I realized this week I had no idea how to really clean a white board.

I came to this sad realization when I finally unpacked my big dry erase board I use to keep track of long term projects.

It’d been sitting in a box with dry erase notes and doodles on it for four months. Between that and moving across the country in the heat of the summer… Everything had gotten kind of caked on. So I hit it with some household cleaner… A few times. And a lot of scrubbing.

Most of it came right off after the fourth or fifth time of scrubbing, but I was still left with this little corner of basically permanent marker.

It was making me insane!! No matter how hard I scrubbed this dry erase board, I just could not make that square of July and it’s corresponding arrow disappear. So I turned to my Facebook friends for help. Some of these tips I’d never heard of, some I’d heard and forgotten about, all are helpful!!

How to Clean a White Board: Use Dry Erase Markers

It seems totally counter intuitive, but it works. Take one of your dry erase markers and scribble over the marks that are already there. Then, use a paper towel to scrub it off. It’ll totally take some (if not all) of the old marks off!

Thanks Jessica Maneck, Harriet, Bianka, and my sister Michelle for that idea – it’s a popular one! My old buddy Ed Killmond said you can also use this trick to remove permanent marker from a whiteboard. It took some of the old dry erase marker off, but there was still some stubborn areas. On to the next idea:

How to Clean a White Board: Use Nail Polish Remover

Next up, I tried cleaning the dry erase board with some nail polish remover thanks to a tip from Richard Dufresne. He says you can also use acetone to get a nice clean white board. Other options along these lines? Our friends Ginny and Amy say windex or rubbing alcohol is the way to go. This got a bunch of it off, too – then I called in the big guns:

How to Clean a Whiteboard: Use Graffiti Remover

We have a bottle of this Motsenbocker Lift-Off Spray Paint Remover left over from our Long Beach days… We weren’t the taggers, we were the… taggees? Some fool decided to spray paint the window by our car port ages ago.

ANYWAYS…

This finished the job, leaving me with a nice fresh white board. I think it was a joint effort between all these different techniques.

It takes a village, people.

And also some Village People.

So you can dance around in a construction helmet while you clean without anyone thinking your insane.

More Tips:

WD-40 – Our friends Kari and Jackie Cross say this does the trick, while our friend David Le says try liquid car wax.

Our buddy Brian says stainless steel polish works best of all, while Amy says do NOT use a magic eraser, as it will destroy your white board’s magical dry erase properties.

What are your tips for a clean white board?