Steam Mop

I vacuum obsessively, but mopping? Not as often as I should. So when I received an email from my mom this morning (posted below) listing the dangers of my trusty Swiffer Wetjet mop, I immediately threw it away and went out to buy the steam mop my friend, Stacie, had been bragging about the past few days. I heard a long time ago about the dangers of Swiffer Wetjet mops and cleaning liquids but disregarded the warning as a typical, over-hyped email warning. This time though, I want to make sure that the terrible things that Swiffer can do to children and pets won't happen to MY family.

Read this:

DANGER ...Swiffer Wetjet

Recently my neighbor had to have his 5-year old German shepherd dog put down due to liver failure. The dog was completely healthy until a few weeks ago, so they had a necropsy done to see what the cause was. The liver levels were unbelievable, as if the dog had ingested poison of some kind. The dog is kept inside, and when he's outside, someone's with him, so the idea of him getting into something unknown was hard to believe.

My neighbor started going through all the items in the house. When he got to the Swiffer Wetjet, he noticed, in very tiny print, a warning which stated 'may be harmful to small children and animals.' He called the company to ask what the contents of the cleaning agent are and was astounded to find out that antifreeze is one of the ingredients (actually, he was told it's a compound which is one molecule away from antifreeze). Therefore, just by the dog walking on the floor cleaned with the solution, then licking its own paws, it ingested enough of the solution to destroy its liver.

Soon after his dog's death, his housekeepers' two cats also died of liver failure. They both used the Swiffer Wet jet for quick cleanups on their floors. Necropsies weren't done on the cats, so they couldn't file a lawsuit, but he asked that we spread the word to as many people as possible so they don't lose their animals.

This is equally harmful to babies and small children who play on the floor a lot and put their fingers in their mouths.

After reading this email from my mom who received it from a RN, I went with my girlfriend, Stacie, and bought the Shark Steam Mop. I bought the basic mop; Stace has the deluxe version that has all the attachments that allow you to clean everything from your floor to your toilet. But I just needed a good floor surface cleaner. (We are also about to splurge and buy the Dyson Animal Cyclone vacuum... We will literally be able to eat off of our floor soon!)



I couldn't take it out of the box, set it up and test it out quick enough! And let me tell you: this thing is AWESOME. It uses tap or distilled water only - no chemicals - and the pads are reuseable. You just remove after using and toss them into the washing machine. It is like a Swiffer Wetjet in the way that it is built but it plugs into the wall and uses steam only to clean and disinfect.

Another TWO THUMBS UP from this mom!