No, not me, YOU! This is my 1st time EVER living in a house that doesn't have carpet and I am struggling to keep these floors clean! Not only are they a non carpet surface, they're white! Who ever thought to put white linoleum in military housing is an IDIOT! I understand it matches everything, but it also shows every tiny mark and speck of dirt! There has got to be an easier way to clean these floors! I refuse to drag my SUPER HEAVY Kirby up and down my stairs and I tried just sweeping all the dirt down the stairs and scooping it up at the bottom, but our stairs have these "lips" on them and all the dirt just gets stuck on the lip. I have resorted to dragging our shop vac (which weighs less than my Kirby) up and down the stairs...UNACCEPTABLE! And then the mopping. I am trying hard not to have to get out a mop and bucket of water, but I can't find anything else that works...
So I need you help! Do you have linoleum/hard wood floors? What do you use to clean them? Do you love it or hate it? I'd like something that is a one step process (sweeping and mopping, if that exists) and something that doesn't just push the dirt around like my swiffer wet jet does (yes, I know I have t sweep 1st and I know a lot of people love those things, but I hate it). Since I already own one super expensive vacuum, I'd like to get something on the inexpensive side, but at this point, I will consider anything!
HELP!
8 comments:
I'm right there with you. It sounds like we have the same floors. I don't understand the lip thing on the stairs. Mine has like 3 little grooves, so all the dirt gets caught in those when I try to sweep. I've found it's too much to use a swiffer, I have to sweep. For the stairs, I just put a lot of arm power into sweeping, so it flies off the step. We bought some rugs and have more coming. I hope that solves part of the problem.
This isn't my first time with all tile floors, but for some reason it is worse here- specifically the doggie hair! It drives me nuts when she starts to shed. I literally have to sweep two to three times a day. I sweep, use my swiffer wet/jet, and I run the vacuum over the floor. I also have a steam mop- but it is actually kind of hard to use on these floors, it takes a lot of muscle.
And don't get my started on the stairs- I HATE them! The kids and I have tripped on the stupid lip that edges the steps- painful!!
I wish I had a better solution for you. I have bought some extra rugs myself, it helps a little...
Ok I have a ton of hardwood and tile so I will share what works for me. I have a Bissell feather weight bagless that I like. It's a stick vac that would probably work well on your stairs. I used it on everything for a while and it worked well but I had to use it about 3 times a day with the munchkin & cats so I was on the lookout for something I could quickly grab and clean up crushed cheerios and thrown food and the vac wasn't great about cleaning fine dust like the kind that accumulates under the couch. So I got a dust mop and LOVE it!!!!!!! The main issue you would have is that it's not gonna work on your stairs. I too hated my wet jet and gave it away. I bought a shark steam pocket mop that works pretty well and is nice because it uses no cleaner but I notice that it leaves streaks on my hardwood floors and it wasn't cheap! I noticed there is a new wet jet like product on the market that let's you use your own cleaner and you use washable microfiber pads which I think would work better than the swifter pads but haven't tried it yet. I think I'd recommend a dust mop (not exaggerating when I say I love mine, I recommend 2 mops heads so you have a spare when one's in the wash) and a stick vac or hand held battey operated vac for the stairs. The stick vac works well on rugs and hardwood but not great on actual carpet but I don't think you have any. Not sure about a real mop. The shark works great but is kinda a pain because it's more time consuming than say the wet jet. Hoping this helped a little!!
Syd
I have a monster steam mop that I use on my hard surface floors. When it's really dirty I use straight vinegar in the reservoir. I did a post on it a while back...
http://jbullsession.blogspot.com/2010/06/theres-monster-in-my-house.html
http://jbullsession.blogspot.com/2010/06/results-of-steam-mop.html
I have THE SAME issue. Except I don't have stairs...and I do have carpet in the bedrooms. I just hate having to sweep ALL the time!
Amber over at Young, Fabulous and Newlywed loves her Steam Shark!
We bought a couple of carpet runners and took the screws out of the metal "lip" piece and put carpet on our stairs. Felt much better on our feet but still had to drag the vacuum up and down. Maybe get a hand held one? And we used a Swiffer (not the wet jet though) to mop our floors.
We have the Shark Steam Pocket Mop and use it on our hardwood floors. It even manages to clean up the drool marks from our black lab. So, in my opinion, that is AMAZING! It doesn't fix the sweeping problem but it's easy to use and you don't have to lug around a bucket of water. It also comes with a couple different cloths which I believe can be washed in the washing machine. They have them at Target and Bed Bath and Beyond, I'm sure there are other places that have them as well. Good Luck!!
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