When I was first out on my own, cleaning my college apartment I was a big fan of all things disposable… disposable sponges, clorox disposable cleaning wipes, paper towels, and best of all the Swiffer. No more gross mop, no more sub par broom, just stick on that magic dry cloth and dust the floor and follow it up with a handy dandy wet cloth to mop. Bing Bang Boom… you have a clean floor. You know what else you have? A trash bag filled with a Swiffer dry cloth cardboard box, a dry cloth or two, a wet cloth or two, a plastic box, a plastic wrapper, and a plastic lid… all for one clean floor. Not to mention the fact that each refill you buy is expensive!
As I have begun to transition my cleaning products over to more environmentally and frugal options I was bothered by my Swiffer situation. Obviously buying a continuous supply of disposable refills wasn’t going to be an option, but buying a traditional mop was a waste of my current Swiffer and more money that needed to be spent. I researched options for reusable Swiffer pads but the ones I found required multiple types of fabric and a sewing machine… more money. Then, one day I was in the mopping section of the grocery store and I saw a pack of plain microfiber rags… they looked like they would work perfectly and I already had one at home that I very rarely used. I came home cut it down to size and mopped the floor… it worked perfectly. I used a squeeze of castile soap and some water as mopping solution and the floors looked great!
An added bonus… lavender castile soap has been known to deter little creepy crawlies… and seeing as how we live in an old first floor apartment in the very humid south, this can be an issue. However, since using this mopping solution a few weeks ago the issue seems to be slightly better.
What are your thoughts of disposable cleaning products? Do you have any tricks for reducing home cleaning waste?
