If You Ever Doubted a Sponge Could Change Your Life, You Need to Try This 45%-Off One

New York City has many wonders, but its small apartments are not one of them. My French-Colonial Clinton Hill apartment is the home of my (rented) dreams, but where it delivers on crown molding and ship-wood flooring, it lacks in dishwasher-having-ness. For a household that loves to host, this can spell disaster.

Earlier this year, probably amid a tense week of playing "whose turn to wash the dishes this time?," a friend came through with a recommendation that would prove revelatory. Scrub Daddy is like a sponge, but better, and I liked its cheeky name and smiling countenance right off the bat.

Scrub Daddy The Original FlexTexture Sponge

To buy: 4-pack for $16 (was $29); amazon.com

The stout, round yellow scrubber is made of polymer foam using proprietary technology called FlexTexture, meaning it changes firmness depending on the temperature of water you use. When run under warm water, it becomes bouncy and malleable, able to contort and tackle hard-to-reach corners. Under cold water, it solidifies to better tackle set-in food and rough patches. Under both conditions, Scrub Daddy is rougher to the touch than a typical soft-sided sponge, but it never scratches or drags making it safe to use on all materials, even the most delicate copper, non-stick coating, or leather.

The sponge's smiling face (always encouraging during a daunting task) isn't just cute, it serves a purpose, too. The eye holes provide an ergonomic spot for fingers to grip while plunging the scrubber to the bottom of a deep vase or glass, and his "versatile smile" (aptly described by the Amazon product page) can wipe down both sides of cutlery in one pass.

Scrub Daddy is more sanitary than other sponges, too. Lab tests found that it remained odor-free for up to eight weeks while also resisting stains. In my experience, nothing can stick to this thing—just give it a quick wring out with some dish soap and it's quite literally as good as new. Another thing you'll never have to worry about: those little bits of soggy sponge ripping off with every use.

Now, when it's time for us to rinse out half a dozen wine glasses, scrape down a cast iron, and soap off our collection of plates, neither of us mind taking up the task. Scrub Daddy makes doing the dishes faster, easier, and frankly more fun.

Possibly the best news, though, is that a four-pack of the scrubbers is 45 percent off for Amazon Prime Day. Usually available for $29, you can get the lot for $16, so $4 each—enough to put a Scrub Daddy smile on anyone's face.

More Prime Day deals:

• I Shop Amazon for a Living, and These Are the 9 Things I'm Buying During Prime Day
• The 50 Best Amazon Prime Day Deals You'll See This Year
• The 30 Best Cooling Products to Shop This Prime Day, Including Bedding and Fans
• 10 Can't-Miss Bedding Deals to Shop on Amazon Prime Day-Including $10 Sheets
• The 11 Most Comfortable Bras Worth Buying During Amazon Prime Day