Having a toddler around, my floors do not stay clean for long. Within two minutes of having my precious hardwood swept and mopped to a sparkly shine, my little darling can turn them into a Picasso masterpiece of smushed cheese, marker drawings, splattered milk, and the dreaded potty-training accident.
This means that mopping the floors now is more necessary than ever before. However, I hate mopping. Simply despise it, really.
Or rather, I did.
My old routine consisted if hauling my mop and bucket upstairs to fill up in the tub (the only faucet with enough room beneath to fit the bucket under), mixing up some cleaner in the water, and carefully lugging the heavy, full bucket down the stairs while trying not to splash cleaner all over the place.
Then came the actual mopping. I used one of those mops with a head that you could pretend was a long, unruly wig of hair. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it started it get on my nerves. After one mop it was left looking so dirty, like I had used it for months already to mop up my muddy driveway. Even with a ton of rinsing and swishing, the mop made me feel as if it was making my floors dirtier than they were in the first place.
Another problem I had with this way of mopping was the drying out. It might not seem like a huge deal, but I wasn’t a fan of rinsing out my mop and trying to carefully place it in my bathtub, dirty mop-head up, so that it could dry out. This task was something reminiscent of trying to convince a tantrumming toddler to stay up-right, rather than thrashing about all limp, yet still wiggly, on the floor of the supermarket – not an easy situation.
All in all, mopping this way put an even bigger hamper on my unmotivated ways of lazy housekeeping.
Beyond my laziness, there was one more thing keeping me from shining up my floors on a regular basis. Cleaners tend to be laden with all kinds of nasty chemicals that are toxic (thus the “Keep out of reach of children” and “DANGER!” labels written all over them). If I’m supposed to keep them away from my child, why would I rub them all over the very floor that rolls all over, crawls on, and licks all day long? Even now, while she’s been a confidently walking toddler for nearly a year, she is up close and personal with our floors most of the day. I don’t know about you, but I certainly feel more comfortable with her being exposed to dirt than toxic cleaner residue.
Finally, I came to a point where I said enough was enough. (This may have been about the point where I realized that the dumping of food onto the floor was only going to get worse, not better, as she grew.) I needed to be able to quickly, easily, and safely clean my floors. But how?
[tweetthis]Who has time for a #mop and bucket? Save your #MomLife with the best mop and safest #cleaner for toddlerized floors.[/tweetthis]
Since I have been dabbling with essential oils and their many incredible uses, I turned to an essential oil forum and asked about using these snazzy little gifts of nature to make my own cleaner. I found that many people were using them regularly with nothing but positive reviews. I decided I would make the leap and start mixing up my own DIY hardwood floor cleaner (similar to my DIY Lemon Kitchen Cleaner) from then on.
But how to properly utilize the new non-toxic floor cleaner? I wanted to switch up my maddening mopping method as well. Since I’d been admiring the apparent ease of some slim and light little mopping tools with built in sprays and disposable pads to keep your floors sparkling clean, I started searching online for something similar that would suit my needs, but would fulfill my desire for eco-friendly living.
My criteria? Mops I would accept would have flat, removable and washable pads, decent scrubbing power, slim design for my small-space storage, include spraying capabilities with a refillable canister for adding my own DIY hardwood floor cleaner, and be an economical cost.
When I found the VILEDA PROMIST Spray Mop, it fit all my mopping criteria, so I ordered it and patiently waited for it to arrive.
Okay, perhaps “patiently” isn’t exactly true. You see, as I settle into motherhood and my age keeps counting up, I’ve been noticing that different kinds of things excite me now than what used to.
I eagerly awaited the delivery of my longed-for new cleaning tool, the mop that would make all my past mops seem far inferior to it, and when it finally came I actually squealed a little bit. Who knew housekeeping could ever be so thrilling to me??
My toddler seemed to be pretty impressed with the new purchase, too, and took to using it immediately out of the package. She’s an amazing little helper, and I get her to help out in a lot of ways around the house. Hopefully this love of chores carries through to her teen years. Do you think there’s any chance of that?
Before actually using the mop, I had to mix up a cleaning solution to put in the spray canister. Here’s what I put in the mixture, using this recipe from Clean Mama to guide me. I am concocting and trying out a bunch of different floor cleaner mixes using different ingredients, so stay tuned for a future post with a variety of recipes.
*Caution* When using essential oils on your hardwood, you may want to test them on a small, out-of-the-way spot first, just in case your concentration is too high and causes any stripping of the varnish, as essential oils can break down synthetic materials. It never hurts to play it safe and give a quick test.
I’ve been loving this new way of cleaning my floors. Both the mop and the cleaner work wonderfully. My floors look all clean and shiny, the cleaner smells refreshing rather than like chemicals, and it is soooo easy to quickly grab the mop, spritz the floor and wipe away messes in a matter of moments. I shed no tears over the blissful goodbye to my tedious floor-cleaning methods and mops of the past.
If you’re considering purchasing the mop, I’d recommend grabbing some extra mop pads. These are durable, deep-cleaning microfiber pads that are washable up to 100 times.
Since I’m so happy with the cleaning power of essential oils, especially lemon, I want to offer you the chance to try it out, on me. Enter below for a chance to win one (1) 15-ml bottle (about 240 drops) of certified pure lemon essential oil from my favourite supplier, who sources their products ethically from countries around the world, where the specific plants grow natively. I’d also encourage you to check out my previous post on what’s in my essential oil collection and how I use each one. Essential oils can be very versatile, especially lemon. Here is a post by Stephanie Blue that includes suggestions for 22 ways you can use lemon oil, if you want to open your horizons beyond cleaners.
Giveaway open to Canadian residents aged 18+ only, please.
*Disclaimer* This is not a sponsored post, but it does contain affiliate links. If you choose to buy my new favourite mop, I will make a small commission. Providing these links helps me give offer you with more complete information about the products I share with you, and gives me an opportunity to bring in a bit of money for the time and effort I put into writing quality content that I hope makes your life better in some way. It’s win-win-win in my books.
40 thoughts on “Eco-Friendly Mops & DIY Non-Toxic Floor Cleaner”
I’ve never tried essential oils before but have heard so many good things about them! Would also love to try lavender and eucalyptus essential oils!
Lavender is one of those utility knives if an essential oil – it’s so useful! I don’t have a lot of experience with eucalyptus, but what I’ve heard has been so positive, I’d like to get some soon!
I would like to also try the Fractionated Coconut Oil and the Lavandula angustifolia.
Lavender is amazing for so many things! I’ve used it on sunburns, and have had it in my bag this summer in case of a wasp sting, but no chance to use it to see if it helped. (It’s a good thing!)
I use lavender, eucalyptus, tea tree as everyday essential oils then a whole heap of others for just incase occasions
I just started putting tea tree oil in our shampoos, since it apparently helps keep lice away! I’m not looking forward to combing out my little one’s hair if she ever gets it!
The lavender oil would also be quite lovely for putting on pillow cases for relaxation
I make a spray of water with a few drops of lavender oil and use it for the pillows. Very relaxing!
I have just started using peppermint/mint oils which are suppose to keep rodents away
Peppermint is supposed to work for spiders, too. I’ve been avoiding using it for now, though, since it can decrease your milk production and I’m still breastfeeding a bit.
I love lavender as well!
I wonder if lavender oil would work well, and also it would smell nice. Also I think an orange oil would be nice.
Ooh! I think I’ll have to try a lavender cleaner and an orange one, too!
I think I would really like to try lavender. I’ve heard that’s a good one.
It can be used for so much, AND it smells amazing!
I usually use lavender on my pillow at night to help me fall asleep, but I never thought of using it this way.
Keep lavender oil handy during wasp season, too. Apparently it helps sooth pain on those irritations. I haven’t tried it yet, but I keep it in the diaper bag just in case!
lavender is my all go to oil!
Lavender as i hear it’s very relaxing!
I like peppermint oil and oregano oil.
I love using oregano to make my kitchen cleaner!
So I had this same mop. I bought it about 3 years ago? It worked sooooo great for a year or so. Then it died 🙁 Unfortunately our kitchen floors really need to be scrubbed, otherwise I’d buy another. It works great for smooth floors though!!
Oh no! What happened?
I can imagine your farming/home-steading floors see a lot of necessary mopping, so I’m sure you got a lot of use out of that bad boy! The scrubby pad seems to work really well for us! I just put my foot on a side of it if I need some extra scrubbing power, but our floors are fairly smooth. Did you find another alternative that you like?
I would like to try Lavender Oil
I am just getting into essential oils, but I still have not idea how to really use them and what they can all be used for. I am really looking forward to learning more and trying different oils.
Would love to try a peppermint essential oil. I’ve heard it’s good for cleaning among other things as well.
I already use Lavender essential oil and I would love to try any others! Thanks for the chance!
I have used quite a few essential oils for a variety of things over the years: making soap being one of them.
Mmm! I made soap with some oils a couple Christmases ago! I found out that bergamot with a bit of lemon makes a delicious combo!
I have allways liked patchouli oil and lavender
I would like to try the peppermint and cilantro oils
I would like to try lavender.
lavender
There are so many it’s hard to know which other ‘one’ I’d like to try. How about lavender for starters?
I love the smell of coconut so I’d like to try that one
I would like to try out Eucalyptus Oil. I have allergies which leave my nose stuffed up and I have heard that this really works well for it.
Laurie Emerson
I’ve used peppermint in the Spring for my allergies, and was amazed at how fast it actually worked for me!
Interesting, I never thought that essential oils can be use for cleaning. I’m excited to try this non-toxic floor cleaner . Do you think it will work with laminated floors?
As pure essential oils can degrade synthetic materials, I would make sure to try your mixture on a small part of the floor, in an inconspicous space, before cleaning. However, I have used my mixture successfully on our old laminate flooring. Good luck!
Pingback: Eco-Friendly Mops & DIY Non-Toxic Floor Cleaner