Spring Cleaning a Collection

By GETAUVE Editorial Team · Published September 28, 2026

Spring Cleaning a Collection: A Ten-Minute Pass That Actually Works

You wipe it down and put it back. The step you skipped — looking before you clean — is the one that matters.

A ten-minute pass through everything you own: check each piece for seams and battery health, clean in the right order, then decide what stays. Fewer things, all of them working.

The Short Answer

Clean last, not first. Spend the first five minutes looking: seams, charging contacts, battery life, and anything gone sticky or tacky. Then wash body-safe silicone with warm water and mild soap, dry it fully, and only then put it away. A 2-in-1 like SANDRA makes the whole thing easier — it's rated IPX7, so it takes a real rinse, and it holds 12 levels at under 45 dB with about 90 minutes per charge. Anything that fails the look-over goes in the bin, not back in the drawer.

Step 1: Look Before You Clean

On a Sunday morning, tip everything out onto a towel. Don't start at the sink.

What you're hunting for is small. A hairline split near a seam. A cloudy patch over the charging contacts. A button that's gone soft and doesn't click the way it used to. Two minutes a piece is plenty.

If you start this before bed on a weeknight, the whole pass takes about ten minutes. Do it on a Sunday morning with coffee and it takes twenty, and you'll enjoy it more. Either way, don't start it half-committed — a half-finished sort is exactly how things end up back in the drawer still dirty.

If you find a seam that's opened up, stop right there. That piece is done. Cleaning won't help, and water getting inside the body is worse than the crack itself.

Step 2: Clean in the Right Order

The order matters more than the soap you pick.

Wash the simple pieces first and the motorized ones last, so you're not moving wet devices around a pile of clean ones. Warm water and a mild, unscented soap handles most body-safe silicone. Give it about 30 seconds of real contact, then rinse.

Skip anything with alcohol in it, and skip the scented stuff. It's not ideal for the surface, and that smell will still be there two days later.

Here's the part everyone skips. Dry it completely. Not mostly dry. Give it 10 minutes face-up on the towel before it goes back into a pouch or a drawer, because a closed drawer plus a little leftover moisture is exactly how mildew gets started.

Step 3: Charge, Test, and Date

Plug everything in, then go do something else for 2 hours.

When you come back, run each piece through its settings one at a time. A device that used to give you 90 minutes per charge and now dies at 20 is telling you something, and you should listen. Take a small piece of tape, write the date, and stick it to the pouch.

I know how fussy that sounds. But picture yourself next spring, opening that drawer and actually knowing how old everything is. Future you will be grateful.

Step 4: Decide What Leaves

Three questions, and you have to answer them honestly.

• Have you reached for it in the last 90 days?
• Does it still hold a charge and run every mode without stalling?
• Would you buy this again today, at full price?

Two no's and it goes out. Keep the pieces that pass all three, and don't keep spares out of guilt.

Then fix the storage, or you'll be doing this again in three months. Anything that goes into a pouch should be fully dry first, and pouches should breathe — a sealed plastic bag traps whatever moisture was left. A shallow drawer with a little space between pieces beats a stacked box every time.

Label the ones you're keeping if you share the space. It sounds like nothing, and it saves an awkward conversation later.

What This Cleanout Won't Fix

Let's be honest about the limitation. A cleanout won't turn a device you never liked into one you do. If a piece has been sitting untouched for a year, washing it won't change that — the shape was wrong for you from the start, and no amount of soap fixes that.

It also won't rescue anything with a real split in the body. Water gets in, the motor corrodes, and you'll find out at the worst possible moment.

And if your drawer is full of near-identical bullets, the honest answer is fewer, better pieces. That isn't for everyone, I get it, but it's the trade-off that actually frees up space.

Sources

• U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission — publishes general guidance on care, cleaning, and disposal of consumer products.
• International Organization for Standardization — ISO 3533 sets safety and labeling requirements for sex toys sold to adults.
• ASTM International — maintains standard test methods for silicone elastomers used in consumer goods.

This article is general education and product care guidance, not medical advice. If you notice irritation after using a cleaned product, stop using it and talk with a qualified healthcare professional.