mopping floors

[frugalone]

I hope this doesn't sound silly...but I am on the fence about how to clean floors.

Years ago, I read Don Aslett's books on housecleaning. I remember one of them advising that you should clean your bathroom floor (assuming the room's small) but spraying cleaner on it (after dust mopping), and then wiping it with rags (I used to use cloth diapers). It worked fine, except you end up with a laundry bag full of filthy rags.

My friend Kate has a Shark steam cleaner, but I just read they're not so great on vinyl flooring, but OK on tile. Kate swears by hers, and she also has a lot of hardwood floors. Currently, we don't have too much area in the way of vinyl flooring, but when we move, will have a kitchen with it and at least one tiled bath. No hardwood.

So how do you clean your "wipeable" floors? I hate the idea of a mop and bucket. I know Swiffer makes all sorts of things. I feel silly b/c I'm just not domestic and I don't know how to do a lot of basic stuff.

Thanks for listening. :)

[Teacher Terry]

Mop and bucket or swiffer. I have both.

[catherine]

I'm a hands-and-knees person. A) I'm not that great at cleaning as often as I should, so b) I actually am able to see more grime to get rid of if I'm down on the floor with the dirt. If we're talking bathroom, I sweep, and then fill a bucket with a cleaning agent (mostly vinegar and water, or Mrs. Meyers). Then I use a rag to clean, and another rag to dry/wipe up. I don't know how you end up with a whole bag of "filthy rags"--I use two per cleaning, and then I just put them right in the washer.

When I had a furry pet, I had to resort to paper towels because dog hair clung so much better to those.

[frugalone]

I'm a hands-and-knees person. A) I'm not that great at cleaning as often as I should, so b) I actually am able to see more grime to get rid of if I'm down on the floor with the dirt. If we're talking bathroom, I sweep, and then fill a bucket with a cleaning agent (mostly vinegar and water, or Mrs. Meyers). Then I use a rag to clean, and another rag to dry/wipe up. I don't know how you end up with a whole bag of "filthy rags"--I use two per cleaning, and then I just put them right in the washer.

When I had a furry pet, I had to resort to paper towels because dog hair clung so much better to those.

I was afraid to put the rags in with my clothes, because of the strong cleaning solution on them. I thought it might harm the clothes, so I kept the rags for, say, a month and did a separate load.

Do you like Mrs. Meyers products? I love their hand soap and so does my sister.

[catherine]

I was afraid to put the rags in with my clothes, because of the strong cleaning solution on them. I thought it might harm the clothes, so I kept the rags for, say, a month and did a separate load.

Do you like Mrs. Meyers products? I love their hand soap and so does my sister.

You have a good point with the rags--I usually sort truly icky stuff, too, but my cleaning solutions are pretty benign.

I LOVE Mrs. Meyers. I use her All-Purpose Cleaner and it's great. I also use her hand soap.

[iris lilies]

On my hardwood floors I

1) sweep
2) spray a mix of water, white vinegar , a little,soap—let that sit dor a time
3) wipe up liquid with “dog” towels, swishing the towel around with my legs

4) sometimes I do use q wet mop for especially stubborn dirty spots
I do not get on hands and kneews except maybe 2x yearly to,clean baseboards and under kitchen counters

i love the simplicity of sweeping and cleaning this way and there is no way
I would get a steam whatever cleaner, some large piece of ewuipment that has to be stored and plugged in and maintained.

I wash all of these towels with dog bedding. i usually do 2-3loads of dog launder each week.

I will be the first to,say that one should never eatboff my dloors, they are fairly gross even after cleaning. We have dogs, dog dirt, hair, dog urine, etc.

[Teacher Terry]

Once a month I have cleaners come and scrub the floors on hands and knees and clean the bathrooms. Cheaper to pay them $60 then go to the chiropractor a bunch from throwing my back out. I also have robots.

[nswef]

I have an old sponge mop that I rubber band a microfiber cloth to- I wet the cloth with warm water and after I've vacuumed I use the cloth wrapped sponge mop to clean the vinyl and tile floors. I always hated sponge mops as I thought they never were clean, so when Swiffers came out I decided to just try the microfiber wrapped on the sponge- Voila! A washable mop with a handle. I use Mrs. Meyers laundry detergent for the wash and also to wash my hair..it works. I was my rags with the white laundry. Once a year or so I'll do a decent scrub on hands and knees. Like Iris Lilies house, no eating off the floor.

I never thought of spraying the floor first. I might try that.

[herbgeek]

For the bathroom its the hands, knees and rag method. For the kitchen and other floors, I bought the Libman mop and reusable pads. My cleaning solution is some white vinegar, water and a splash of dish detergent. If I'm feeling fancy I'll add a couple of drops of essential oil (lemon, eucalyptus, lavender). The Libman mop is like the Swiffer wet (ie you pull a trigger to spray your cleaning solution on the floor which you then mop up), only with reusable instead of disposable pads, and you are free to add whatever cleaning solution you want.

[Gardnr]

I spray the floors heavily with my bottle of: water/vinegar/baking soda. Then I thoroughly wet a bath towel, wring it about half way...toss it on the floor. Then I stand on it and slowly move around the entire floor. It works great. I can stop and rub a spot easily with leg strength.

It saves my back and my leg strength if far better than my arm strength. Plus it is not comfortable to be on my knees any more since the knee replacement.

[frugalone]

Once a month I have cleaners come and scrub the floors on hands and knees and clean the bathrooms. Cheaper to pay them $60 then go to the chiropractor a bunch from throwing my back out. I also have robots.

Oh, I would love to have someone come in and clean!

Robots...somehow I'm picturing Data from "Star Trek" cleaning your floors!:laff:

[frugalone]

These are such great ideas, especially the Swiffer hack! Thank you all. I always get such good ideas here.

[rosarugosa]

I do my tiny bathroom floor by hand with a microfiber cloth and a mix of Dr Bronner's and water. The floor is so tiny that it takes about 2 minutes.
I do the kitchen with a spray bottle of vinegar and a microfiber mop. I do the hardwood floors in the rest of the house with the microfiber mop and spray Bruce's hardwood floor cleaner.

[dado potato]

I spray the floors heavily with my bottle of: water/vinegar/baking soda.

Gardnr, I am curious about this mixture. Do you whip up a new batch each time you clean the floor? What are the proportions of water, vinegar, soda? Cold water?

Up to now, mopping has seemed too impersonal for me. I have been cleaning bathroom floors with Lysol (or store brand) disinfecting wipes. I get right down there, arm's length from the drips and hairs.

Gardnr, your method appeals to me. I can imagine playing a Karunesh CD and cleaning like a Dervish!

[Yppej]

I clean the bathroom by hand. One magic eraser does it as it is small.

Other rooms I use a mop and a mixture of ammonia and water. I tried vinegar but the smell did not agree with my son.

I used a Swiffer mop until they jacked up the price of the pads to $5.00 a box (with maybe 4 per box?) even for the generic. I can buy an entire mop for $1 at Dollar Tree and it lasts longer than the box of Swiffer pads.

I might mop once a month. If I notice a dirty spot between cleanings I tackle it individually with half a paper towel or something else cheap.

[iris lilies]

I have an old sponge mop that I rubber band a microfiber cloth to- I wet the cloth with warm water and after I've vacuumed I use the cloth wrapped sponge mop to clean the vinyl and tile floors. I always hated sponge mops as I thought they never were clean, so when Swiffers came out I decided to just try the microfiber wrapped on the sponge- Voila! A washable mop with a handle. I use Mrs. Meyers laundry detergent for the wash and also to wash my hair..it works. I was my rags with the white laundry. Once a year or so I'll do a decent scrub on hands and knees. Like Iris Lilies house, no eating off the floor.

I never thought of spraying the floor first. I might try that.

The light mist water lets dirty spots soak.

Our Hermann house has all hard floor surfaces. Many different kinds, many of them ugly. But I dont care, I loathe carpet. Floors will be changed in our renovation. The living room has pretty oak, one bedroom has very old pine. The rest is junk— cheap Pergo type stuff, old dark tile, etc.

[Gardnr]

Gardnr, I am curious about this mixture. Do you whip up a new batch each time you clean the floor? What are the proportions of water, vinegar, soda? Cold water?

Up to now, mopping has seemed too impersonal for me. I have been cleaning bathroom floors with Lysol (or store brand) disinfecting wipes. I get right down there, arm's length from the drips and hairs.

Gardnr, your method appeals to me. I can imagine playing a Karunesh CD and cleaning like a Dervish!

Equal parts water/vinegar and 3Tbsp baking soda. I use a quart spray bottle. I use it up about once/month. It's the only cleaner in our home. Dirt cheap and quite effective.

[Teacher Terry]

IL, are you still getting bids for your renovation?

[iris lilies]

IL, are you still getting bids for your renovation?
Havent started bid process. Architect still hasnt delivered any plans.

[Teacher Terry]

Wow that seems slow. I love this type of thing so looking forward to following along with the progress.

[iris lilies]

Havent started bid process. Architect still hasnt delivered any plans.Architect is busy. We are small potatoes.we told him we didnt have a deadline. We haven't paid him anything yet.

[Teacher Terry]

Fortunately for us my husband is a civil engineer so he did all the planning himself with my input. I am not a patient person when it comes to home improvement so everything was done within 3 1/2 months. I did hire DH a full time assistant to help:))

[iris lilies]

Fortunately for us my husband is a civil engineer so he did all the planning himself with my input. I am not a patient person when it comes to home improvement so everything was done within 3 1/2 months. I did hire DH a full time assistant to help:))
I am still surprised we hired an architect. But there are just so many possibilities, we cant see our way thru to the best plan.

We had an architect 30 years ago draw up the plans for the addition here. He was on the Board of the historic buildings commission so he took the plans strsight through that process. Money well spent. I think that experience is why we wanted to do that this time.

[Teacher Terry]

It makes total sense to me. My husband has a lot more vision than me. Probably because of his profession. I am looking forward to seeing what you guys choose. I really enjoy this type of thing.

[Gardenarian]

I use Bona on my wood floors and am very pleased with the results. I usually use rags (more thorough, I feel) but will use the bona mop for a real quick clean up.
Bona also works great on wood furniture and painted woodwork and cabinets, also terrific on vinyl.
The Bona polish (different from the cleanser) works amazingly well on worn floors. It's basically a very thin layer of quick-drying polyurethane (as at as I can tell.) Ace Hardware has a half price sale on bona once or twice a year and we stock up.

[Tammy]

Sometimes my husband says to me, paraphrased, “if this were a cabin on a vacation, these floors would be considered perfect!”

Meaning - why do we worry about getting all the pieces of dirt and dust off our floors? We don’t have carpet, we walk from street to living room in the same shoes, what’s the big deal? It’s just a floor.

I love how he thinks.!