UPDATE: A few of you asked about the Shark steam mop so I thought it best to give you a better review. It's takes no more effort or time than any other mops I've owned: Clorox mop, regular sponge mop and Swiffer spray jet. Plug it in, and it's ready in about a minute. (One tip I'd suggest is to get the mopping pad damp before using it.) One of the best parts about it, is that the floors are dry just a few minutes after cleaning them, thanks to the hot steam. No residue or streaks are left behind. Once you're done, throw the pad in the washer and put the mop back in the closet. I see them on sale at Target every so often for about $50. There is a newer "Deluxe" model out, but I'm not sure what makes it so special that it is priced at $100. I've also heard that the Bissell Green Tea is a good steam mop.
I've never thought of myself as a collector. Unless you count the shoeboxes of baseball cards I owned as a child, or the mounds of shoes I contributed to our marriage years ago, I've never had a formal collecting hobby. That is, until I was cleaning floors at home last night. In one night, I happened to be able to use every electronically powered floor cleaning device I own, which is 5. How can that be? How did this happen without me even realizing it?! However it happened, I'm not going to apologize for the obsession, err... I mean, collection. Each part of my floor cleaning family has a special job and I couldn't keep the house clean without it.
The Dyson Animal was the first to join our family. We were living in our first home with carpet since owning a dog (didn't have carpet in our townhome in Hawaii), and were aghast to discover just weeks after moving in that our dog's hair was embedded in the living room carpet. Although freshly vacuumed, the carpet yielded mounds of dog hair as we raked our fingers through one spot we were sitting in. We went right out to Linens 'N Things and spent way too much money on this thing, but it's so worth it. I love, love, love this vacuum. My favorite part about it is being able to clean the stairs and leave the vacuum at the bottom because the nozzle will stretch up to 20 feet!
My Roomba, or robot vacuum, was the next to join the crew. It's not the tidiest of the collection, but wonderful for a quick surface clean of a room without having to be there.
Soon after acquiring Roomba, her sister, Scooba, came to live with us. I love, love, love Scooba because I hate, hate, hate to mop. Like Roomba, Scooba doesn't get the floors super-duper clean, but she's cheaper than a maid and just as productive.
This past Christmas, my mom gave me the Shark sweeper. It's awesome, and gets used at least once a day in the kitchen. In fact, I store it in my pantry. And, Abigail loves to vacuum with it since it's light and easy for her to handle. It cleans up carpet as well as the tile floor and keeps it's charge for a couple of weeks.
On my recent birthday, Mom brought another Shark, a steam mop, into the family. My favorite things about this new mop is that it doesn't require a specific cleaning fluid, only using water, and seems to be the most sanitary way to clean a floor since it emits so much hot steam. I feel like I'm sterilizing the floors.
If you're still reading this, you're just as crazy as I am, and for probably the same reason. After not sweeping the kitchen floor after breakfast, lunch and dinner yesterday (because I knew I was going to do some deep cleaning later), I discovered why I love and absolutely need all the assistance available. Feast your eyes on one day of damage to my kitchen floor.
Need I say more?
8 comments:
Oh thanks for doing this! We have concrete floors, no carpet, and 2 dogs. Used to have a very hairy cat that loved to shed and sweeping was an every day occurrence! Finding the perfect machine to help me has been a feat. I recently purchased the Electrolux UltraSilencer and LOVE it! It's a canister vac and it literally sucks. It's very powerful and I can get around the house pretty quickly. Getting rid of the cat helped too! :)
I wondered how the roombas and shark worked out. I love the idea of setting and forgetting!
Did you stain your concrete floors? I love, love, love stained floors. I did it in one of our bathrooms at our old house. And, my MIL has two rooms stained in her house. It's gorgeous!
How much are the Shark mops? i think that I might need one of those...
I bought the 380 Scooba in May 2007, the day after Bob left for deployment. We named her Rosie and refer to her as a person...we love her! I'd like to get a Roomba and have already decided she'll be named Alice.
No, unfortunately they are just plain concrete. Nothing fancy. There was a lot of this house that wasn't finished when we bought it, hence all these projects we're doing! We're eventually going to go with laminate wood flooring throughout. Until then, ugly gray/brown concrete!
yall are sick! thats so gross! ha JK!
KA
I was just thinking the other day, that I needed to ask you how you like your shark steam mop. While I was swiffering our floor, which works fine right now....I know it's not the best clean. But it sure makes the house smell good! =)
I got my Dyson (the one they make for Sams, doesnt' have a number) and I love it!!!! But we have Lots of tile too.
I'm gonna certainly be hinting for one of these now. Does it take a lot of time to clean with it?
Now all you need is a carpet steam cleaner. Unfortunately, those don't come cordless like the Sharks.
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