Comments on: Homemade Wet-Jet Pads and Solution

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:46:04 +0000

Just found you today — what a neat site. Here’s my swiffer hack. Use an old thin sock. Cut off the top (cuff) or use the “peds” or athletic type w/o the cuff. Slit the sock at the heel a couple of inches at most Now pull it on the swiffer “foot” and tuck the cut ends (at the heel ) in the grooves. The toe end doesn’t need tucking. I wear a size 8-9 which perfectly fits the swiffer. Great recycling for old socks, works great, and toss in the washing machine.

By: D

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:38:34 +0000

I like the idea of the refillable swiffer and the homemade cloths but Bissel makes a wet mop and vac with a refillable tank on it. It comes with 2 washable microfiber cloths that velcro on them. I love it but I have hard wood and tile and linoleum in my house so I have to use Murphey’s Oil Soap in it (diluted of course so it lasts a long time!) I bought cotton kitchen twine in the hardware department and knitted myself some super scrubby cleaning pads then sewed velcro on them. It takes a little longer to make but they will last forever! I like the twine better than cotton yarn because it’s scrubbier, (if anyone was wondering) I use sugar n’ cream yarn for my dish cloths.

By: missourimom62

missourimom62 — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:22:37 +0000

Lawks-a-mercy.
Life is good.
THANK YOU.

By: sunny

sunny — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:12:51 +0000

I’ve been making my own swiffer juice for a few years. Just take a pair of pliers and twist off the cap. Fill to shoulder of bottle with water and add a tbsp. of Hoover Floormate concentrate (I use the floormate a few times a year to really scrub them). Smells good doesn’t bother my asthma and is streak free. A bottle of of the cleaner will last for years if just used for the swiffer.

Thanks for the tip on making pads – I’m going to Sam’s tomorrow and will stock up on micro fiber cloths.

By: Ivory Soap

Ivory Soap — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 02:26:54 +0000

@Carmen–I’m with Grandma. No tile.

By: Carmen

Carmen — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:18:51 +0000

I hate to contradict you, but you should never use vinegar on tile! Vinegar is acidic; grout is alkaline. Eventually you can have grout failure unless the vinegar is rinsed off thoroughly so it doesn’t “eat at” the grout. (My husband runs a tile cleaning business, so he knows all about this). And you can’t say “Grandma always used vinegar”. My guess is that Grandma didn’t have tile – she probably had linoleum or vinyl. You really need to find something that is pH neutral to clean: Spic ‘n Span and Mr Clean are a couple of products that work.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:19:54 +0000

This is pretty late, but you can buy 24 microfiber cloths at Sam’s Club for $10. I love them and use them for everything, we only use paper towels for bacon and other greasy food related tasks.

By: Ivory Soap

Ivory Soap — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:47:42 +0000

@Always in Blue Denim–GREAT! Glad to have helped. And I know what you mean about the rough spots on your hands.

@Court–I use white vinegar. I try apple cider from time to time, but it’s just so much stronger smelling.

By: Always in Blue Denim

Always in Blue Denim — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:49:55 +0000

Ooo — forgot to tell you — I am the cleaning lady at a small insurance company and I used to use my Swiffer in their break room. The insurance company bought the pads for me for a while. I have to use the liquid floor cleaner concentrate the cleaning company I work for provides so I put a hole in the ‘bottom’ of the empty Swiffer bottle, add water, and then squirt into the hole the liquid concentrate which I had put into a spray bottle (I set the spray nozzle to “stream”). I put the water in the Swiffer bottle first, then the concentrate, so I don’t get too many bubbles. I don’t use batteries to spray either — I just tip the whole thing and let some of the cleaning fluid/water flow out onto the floor, then mop. I have to fill the bottle each time with just enough liquid to do the floor once — any more than that and the liquid would just flow out over a short period of time (a couple of hours) because the hole in the bottom isn’t sealed.

Because of the economy, the insurance company had to stop buying the Swiffer pads for me (and I can’t afford them even for at home) so I’ve been having to use “the big, yellow monster” bucket, wringer, and string mop head that was provided by the cleaning company I work for. It’s a horrid, almost unmanagable thing. Now, with your idea, I can use my Swiffer again at work as well as at home! Thanks again!

By: Court

Court — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:34:00 +0000

I LOVE reading your site and all of the wonderful ideas… One question; when you refer to ‘vinegar’ in your cleaning recipes, do you mean white distilled?? I’m sure that if I looked a little deeper I’d find the answer, but couldn’t so far so I thought I’d ask! Thanks for the great ideas.