They say that when you’re on a diet, one of the hardest things is that you still have to eat. With willpower, God’s grace and luck, you can give up things like cigarettes, gambling, liquor, but you can’t give up food. The same type of thing applies to your floors. You can get them so clean that you could eat spaghetti and meatballs off of them, but then you have to walk on them again… and… well…you get the dilemma. So there are some great quick tips for cleaner floors. They will stem the perpetual “dirt tide,” and you’ll have cleaner floors. Consider the following…
Best Quick Tip for Cleaner Floors: Go Shoeless Inside
In places like Finland, Sweden, Afghanistan and Pakistan, it is common to take your shoes before entering someone’s home. Additionally, in some American cultures, people go shoeless inside. In a lot of the U.S., however, we’ve yet to adopt this tradition. In the Nordics, they remove shoes to limit ice and snow (and then, or course, water) . In many other places, no shoes keeps out the sand, soil and other debris and preserves their beautiful carpets.
These shoeless places know something and we can learn from it. You can adapt this habit as your own. Create a shoe-drop area inside your entryway. You will have much cleaner floors as a result. If you think your guests might think this an odd request, you can always provide a small stash of (indoors only) slippers that they can wear to replace their shoes whilst in your home. Go shoeless for a week, as a test, you’ll thank me for it.
Get a “Muck Mat” : A Quick Tip For Cleaner Floors
We have a big, older dog named Ellie. Bruce and I let her in and out many times a day through the sliders off our den. We realized that this was the point of entry for most of the dirt and debris on our hardwoods. Enter what I like to call the “Muck Mat.” It’s a great, quick tip for cleaner floors. And by a muck mat, I mean a textured, waterproof area rug that is meant for doorways. We got ours at L.L. Bean, but a lot of retailers offer them, including Frontgate and Lands’ End.
These rugs come in a variety of colors and sizes and they are meant to catch the mess. We have found, since getting this little beauty, that our floors stay cleaner a lot longer. They are not exactly cheap, as throw rugs and doormats go ($79 for a 24″x36″ rug), but they are definitely worth the money. Besides, there’s always a coupon hanging around the internet somewhere. And in case you’re wondering, yes, you can definitely hose them off in the yard.
Have Your Pets Groomed Regularly
And speaking of Ellie and dirt, a lot of what Ellie brings into the house does not come in on her feet, it comes in on her body. Ellie is a black, Golden Doodle, so she has hair and gets regular shampoos and haircuts. We supplement this grooming schedule with frequent brushing and our own baths.
You might want to checkout your local pet supply store for a great place to bathe your pet inexpensively and with the added benefit of leaving the mess at the store. We use Save One Soul Retail in Wakefield, RI). This extra Ellie cleaning makes a huge difference for us. You too will be pleasantly surprised at how much cleaner your floors are when your pet is cleaner and the real bonus: they smell better too! LOL
Vacuum Once a Week or Consider a Robotic Vacuum – A Quick Tip For Cleaner Floors
If you love to vacuum, like Bruce, vacuuming at least once a week is not a hardship – in fact, it’s a joy. For the rest of us mere humans, it may seem like drudgery. Love it or hate it, regular vacuuming is definitely the easiest and most basic way to keep up with the floors. Have a crazy-busy schedule, love tech or just want an easier way to check this one off your to-do list, then consider a robotic vacuum. You can set them up to work with Alexa or other virtual assistants or your can use them via a remote.
We are on our second one (we returned the first one for a full refund from Macy’s when it just stopped charging after 4 months). Our new one (a different brand) is still in it’s infancy-stage, so I’m not ready to recommend a particular one quite yet, but I have to say, we do love what we affectionately call “Robo Cop;” we are also quite amazed at the amount of stuff that he picks up. We run Robo Cop at least once a week when we go to bed and wake up to cleaner floors – which, of course, then we are forced to walk on again. Oh well, it’s sweet while it lasts…
For more on rugs, check out my previous blog: Home Safety Check List, Part 2.
And Now For a Little Music Before We Go…
“Housework, if you do it right, can kill you.”
Erma Bombeck
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