Well, I’ve been wanting a floor steamer for a while, and we finally got one! We took the plunge. Would it be a household help or an extra chore?
We purchased the unit from Target and were ready to go. Like any new toy in the house, my husband and I battled over who would get to try it first.
I wanted the steamer for deep cleaning without using chemicals. My husband wanted it as a substitute for the everyday mopping we had been doing with the Swiffer Wet Mop.
We are analytical people and were ready to converse on all of the ins and outs of the product. Was it worth the price? Did it really clean the floors? Were the pads with the extra finger thingees better on the kitchen floor than the softer, flatter pads?
We were about to find out.
My initial impression of the steam mop is a positive one. It certainly got up a lot of dirt, dirt that I had no idea was there. It was easier to use on some floor surfaces than others. While it glided over the hardwood floors, our ancient kitchen linoleum put up a good fight and required multiple passes to get up all of the grime, about as much hard work as it would have been for a hard scrub with a brush.
I like the fact that I can pop the mop pads into the washing machine, but doing a load of wash with only the three pads that came with the unit made me feel guilty. We went out and bought more pads. Because I have a thing about having dirty pads around, I find myself making sure I use them all up in a day, in order to get them washed, a qualm that my husband doesn’t share. This means more work for me, but also more consistently clean and sanitized floors. Can you tell that I like the idea of killing bacteria and germs?
There is an initial investment with the mop and the pads, since a box of two extra pads costs a whopping $20. If the mop holds up, though, we will recoup that cost on what we had been spending on Swiffer mops, pads and solution, since we tended to break the mops about every nine months or so.
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