Do a Google search for "the perfect mop" and you'll pull up 40,400 results. Unfortunately, they are mostly posts by home keepers asking other home keepers were to find the perfect mop. So it seems I am not the only one tired of mops that don't work well and don't last.
I admit I'm probably harder on mops than some people. I don't have a mud room - or even an entry way - and while my kids and I remove our shoes upon entering the house, I can't get my hubby to follow suit. I can mop in the morning and by afternoon you literally cannot tell I've just mopped.
I've tried many different mops, because, for me, having clean floors is greatly satisfying. If the floors are clean, the whole house seems much cleaner. I've used rag mops, string mops, Swiffer mops, and sponge mops. (I prefer the latter.) I've also scrubbed on my hands and knees and used floor steamers. (My steamer worked pretty well, but it was a bit of a pain, and I didn't like using it around little people who might get burned on it.)
So while I have yet to find the perfect mop, here's what works best for me: First I "sweep" by vacuuming the floor, as detailed in this post. Then I pull out my Magic Eraser Mop and use it with a little floor cleaner.Although the mop breaks just before I'm ready to replace the Magic Eraser head (a real frustration), it does clean extremely well. Before finding this mop, I used a regular sponge mop, then got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed scuff marks and other hard-to-clean spots with a Magic Eraser Sponge. The Magic Eraser Mop shortens my cleaning time and is a lot easier on my knees. What about you? Have you found your perfect mop? What is it? UPDATE 1/15/11: My new Mr. Clean Eraser mop has already lasted considerably longer than my old one; the design is much sturdier. However, now you can buy Mr. Clean Eraser heads with a universal adapter. So if you have a mop handle you really like, you can easily convert it to use a Mr. Clean Eraser head.
I recently bought a string mop and while I like it, I'm curious what it'll do on a different surface. Two of my bathrooms are tiled, and it does well in there, but the rest of my moppable surfaces are linoleum, and all have deep scuffs from my family and previous families who have owned our house. I can't always get everything spotless, but mostly because it wasn't spotless when we bought the house!!!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I have used Fuller Brush products in the past and have been pleased, but haven't purchased anything from that company in a while. Hubby wants our next mop to come from there, but he'll have to pick it out--I'm inept at choosing things like that. I'll pick out all the electronics in the house, but he'd better make the tool decisions where cleaning is concerned, though I'll be the major user!
Oh, I LOVE the Magic Eraser sponge mop! I have the same problem with keeping our floor clean (ceramic tile). And with all the gardening around here, you can imagine what it does to the floors. I bought the magic eraser mop about a month ago and I have every intentions on keeping it around.
ReplyDeleteWe have a large area rug that leaves ugly black marks underneath. The rug stayed because I couldn't get the marks to come up. I used the eraser mop and viola! Just like that, the mark was gone. No more bleaching the floor or hard scrubbing. And no more nasty string mop heads to mess with.