Swiffer

Just thought I'd share. I found this website that has all kinds of tips about stretching the refills and pads and such for the swiffer. Not only can they be spendy, but the disposable stuff just creates more rubbish than neccessary. Here are 2 different links with good info and reviews on how others like the ideas http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf871775.tip.html and/or http://www.instructables.com/id/Hack-your-Swiffer-Sweeper.-Weep-Swiffer-CEO-,-Weep/

Anyway, the first tip that I tried was for the dry dust mop. The pads can be used on the "right" side and then turned directly over to be used in the exact same way with the same results on the "wrong" side. Not only that, but they can washed AND dried in your washing machine and dryer. I just throw them in with my towels (which I always wash on hot) and dried on regular heat. They come out a little fluffy looking but work just the same. I have washed and dried the same 2 or 3 cloths about 4 times, and they still seem to have a lot of life left.

The next thing I tried is refilling the swiffer liquid bottle. There are several different suggestions, but this is the one I tried. I took a pair of pliers to untwist the supposedly un-removeable cap. Just squeeze hard with the pliers and twist. Then I added some generic pine sol cleaner and water according to the directions on the pine sol bottle. The only problem I had (my own fault) is that I wasn't careful putting the cap back on the bottle to ensure that the orignial puncture holes were lined up the same. So the bottle leaks if left in the mop for storage. So I store the bottle upright, under my kitchen sink. It only costs me about $0.15 for the refill which is a HUGE savings from $4-$6 bucks for the refill bottles!
The other suggestions were to drill a hole in the bottom of the bottle (which is the top when inserted into the mop) and refill it with Pine Sol then purchase a cheap cork from Home Depot to keep it closed. I would imagine this idea would eliminate the problems with the leaking. And someone else used a large syringe with a needle to punture through the rubber to refill with Pine Sol.

The last suggestion, that I just tried for the first time yesterday, was using a bar towel instead of the pads. I went to mop my floor yesterday and realized that I didn't have any more of those annoying, expensive pads, so I grabbed a cloth and got it wet with hot water so that it would move easier on the floor and I totally feel like my (tile GRR!!) floor is cleaner than it has been in a while. I think it was the texture of the cloth that was able to get into the grout of the floor easier. I also felt like I wasn't dragging a dirt filled pad over my entire floor. I simply rinsed and wrung the cloth a couple times during mopping and it was great! Then, of course, you just wash and reuse!!!

Some of the other suggestions were that people make with, polar fleece and elastic, a fitted washable pad that fits around the entire mop head. There are patterns and stuff on one of those website listed above.