Friday, January 22, 2010

Frugal Friday- swiffer

















Over the Christmas Holiday we had some friends and family over at the house. I was cleaning up the house at the last minute and realized I had run out of the swiffer wet pads for mopping up the floor. I have wood laminate floors and have always used the wet swiffer and loved it.

But the refills are expensive. I always put off buying more until there is a good sale, but I can never find a really good price on it. I guess I had not remembered to buy more when I used up the last ones.

Desperate to get the floors cleaned I problem solved. Because really, there is no way I'm a "clean it on your hands and knees" kind of girl. Sorry, not my generation.

Look what I came up with....


I found that the bathroom washcloths are just the right width for the swiffer!

So line it up......













And push the cloth into the little tabs! It is PERFECT!
I seriously feel pretty smart about this one.
I found a bottle of "laminate floor cleaner" in the cupboard (must have bought it when I did the floors), so I sprayed and then pushed the swiffer over it.
The floors have never looked better!
When my bottle of cleaner is gone, I plan to make my own. I found a website that recommends using water and a little vinegar to clean the floors. So I will definitely mix my own bottle next time.
I probably didn't invent this idea, but I feel pretty good about it.
What are your frugal inventions? Please share!

6 comments:

  1. my friend becky and i do the same thing!(so, no sorry you didn't invent it but its still a wise idea and i'm sure we weren't the first ones either) and i do the vinegar and water thing for almost all my cleaning(cheap and healthier for all-especially for crawling babies) When we had our wood floors redone, the flooring guy recommended it also cause you don't get the build-up and fogginess you get with so many "wood" cleaners. tip: hot water works best cause it dries faster so no streaks so i just microwave it every so often.

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  2. Well only thing I can think of is the gogurts as popsicles, good for the kids not all the sugar from regular ones.

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  3. Very good idea. I've been thinking about getting one of the steam mops, but may give this a try first. When I was young, I was a down on my hands and knees cleaner, but can't anymore. Sponge mops just don't seem to get the floor clean.

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  4. Love it! I will definitely be doing that when I run out. Anything to stay off the old hands/knees thing! Last time I did the floors on hands and knees I had a sore wrist for six weeks...after constantly leaning on one hand and scrubbing with the other!

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  5. I'm so happy to read your post! I've been holding onto my kids old washcloths (most have Disney characters on them and they're now too old to use them). I knew that there had to be a good use for them. I love that they won't get thrown away and I can keep washing them and reusing them until they wear out. Brilliant!

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  6. Carla- don't even hesitat on the steam mop! i have one and its wonderful! i got sucked in by the Shark Steam mop infomercial one day and couldn't get it out of my head so i did some research and found that the SteamFast floor cleaner at walmart.com had better reviews and more flexibility and was way cheaper. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7780088
    i love mine and just feel much better about my kid crawling around (and the inevitable eating stuff off the floor when mom's not looking!)

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