16 years ago when we installed our Pergo flooring, the instructions said to clean the floors with a vinegar and water solution. But I wouldn’t do that. I didn’t like the smell of vinegar, so instead, I purchased the specialty cleaning solution offered by Pergo. Then eventually switched to using Swiffer Wet Mops. Then for a while I went to a spray bottle of Mop & Glo and would spritz my floors with that, then go over them with a microfiber cloth, but that didn’t really CLEAN my floors. So I went back to the Swiffer Wet pads.
Swiffer wet pads stink. I get a small headache from the odor. Every. Time.
They are also expensive. Well, maybe not expensive, but I have to use at least 2 (if not 3) to clean my kitchen floor. And I like to mop daily. Maybe not the WHOLE floor, but certainly the main thoroughfare and where the kids eat.
Swiffer wet pads leave streaks. They are inconsistently wet, leaving puddles and requiring me to go over the area that I first started (where it’s wettest) to push that water to the drier areas. All that wetness is probably not good for my floor.
(I’m getting a headache just thinking about the smell of those things!)
Anyway, we ran out. I finally wiped out my ginormous Costco supply (I stock up whenever they go on sale) and I was determined to NOT purchase them again. But how am I going to clean my floors every day? Certainly not with an old-fashioned mop (waaaay too wet for laminate flooring) and I’m not about to purchase another chemical product or some new-fangled trendy Scooba or something like that.
I love the Swiffer because it’s easy- just pop a wet pad on and toss it aside when I’m done. Easy peasy. No buckets, no fuss. So I googled “DIY Swiffer Wet” and of course the response was stupidly simple: vinegar and water. And your basic washcloths.
Well, well, well….. I just happen to have a giant supply of WHITE washcloths, all matching. (I have a neighbor who works for a hotel and they were tossing all their towels- so I got a nice stack of about 25 white washcloths and set them aside for that “some day” when I might need them for some project.)
The process is simple….
Fold the washcloths (however you want, it doesn’t matter), place them into a gallon ziplock bag (as many as can fit), then mix a 1:3 ratio of vinegar to water and dump that into your bag. I mix just enough to saturate my towels without leaving a puddle of fluid in the bag. Sorry, I don’t have the actual measurements I used, I think it was about 2 cups though.
And this is what you end up with:
I like to store mine in the Swiffer container!
And they are so easy to use….simply take one out, wring it (I wring it into the bag), place it on the floor and place your Swiffer a couple inches from the edge and voila!
When it gets dirty, just take it off, flip it over, and secure the clean side to your Swiffer and keep on mopping!
OK, so yes, the vinegar smell is a bit much, but it does evaporate and go away. Nobody has commented or complained yet. I suppose at some point I’ll find some essential oils and add a couple drops just for aesthetics (if that’s the right word).
When I’m done mopping, I just lay the washcloth out in my laundry room to air dry before tossing it into our towel bin for future washing. And so far they’ve been washing out clean, too! (Which leads me into another post about using home-made laundry detergent! More on that later!)
The best part? WOW my floors are so shiny and streak free and the vinegar water solution gets up everything! NOTHING is too tough for it.
I am in love. And it’s super cheap and easy.
If only I’d listened 16 years ago when I was first told to just use vinegar and water.
Next up? I need to figure out how to DIY a Swiffer, because I keep breaking the darn handles!!
Elisa's Ramblings 