When I first bought my swiffer mop, it was a love at first application! What is not to love—it is always ready when you are. This sort of a commitment any mother can appreciate. What else is there standing by ready to be used as soon as need arrives? No fuss, no mess, nothing but squeaky-clean floors!
Few years later, when I had my last child I thought of reconsidering this magic wand. You see, being the youngest out of three siblings my baby son literary grew up on the floor. While I was tending my choirs around the house he would keep himself busy with toys on the floor and thus secure from any falls—you can’t fall lower then the floor. It was the safest place. Or was it?
Ever mobile crawling baby would venture far beyond his place mat and explore the housescape around him. Sometimes he would come across little flecks of food that he would vacuum adamantly, other times he would encounter even smaller specks that he wouldn’t even aware of—the chemicals, which he’d slobber up with an ever curious mouth of his.
Yes, the chemicals that were left by my wonderful loyal helper. I had to stop using the solution at once. I still had some pads left that I was trying to use dry or with a home made all purpose cleaning solution, a mixture of equal parts of vinegar and water and few drops of essential oils. It seemed I had a perfect solution!
However, being a mom I learned to be conscious about my budget. Moping floors with disposable pads seemed as ludicrous as cleaning with dollar bills. Another lesson taught by motherhood is a respect for environment. The three RRR—reuse, reduce, recycle—and my own interpretation—regard, respect, responsibility—had been my mantra for the past 5 years. I could not buy these pads any longer. Plus, for the same reasons I stopped using paper towels, replacing them with cloth rags and microfiber clothe, both machine washable, for dusting and cleaning surfaces.
And there I was with a useless carcass of a swiffer mop in a utility closet and messy floors around. There is no substitute for getting down on your knees to clean the floors, not even other mops out there, which scared me tremendously because of anti propaganda of bacteria that it carries, but who's got time to mop this way every day? I had to find something that would be easy to use, ready any time and reusable.
One day, I was shopping on etsy.com and came across these wonderful replacement covers and it clicked!
Now I am going to make my own by cutting up old jersey t-shirts into strips and using it as yarn to crochet the cover. You can also use machine washable microfiber cloths; just sew the edges so it can easily slip onto your mop.
As I mentioned earlier, you can make your own all-purpose cleaning solution. Mix equal parts of water and white vinegar, say 1 cup to 1 cup and add 20 drops of your favorite essential oil. I like eucalyptus for its smell but sometimes use lavender. A small bottle lasts pretty long, too.
Easy to make, easy to use, easy for your wallet and easy on the environment!
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