Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Not that I'm cheap or anything......

Before my back surgery I used to scrub my floors on my hands and knees. My mother never used a mop neither did her mother or any of her 5 sisters. So, from an early age I learned to master the baseboards and floor washing was my forte, at least until I got a real life. Armed with gallon bucket full of Clorox Clean-Up, a dash of water (and I wonder how I had not one but two collapsed lungs) and with windows wide open I would scrub floors at least every week.

In 2001 Nick bought me the Hoover Floor Mate so I wouldn’t have to be on my hands and knees cleaning our foyer, kitchen and 2 bathroom floors. It worked great, if he was home. Lifting the 10+ pound scrubber from room to room in our tri-level home was kinda defeating the purpose in saving the 3 bone on bone vertebrae from causing me any more pain. And you still have to go around and clean the baseboards. Our new house has a much bigger kitchen, bigger bathrooms and only two levels so the hard floor surface area to be cleaned is about the same. And it’s a lot harder to lug that thing up 14 steps rather than the 2 sets of 6 steps in our Cleveland home.

Enter the Swiffer……

I find the Swiffer adequate for everyday cleaning because the dog goes in and out through the kitchen patio doors. However, I find the wet-pads a bit on the expensive side especially when I use 1 or 2 a day. I also turn them over to utilize the clean side of the pad. I’ve even tried rinsing them and reusing them with Clorox Clean-Up, Formula 409 or Mr. Clean.

In an effort to live debt free, continue to maximize our savings and lessen our expenses, I have found an environmentally cheap efficient way to Swiffer my floor.

Yes people, that is a dish cloth you see on my Swiffer. It's quite simple really, all you have to do is attach the dish cloth like you would a Swiffer wet-pad and........

Viola! You have a reusable pad for your Swiffer. No more waste of money on garbage for the landfill. No, I'm not cheap, I'm what they call thrifty......

12 comments:

Malott said...

I'm taking notes. If this turns into a "Bachelor Tip", I'll give you credit.

Great posts lately, by the way.

And thanks for the Dinah Lord Link... Twin daughters of different mothers... (Fogelberg)

janice said...

Thanks Chris

SkyePuppy said...

If your back starts bothering you, even with the Swiffer, you might consider casting off your thrifty ways for just one purchase.

A friend of mine has a Roomba vacuum cleaning robot and loves it. And the same company has a robot mopping machine just like it, found here: http://store.irobot.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2174932

Prices range from $299 - $499, but it might be worth it to let the Scooba do all the hard work.

Bekah said...

See, I MUST learn to think outside the box. This never would have occurred to me. What a great idea!

janice said...

Skye, I've tossed around the idea of the "Scooba" and after careful debate have declined. I would still have to clean the baseboards by hand. Besides, my OCD tendency's would undoubtedly have me following that thing around just to make sure it was doing it's stated purpose. sigh

Bekah, if you're anything like me, (which already agreed you are) you would have thought of this. I know you have some unorthodox ideas floating around your house.

SkyePuppy said...

Janice,

That's too funny about following it around. My friend said she followed her Roomba around the first several times, until she was satisfied it really did cover the whole area and pick up everything. And when her friends would buy one, she didn't say anything until they had it for a while. Then she'd ask, "So did you follow it?" Every single one did for the first few times.

janice said...

And all this time I thought I was obsessive......

Christina said...

Okay, that's a fantastic idea. I wish I had thought of it.

Now...anyone want to come and scrub my floors/baseboards?
I have too much ceramic tile. And dirt...entirely too much!

janice said...

Thanks Christina,
please feel free to utilize these ideas. Even rinsing the used wet-pads and applying your own cleaner has served me well. Enjoy!

Dinah Lord said...

Janice - if we weren't separated at birth then we are aliens from another planet sent here to fight the mooslims and run a tight ship around the house!

(Except you're the smart one...)

I would never have thought to use a washcloth...

janice said...

"sent here to fight the mooslims and run a tight ship around the house!"

Amen twinster,


Also, for all my loyal readers, you can use the Swiffer dish cloth method to clean cobwebs, woodwork on your banisters (for this you must use furnature polish) and that ugly window at the top of my 20 foot ceiling (use windex on the window of course).

Chris, I look forward to your bachelor tip update....

Extraordinary Ordinary Life said...

Love it - so cheap and easy! I don't have one of those, but I keep waiting on a good enough sale to get one and then I won't buy the refills! And no sewing involved! I am going to link that to my site as well.