How do you clean your kitchen floor?

[st_claire]

My mother tells me last night that "no one cleans on their hands and knees anymore." Am I really the only one who does this? I sweep the kitchen floor everynight, wipe up spills when they happen, and once a month or so I get down on my hands and knees and wash the floor with a sponge, a terry towel, and a bucket of hot water and vinegar. She says a swiffer wetjet is all most people do nowadays, but it doesn't seem to get it nearly as clean.

 

Just curious what others out there do. Thanks :)

[KS_]

I vacuum it when I do my regular vacuuming, and wipe up spills when they happen, but the only time anyone gets down on their hands and knees and scrubs it is if the dc are desperate for ways to earn money and I think the floor could use it. I generally don't even clean it with a wet mop or anything - just the vacuum (and if it seemed dirty, I would be doing something else, too).

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

My mother tells me last night that "no one cleans on their hands and knees anymore." Am I really the only one who does this? I sweep the kitchen floor everynight, wipe up spills when they happen, and once a month or so I get down on my hands and knees and wash the floor with a sponge, a terry towel, and a bucket of hot water and vinegar. She says a swiffer wetjet is all most people do nowadays, but it doesn't seem to get it nearly as clean.

 

Just curious what others out there do. Thanks :)

 

I do the same thing. Our kitchen gets a lot of use and it's a light colored linoleum.

[laurafrantz]

No, you are not alone, my stepmother does the hands-and-knees thing to her linoleum. My kitchen floors are hardwoods and I also have to do the hands-and-knees thing.

[Janet in Toronto]

I use my Roomba to vacuum, wipe up spills as we go, and then once every couple of weeks use a flat head mop and bucket of soapy water to mop. My back and knees couldn't take doing the floor that way. I do our tiny bathrooms on my hands and knees though as they're too small to maneuver the mop.

[Anne Rittenhouse]

I wipe up spills as needed. I vacuume twice a week. Weekly, I get down on my hands and knees and wipe the floors and baseboards with hot water and spic and span. I can also see missed splashes on cabinets, walls and doors, that I miss with just a mop.

 

I have always done it this way, except for shorter periods of time when recovering from childbirth and/or illnes or surgury. I KNOW getting down on my hands and knees cleans the floor better than a swift mop. I usually dread the first hand and knees mop after an illness because there is so much more to clean up because the mop doesn't do baseboards and vertical surfaces.

[Tammyla]

I've got hardwood and it is easy to keep it clean with a simple sweep and damp mop routine.

[Parrothead]

I use my Floormate for weekly cleaning, but once a month I'll get down there with a rag and Lysol. Actually today is the day for that. I'm taking a short break from cleaning this minute.

[Nestof3]

I sweep daily. When I mop, I use a hand-held mop and a sink full of hot water and simple green.

 

I personally see no reason to get on my hands and knees -- to me it's like washing clothes by hand instead of using a washing machine. :)

 

Sometimes, I'll take a sponge and simple green and clean up against the molding.

[MamaT]

I clean my kitchen and bathroom floors on my hands and knees with a good all purpose cleaner and hot water once a month. That's the only way the baseboards would ever get clean. Otherwise, I wipe up spills as they happen and sweep at least once every day.

[Kim in Appalachia]

I grew up with my mom always cleaning that way, now she has a lot of trouble with her knees. It could be totally unrelated, it is impossible to know.

 

I will say that I could never tell the difference between when she got on her hands and knees or she just did a quick mop.

 

Her current home has tile, so she no longer gets on her hands and knees (plus I don't think she could even if she wanted). She uses some sort of electric broom, and mops once a week. She also has something that steams her floor. Her floor as looks immaculate.

 

She does like the swifter for her hardwood.

[catalinakel]

We're supposed to clean the kitchen floor?:glare:

[SBP]

Sweep every day. Sometimes more often than that if I see dog-hair dust bunnies flying around.

 

Mop once a week using vinegar & water or some other floor cleaner (Mr. Clean, Lysol, etc.) if I have it on hand.

 

Scrub crevices and quarter-round with a toothbrush once in a blue moon, if I happen to notice that they're getting icky.

 

I don't ever get down on hands and knees and do the whole floor, but I don't see anything wrong with it if that's what works for you :).

 

SBP

[Snickerdoodle]

 

Am I really the only one who does this?

You are not the only one. :D

[WTMCassandra]

I find hands and knees to be the most thorough. However, in this new house I have a huge expanse of tile downstairs, so I really can't do that for the whole thing. My compromise is to use a mop but do hands and knees on occasion around the edge of the kitchen, as well as reach down and get the mop into each corner. Bathrooms I always do hands and knees. Actually, I tend to sit on my bottom and scoot around.

[Karen in CO]

I sweep almost daily.

I wipe spills and spots.

And once a week( or every other week ) I un-mop.

 

I found this by accident, and it leaves really clean linoleum.

I take a bucket of whatever I am cleaning with - vinegar and hot water or Mr. Clean or whatever - I give the kids microfiber towels and have them stand at the doors to guard the carpet, then I pour the bucket of hot water on the floor. They dry it up, and the floor is clean.

 

When its done, the floor is clean and the kids had a great time. I go around the edges and the quarter round and use my toes and a towel and clean. I even squat to scrub and stubborn stuff. But no hands and knees for me. If my dh is mopping, he prefers hands and knees, but I like fun my fun way.

 

Can you imagine the accident that lead to our new fun floor cleaning?

[Tap]

I used to get on my hands and knees but now I just double mop.

 

I sweep and mop with Lysol/water as hot as I can get it. I leave some water on the floor. When I am done mopping (15 minutes or so), and just before it all dries, I mop it again. The soaking, really makes a Huge difference in how clean it gets. I no longer have to hand wash to get it clean.

 

One other big difference for me, is that I rinse the mop before I put it back in the water. I use my double sink for mop water, and use the empty side to rinse the mop before I dip in the mop water. This way I am only using clean water on the floor. When I am done, I sanitize the sink.

 

Periodically, I do the edges by hand.

 

I sweep and mop 1-2 times a week. We keep a hand towel on the floor during the day for quick clean ups.

[WTMindy]

I don't. My kids do. :-) We sweep the hardwood daily (and spot clean when needed). The kids clean on hands and knees weekly.

[Peri]

I agree with you. I've tried using the swifer wet jet and I end up with sticky floors. I have just not been satisfied with anything other than getting down on my hands and knees and scrubbing the floors by hand. I even tried using the same ceaning solution using a mop and then by hand. i have found that its not even the cleaning solution. Its just that my hands do a better job of scrubbing the floors clean. I have even tried using different mops in hope of finding something that will eliminate me from this task. Nope. Nothing comes close.

[Parrothead]

Actually, I tend to sit on my bottom and scoot around.

I just got done doing that. ;) I can't put the pressure on my knees to do it the other way.

I sweep almost daily.

I wipe spills and spots.

And once a week( or every other week )

Can you imagine the accident that lead to our new fun floor cleaning?

I bet it was close to the accident that lead me to just dump water on the carpet when I clean the carpet. :lol:

[Plucky]

I mop pretty infrequently. After sweeping, I hand out rags to the kids and they wipe up their section with cleaner. It's fast and easy.

[Audrey]

My mother tells me last night that "no one cleans on their hands and knees anymore." Am I really the only one who does this? I sweep the kitchen floor everynight, wipe up spills when they happen, and once a month or so I get down on my hands and knees and wash the floor with a sponge, a terry towel, and a bucket of hot water and vinegar. She says a swiffer wetjet is all most people do nowadays, but it doesn't seem to get it nearly as clean.

 

Just curious what others out there do. Thanks :)

 

 

You are not the only one! My dh cleans the floor on hands and knees with a bucket of homemade pinesol, a rag and a brush, then rinses with clean hot water and a fresh rag. He insists this is ONLY way the floor will be clean.

 

I do not argue. :D

[newbie]

Steam cleaner, fast and non toxic.

[Chris in VA]

I use my steam cleaner, too, but find I have to spritz a couple of spots with some solution I keep in a spray bottle for the counters.

 

What is "quarter round?" I saw two posters mention that phrase and I've never heard it before.

[Guest janainaz]

I sweep every day and spot clean daily. Once a week I do all my floors on my hands and knees with hot water, vinegar and a wash cloth.

[joannqn]

I use a cotton mop. I do my bathroom on hands and knees though.

[kewb]

Sweep as needed, clean up spills as they happen, mop weekly. If I happen to notice the baseboard is gross I will get down on my knees and clean.

[The Governess]

I have hardwood floors in my kitchen. I wet mop with warm water and a couple drops of dish soap whenever it starts to look grimy and immediately wipe it dry with some towels, which I surf around on with my bare feet. Any cleaner seems to leave a greasy film on it. And the swiffer....forget it. IMO, all it does is smear the dirt around. :lol:

[MyThreeSons]

when I scrub the kitchen floor, although if I still had my long-handled scrubber brush, I'd use that. My kitchen floor is very small, so it's not that big of a deal. And dh does the floors much more often than I do. He was in the Navy, and believes that they taught him THE correct way to mop a floor. So, since early in our marriage, when he first pointed out that I was doing it wrong, I let him do the floors. :lol:

[st_claire]

Yay. So glad I'm not the only one :) Those of you who's DH or kids do it are lucky lol.

 

Oh, and quarter-round is part of the baseboard trim.

[Storm Bay]

On my hands and knees, just the way my mother taught me. Of course, when we were little she used a mop, and when my eldest was a baby my mother was surprised I didn't own a mop. But in between, it was hands and knees. Nothing better. However, when I'm very old I plan to use a mop.

 

Note that I didn't put down the frequency. I do NOT do this scrubbing daily, although when my eldest was a baby and I had a small kitchen, I washed that floor after every meal...

[Susan in KY]

What is "quarter round?" I saw two posters mention that phrase and I've never heard it before.

 

It's baseboard trim. Think of a whole pie...you only need 1/4 of the pie to fit into a 90 degree angle. The baseboard trim does the same thing—it fills the gap between the floor and the wall.

 

:auto:

[Garga]

Wow. I'm a broom and swiffer girl. Y'all are making it sound almost fun to scrub on hands and knees. I'll have to re-think the swiffering.

[earthmother]

because we have a huge white tiled area that overwhelms me, I take a bucket of soapy water, splash copious amounts of it on the floor and have the kids skate across the floor with big wash rags. Then when its clean, they shuffle across the floor with large beach towels to dry it. they have fun, I have fun, and its clean in no time!

[Marylou]

Another vote for letting dc do the fake skating with old cotton socks and soapy (or just plain) warm water. The have a blast and I get a clean floor:001_smile:

[Mandy]

I sweep up all the loose dirt/crumbs first, then spray the floor with Simple Green. After is sits for a moment or two, I put a damp towel on each foot and skate around the kitchen.

 

Mandy

[phathui5]

I use a 3M damp Microfiber floor mop to get up visible dirt in between visits by the cleaning people.

[Desert Rat]

My bathroom floors I do only because they are small and mops just don't do the trick. We have vinyl in the kitchen that looks like stone. I mop once a week. Twice a year I tackle the floor with a scrub brush on hands and knees. I loathe this job because my kitchen is 400 sq ft. (It's also the eating area/play room/school room.) This room is just too big to clean the proper way every week.

FWIW my dad still believes hands and knees are the only way to really clean the floor. I agree.

[SilverMoon]

We use a swiffer type mop half the time, and do it by hand half the time.

[Mandamom]

My dh does the hands and knees mopping which he seems to do all the time (SAHD).

[Guest]

Wow. I'm a broom and swiffer girl. Y'all are making it sound almost fun to scrub on hands and knees. I'll have to re-think the swiffering.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought last time we had one of these threads. The next time I cleaned my floor, I attempted it on hands and knees. I spent an hour doing half of the kitchen and haven't been down there since. :D I just try and vacuum whenever humanly possible. I mop. Sometimes.

[swellmomma]

I sweep several times a day, wipe up spills as I see them, mop at the end of the night during the week. and on the weekend I get down on my hand s and knees and clean the floors so that I can makes sure I get right int he corners and do the baseboards.

[Plucky]

I sweep several times a day, wipe up spills as I see them, mop at the end of the night during the week. and on the weekend I get down on my hand s and knees and clean the floors so that I can makes sure I get right int he corners and do the baseboards.

 

I noticed how young yours are. When I had crawlers, toddler, and babies I mopped daily. My floors were clean enough to eat off of because quite frankly they were eaten off of. LOL

[Christine]

My mother tells me last night that "no one cleans on their hands and knees anymore." Am I really the only one who does this? I sweep the kitchen floor everynight, wipe up spills when they happen, and once a month or so I get down on my hands and knees and wash the floor with a sponge, a terry towel, and a bucket of hot water and vinegar. She says a swiffer wetjet is all most people do nowadays, but it doesn't seem to get it nearly as clean.

 

Just curious what others out there do. Thanks :)

 

When, I mop, it's "Cinderella style" (hands and knees). I don't feel it gets clean with a mop, nor does it dry as quickly. Actually, I know it doesn't get as clean because mops always leave stuff at the "junctions" (where wall meets floor).

 

So, there you go, I haven't read any replies, but I can tell ya, you aren't alone.

[samba]

I always clean my hardwood and tile floors on my hands and knees. I have no idea if they would get as clean some other way because I've never tried to do it differently. I guess it's just one more way in which I've turned into my mother. :001_huh:

 

Carolyn