Why I Love My Steam Mop

Once upon a time long ago when you wanted clean floors you had to fill a bucket with warm soapy water and Pine Sol (or some other really powerful smelling chemical cleaner), dip a stringy mop into the bucket of water, wring the stringy moppy thing with your hands to get the extra water out, then swish the mop all around the floor and repeat until the entire floor was done. Then you had to dump out the dirty water and fill the bucket with clean water and start the process all over again to rinse away the Pine Sol from your floors. As I write this, I’m tired already and my back and knees hurt just thinking about it. This is how my mother used to clean the floors back when I was a kid.

When I grew older there was a new game in town when washing your floors. The Sponge Mop was invented. It came with a lever you pushed down on and it wringed the extra water out of the sponge automatically. That way you didn’t have to touch the dirty wash water. This was a step up from the dirty germy stringy moppy thing, but the process was the same. Mop the floor, dump the dirty water, fill bucket with clean water, start process all over again to rinse the floor.

I don’t mind doing housework. If I’m in the mood for it, doing housework actually calms my nerves while I am doing the laundry, vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms. But one thing I hate doing more than anything is cleaning floors. I would mop my floors with the sponge mop twice a year only. Just twice a year because I hated it so much. I know that probably sounds gross but since it's just me living in my household the floors don't get too dirty, so they get mopped twice a year.

Well then came the revolutionary Steam Mop. When I saw the infomercial for this invention my eyes popped out of my head. I had to have one. Yes I believe this is it. This is the best thing since white bread in the floor cleaning department (the Swiffer Mop came along before the steam mop. Since I hated cleaning floors so much I just totally ignored it and let the whole Swiffer thing pass me by -- but quite frankly it was mostly the price tag that scared me away).

I ordered the Bissell Steam Mop and haven’t regretted it yet. A lot of publicity has been given to the Shark Steam Mop and although I haven’t tried that model, I’m sure it does a great job.

To clean your floors with a steam mop, all you have to do is fill the container with water (this turns into steam), let the mop heat up properly, attach the microfiber cloth to the bottom, press the steam release lever, and you are all set.

The Bissell comes with a swiveling head so you can get behind tough spots, like around the base of your toilet. The steam mop does not require any strong cleaning chemicals to disinfect and clean your floors because the steam does all the work. The microfiber cloth can be thrown into the washing machine and used over again. The steam mop is safe to use on real hardwood floors, laminate floors, tile, ceramic tile, grout. There is a filter with the Bissell Steam Mop that must be changed every so often. You will know when to change the filter when it turns into a different color. The filter doesn't cost too much. This is the only part you must replace so in the long run it will save you money versus using a swiffer and/or chemicals to clean your floors.

I must admit I do have to take a dry towel and in sections dry the floor because the microfiber cloth does not absorb all the water after the steam is released. I do not mind doing this because a) my floors always get super clean, and b) they look shiny and clean after I dry them with the towel. So my efforts are not wasted.

As I walk barefoot on the newly cleaned floors, I can really feel a big difference in my laminate floors after using the steam mop. They just feel clean. As mentioned earlier, there is a filter that I must order after a while. It turns green and that lets me know it’s time to replace the filter. My floors now get cleaned more than twice a year!