A Swiffer WetJet Is My Pal in the Kitchen. Might Be Yours, Too

[obillo]

Here are some facts about the Swiffer WetJet a tool that’s useful for cleaning kitchen floors, especially mine: I’m a serial spiller.
They’re very effective.

• They’re cheap: between $25 (Target) and $30 (Ace Hardware), with Home Depot, Amazon and others in-between. Occasionally they’re free, which I’ll explain soon.
• They’re sold on the King Gillette system. Mr. G. realized long ago that it would pay him to sell his razors for peanuts so customers keep buying his blades. It worked wonderfully well for a while and still works pretty well today.
• 
  
• Swiffer’s take on the Gillette principle is the cleaning solution, which costs $7-9 a quart. People pay that because they coudn't unscrew the cap of the empty cleaner bottle, hoping to refill it on the cheap.
• But take heart, dear friends. A cleaning-solution solution is at hand. Follow these directions:
• Boil a pot of water—say 2 quarts.
• Once you’ve got a rolling boil, shove the bottle part-way into it—just enough to immerse the cap.
• Wait about one minute. This will soften the cap enough to allow twist-off removal, and Bob’s your uncle.
• I said Swiffers are sometimes free. Would I lie? If you live in a dense urban area (I’m in Midtown Manhattan) there will be lots of apartment and store renovations going on. Often a job ends with the contractor sending in a cleaning crew to make everything spick and span. The crew pick up cleaning supplies en route, give the joint the once-over (or as my Dad used to say “a lick and a promise”), and then throw everything they just bought into the trash, from which the Swiffer’s distinctive handle protrudes like a flagpole. So keep your eyes peeled!

 

[taxlady]

Don't you also have to buy new, Swiffer pads? Is that what you call the part that touches the floor and does the washing?

I like the idea of keeping those WetJets out of the landfill. I applaud your environmentally friendly solutions.

 

[obillo]

You make your own pads out of worn-out dish cloths. At least I do.

 

[taxlady]

You make your own pads out of worn-out dish cloths. At least I do.

Thanks for the info. I'll keep my eyes open for one that has been thrown out or one being offered in a buy nothing group. I do not want to pay the company to make more, throwaway, plastic, junk, that probably won't get recycled. Either it will be something the city recycling won't accept or they just store it with the rest of the washed garbage, in a warehouse somewhere. So much "recycling" is being stored in warehouses, because recycling is supposedly the easy way to do your bit for the environment. And there aren't enough recycling facilities to handle all of it.