Keeping the Floors Clean

Today I'm going to share with you tools Ben and I use to keep our floors clean.  Why? Because having reasonably clean floors is a big part of having a reasonably clean house.  Having a reasonably neat house means you aren't bogged down in dirt, clutter, and mess, so you have more time and energy to do all the fun things in life.   

This afternoon, for instance, I spent some time trying to take a "tack sharp" photograph with Ben's Nikon for my photography class.  So much easier to do that when I can find the camera and get it and the tripod set up without maneuvering through a cluttered house.  And easier to focus on the task when I'm not distracted by dirt everywhere.   

This is the best photo I took; much of it is tack sharp but not the background.  To be continued tomorrow. 

Do you know what this is?  

    

It's a carpet sweeper.  In the pan at the end of the long handle is a roller which picks up surface dirt  as it is pushed over a carpet.  It can swivel to get under sofas and chairs, is lightweight, has no cords or batteries, and is quiet.  To empty it, you just flip open the top and invert the sweeper over a trash can, using your fingers to push out any dust/hair balls that are stuck inside.  

Many years ago a friend showed how hers worked and I was quite impressed.  I didn't buy one back then since we had mostly hardwood floors, but later I bought one for the school library and used it to quickly clean up messes on the wall-to-wall carpet.  It worked like a charm!  We now use one almost daily to keep our new living room rug looking good.  It doesn't take the place of the deep cleaning that a good vacuuming accomplishes, but is wonderful for quickly sprucing up the place.   

You probably know what this is; a dust buster.  But not just any dust buster.  This one is easy to keep fully charged and stays charged a long time.  I've wanted a dust buster for years but was deterred by the bad reviews I read.  Then I heard about this one, which everyone raved about, and took the plunge.  I love it!  It's always ready to be used and is useful in so many ways, from cleaning dirt out of the car to sucking up crumbs from the kitchen countertops.  Love it for cleaning the basement stairs as it easily deals with both the wood steps and the carpet tacked in the middle and is easy to handle in the tight staircase.  

After all these years we've finally got a good system for keeping the kitchen floor reasonably clean.  First remove surface dirt with a vacuum, dust buster, or broom and then wash with a Swiffer WetJet.  I know this system isn't as good as my Mom's way, which was to get down on her hands and knees and scrub that floor with ammonia water, but it's a pretty good substitute and certainly happens more often!  We like this tool so much that we clean our hardwood floors with it as well, making sure that we're using the bottle of hardwood floor cleaner and not the bottle of general antibacterial cleaner.

And speaking of brooms, I can't believe that it took us so long to catch onto the fact that for inside the house an angled  broom made of synthetic bristles works so much better than the old-fashioned broom made from corn bristles.  We have one made by Cedar, but there are many to choose from. 

 I'm always on the lookout for faster, easier ways to keep the house under control so I can go play!  I hope this info helps you do the same.