Housekeeping: Good Better Best series on The Not Old Better Show, Carolyn shares what 40+ years of product testing and cleaning expertise have taught her — and why a clean-enough home can be far more comforting than a spotless one.
We talk about why maintenance beats marathon cleaning, her favorite overlooked cleaning zones (hello, faucet sprayers and door frames), and how even a full-time expert still has dust on top of her bookcases. And yes, she gives us her take on grandma's old-school tips — the good, the bad, and the sticky (we're looking at you, hairspray-on-curtains).
This episode is filled with humor, smart habits, and product picks that work — like Stink Stopper, Diptyque's Odor Removing Candle, and good old vinegar (with a few caveats).
If you're looking for practical advice, a little reassurance, and a few good laughs about the mess we all live with, this one's worth your time.
🎧 Listen now at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Not Old Better Show, Good Housekeeping interview series on radio and podcast. |
| 0:08.2 | The show covering all things health, wellness, culture, kitchen, cooking, and more. |
| 0:13.4 | The show for all of us who aren't old, we're better. |
| 0:16.5 | Each week, we'll interview superstars, experts, and ordinary people, doing extraordinary things, |
| 0:22.8 | all related to this wonderful experience of getting better, not just older. |
| 0:27.6 | Now here's your host, the award-winning Paul Volusat. |
| 0:32.1 | Thank you and welcome to another episode of Good Housekeeping's Good, Better, Best on Radio, and Podcasts where we bring you trusted voices and real-world advice to help you live smarter, safer, healthier, and better at home, no matter your age or stage of life. |
| 0:50.9 | Today's show is brought to you by Aura Frames. |
| 0:53.8 | Aura Frames, the gift that brings your favorite |
| 0:56.6 | holiday traditions and memories to life every day. If your idea of spring cleaning is thinking |
| 1:04.0 | about spring cleaning, even during the winter months, then today's episode is absolutely for you. |
| 1:10.2 | We're talking dirt, dust, and the forgotten |
| 1:14.4 | corners of your kitchen faucet with one of the most trusted names in home care, Carolyn Forte, |
| 1:20.4 | the executive director of the Good Housekeeping Institute's home care and cleaning lab. This is |
| 1:26.9 | an interview right up my alley. |
| 1:29.1 | I am excited about this one. |
| 1:31.6 | You're going to meet Carolyn Forte in just a moment, but let me tell you that with over 40 years of |
| 1:37.0 | experience and thousands of product tests under her belt, Carolyn Forte has seen it all. |
| 1:43.0 | From vinegar-soaked showerheads to grandma's |
| 1:46.2 | curtain hairspray trick. Spoiler, don't do that. But what makes Carolyn Forte so beloved isn't |
| 1:53.0 | just her expertise, it's her honesty. Her home, as she will tell you, isn't spotless, nor is mine, |
| 2:00.2 | and that's exactly why we love her. |
... |
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