The new obsession

What do you use on your floors? I used to use one of those huge wet mops, and I'd drag around a giant bucket with sloshing water filled with dirty water slash Pine-Sol. Then I realized that I hated putting that much effort in to getting my floors clean.  And I use that term "clean" loosely. There is no shot that using the same mop over and over is a sanitary decision. But my floors smelled clean, so I thought I was doing something right. And then I became infatuated with my Swiffer Wet Jet.  My house would still smell great, only this time, I could throw away the dirt.  Yes! Again, I totally thought I was doing something right.  That is, until  I took a second to actually think about what I was spreading all over my house.  Hmmmm.... nothin' but chemicals.  But wait! My kids play on those floors. They crawl around and drop food. They put their hands in their mouths and eat dropped food. There must be a better option.

Enter Steam Mop.

My new obsession. I can now clean and sanitize my floors with nothing but steam.  Ok, let's not get carried away- I am 100% NOT obsessed with cleaning.  In fact, I loathe it.  My house is not dirty, but I'm certainly not a clean freak either. Whatever. Exposing my kids to germs is just building up their immune systems, right?

Exactly why I love my steam mop.

The one I have- The Shark. 

This thing is so wonderful. Fill the little tank with water, attach the cotton pad, plug it in, and go.  The water heats up almost instantly, and suddenly I'm cleaning my floors. The steam billows up (I've heard it's over 200 degrees, but I'm not positive about that) and the kitchen tiles shine. You guys- I am not kidding- my floors get cleaner with this steam mop than they ever did with any other kind of mop. I just used it the other day, and almost took a picture of the cotton pad at the end of my mopping adventure, but something called pride got in my way.  There is no way I will ever admit how dirty my floors actually were.  (Remember those pore cleaning strips you tried when you were in middle school?  I equate the experience to that.)

I know you're thinking, "but I really love the smell of newly cleaned floors". Yeah, me too.  You equate smelling clean with actually being clean, don't you? Well, I have a solution for that too.  Put about 10 drops of essential oil into your steam mop's water tank. I used Lavender, and my whole house smelled like a spa when I was done.  Hooray for not breathing in chemicals!  (Or ingesting them if you are either a pet or a three-year-old child).

So there you go- a cleaning tip from a person who hates cleaning.  I hope you use it; I hope you love it. 

Have a healthy day,

J