Man, you guys are crazy interested in mops, huh? I was going to answer in the comments but so many of you asked I just had to post. I know the cleaning obsession...or the obsession to keep from having to clean over and over! I should tell you, though, that I have become slightly obsessed with cleaning. My kids now know that the first thing we do when we get home from school is clean up before we relax, and I was never like this before...but now that my house is really, really clean, I just can't stand for it to get dirty, which can be challenging with three kids and two white, shedding dogs and dark floors. And I just can't get down to the floor very easily anymore. So that might explain my excitement over this.
I got the Shark Steam Pocket Mop google it, because there are better prices than on the company page...Seth woke me up in the middle of the night one night and the television was on, and there was an infomercial for the Shark. I didn't buy it then, but it was interesting enough for me to actually wake up and watch it for a good fifteen minutes. My floors have been driving me insane...my bathroom tile looked like it was pitted and no matter how much I scrubbed I couldn't get certain spots out. My wood floors had so much build up from the cleaner I was using that they would look good for about an hour after cleaning them before they would look dull and lackluster again. We laid walnut floors for a reason...I love a dark wood floor with a glow, you know, how they look right after you clean them? Problem is, my floors only looked like that for a little while. And I can't stand streaks. And then the kitchen...with all the food Seth drops, I was mopping multiple times a day, and I felt like I was just moving dirty water around and like my floors were never really getting clean. We also have tile or finished concrete in all the bedrooms, so I mop. A lot. I was driving myself insane.
After watching this infomercial, I was obsessed. At our homeschool co-op, I brought up steam mops. Turned out my neighbor had recently gotten one, and she was telling me how much less prep work she has before she cleans the floors now...and I was sold.
I had a pretty sizable coupon to one of the home stores...Bed Bath & Beyond, I think...so I headed in and they had the very mop that I saw on the infomercial, and after pacing back and forth in front of the display for about twenty minutes, I bit the bullet and bought it, knowing that cleaning the floors is just going to get harder for me as I get more pregnant, and that as time goes by I just seem to be getting more and more obsessed with my house being clean and not less...it's literally the first thing I have bought for myself alone since my husband left. Okay, it's for my house, but you know what I mean.
It sounds silly to sing the praises of a mop, but oh my goodness I am in love with this thing. I came home, swept quickly, filled the mop up with water...just water! No cleaner to buy or run out of just when you need it most...and plugged it in. Within like, 40 seconds or so it was steaming (maybe I could heat up water for ramen that way...bonus!), and I was mopping. At first I didn't see much happening, and then, I figured out how to get extra steam, and my goodness...my floors started shining...not in the way they do after you put polish on them, but in a very bare, clean kind of way. I think it's the first time my wood actually was completely free of build up. Then I got to the kids hallway and within a few scrubs it actually got rid of the stickers the kids had put on the floor! It steamed off avacado Seth had thrown from his high chair. It got paint residue off my bathroom floors I have been trying to clean off for the better part of two years. And because of the steam, the floors didn't even get soaking wet, so they were very nearly dry after mopping, and there was almost no time for my kids to get their grimy footprints in there. I mean, they still did, but there were less footprints than usual. Then, when I was done, I just tossed the mop head things into the wash and it was all ready for me to mop again the next day!
I still mop every other day or so, but my floors are staying cleaner longer because they're actually really clean, and the steam actually sanitizes, which I love for Seth, who is still not walking and is all over the floors. I love it. It was seriously some of the best retail therapy I've had. Yes, I do realize I'm getting old when I am saying that buying a mop was the best ever. I know.
I'm not getting anything out of telling you about it, by the way, and I don't know that any brand is better than another. But I am a totally convert to steam cleaning!
And as long as we're talking about cleaning, the magic eraser worked on the mirror and the counter and the dining room table (although I felt a little bad as I scrubbed "Ava luves Mama" off the table...but I still did it), which was super exciting. It is not working on the walls or the ceiling, however, but our walls and ceiling are textures, so maybe that's why. I need to try something else...maybe the WD-40? Did someone say that was good for Sharpy or Crayon? This kid has to quit being so artistic, or at least start using paper as her medium.
Speaking of lifesaving cleaning tips or stuff, what is your number one favorite cleaning supply or item? What makes your life easier? I feel like cleaning has become my new hobby and I want to learn all about it. Yes, I know how weird that just sounded, but I'm not deleting it, because it's true. I have a problem...enable me!
Park City Utah
2 years ago
