Okay, so when I
joked the other day about how much I hate mopping, it occurred to me that I think I've only actually truly mopped my kitchen and bathroom floors a handful of times since Delilah was born.
Let's be honest here. That's...disgusting.
I sweep and dry
Swiffer
pretty regularly, and I spot clean with a rag when I'm aware of a spill, but my kitchen floor, especially the area right around Delilah's high chair, was pretty yucked up with dried/crusted food and what-not that our dog and cats had turned their noses up at.
My sister and I (and Delilah) went over to my mom's house the day after I made that post to take down and put away all of her holiday decorations and help her clean up the house after all of the chaos of the holidays and my sister's wedding. When I was putting something away in her pantry, I noticed she had a
Shark Steam Mop and asked if I could
borrow steal it. Maybe it's not technically "stealing" since I asked, but I'm definitely not giving it back!
After thoroughly sweeping, vacuuming, and swiffering the floor, this is what the worst section of it looked like:
I know. Ew. You don't have to call CPS though, because now it looks like this:
Now, that 'After' picture wasn't ALL the steam mop's doing, there was some good old fashioned elbow grease at work. Prior to using the steam mop, I did some scrubbing on hands and knees, because when I say that food was crusted onto the floor, I'm not kidding. I'm surprised I didn't need a chisel to pry some of that gunk off.
Now that I've got a clean slate to start with, I think the steam mop will be enough to keep it clean if I make sure to sweep/swiffer once a day and run over the floor with the steam mop once a week (or more if there are spills). For maintenance cleaning, I can't see the whole process, including getting it out, filling the water reservoir, and putting it away taking more than 5 minutes.
I'm totally stoked that it works so well, because it's a relatively green way to mop. It does require electricity, but there are no chemicals. It uses just water to make the steam, and I was shocked by how little water it requires. The water reservoir isn't very big, and going over (and over and over) my (admittedly small) kitchen floor only uses up half of it. It uses far less water than traditional mopping.
The mopping pads are washable and re-usable, cutting down on waste and eliminating the need to purchase refills all the time as with products like Swiffer. Toss them in a hot wash (or hand wash them if you prefer) and they're as good as new! The pads are made from three layers of microfiber, so they're absorbent and durable, and by the time I get to the far side of the room, the side I started on is dry!
The steam mop was much easier on my back than the old-fashioned kind, because there is no constant bending over to ring it out. It's also awesome that it doesn't leave the dingy film behind like when I use a regular mop and bucket, because inevitably, after two swipes of the mop, I'm just sloshing dirty water around on my floor.
The only improvement I'd suggest would be a longer cord. I have a small house with small rooms, so it's not a problem for me, but the cord probably wouldn't be long enough to easily use in bigger homes or rooms without requiring either an extension cord or moving to another outlet part-way through the task.
Now I'm convinced I need the Shark Steam Cleaner to use in my bathroom, kitchen, and every nook and cranny I can find. Do any of you have one? Is it amazing?
--This is an un-solicited review for which I received no compensation. The views and opinions expressed herein are my own. Your results may vary.
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. When I strip my diapers, I start out with clean diapers and do a hot wash load with just RLR. Then I do a million rinses, marveling at the amount of suds that are coming out. (Thanks hard water!) I know it's time to strip when the diapers start smelling more strongly after they're peed in, and RLR always solves it!
