Turn Old Dishtowels Into Dust Mops

With the holidays approaching, I'm sure many of you are doing as much cleaning as possible.  I know I have.  My one peeve though, is that my hard wood floors never look clean.  Do you get what I mean?  No matter how much I clean those son's of beeches, I just can't seem to get them to shine like they did when they were new.  I did some research though and I found that maybe they have product build up.  The internet suggests using vinegar and water.  This made me think of salad dressing and I thought that it couldn't possibly work, but guess what?  It did!

The key to getting your floors looking perfect is SWEEPING!  You must pick up every speck before you mop.  That's where this project comes in.  I have one of those pad sweepers.  Like a Swiffer but generic.  I got mine at Ross for $10.  I actually got two.  Each came with two re-usable pads. Two pads was not enough!  So I decided to make some out of old dishtowels.

I was going to throw these gross things out but put them to great use instead.  

All you need to do is fold it to fit the bottom of your Swiffer type broom.  Mine has velcro points so I didn't need to stitch pockets but if yours needs pockets, there are plenty of tutorials out there.  

This is how I folded my towels.  Then just sew around the edges.  

See?  Super easy!

This is what your pad will look like.  I just stuck mine right to the bottom of my broom.  If yours needs to slide in, then cut slits into the pad.  When I'm done mopping or sweeping these get thrown right into the washer and they are ready to be used again.  

Back to the vinegar story.  If you are going to use vinegar and water to clean your floors, you will need to mix a 1/2 cup of white distilled vinegar to a 1/2 gallon of warm water.  Once your pad gets a little dirty, you will need to go back and rinse it with water before putting it back into the vinegar solution.  It takes time, but it's worth it.  My floors look so much better!  Oh, and if you're worried about the smell, you can rest easy because there is none.  Once the vinegar dries it leaves no odor behind.  I love this because I don't have any pine smell competing with my Scentsy.  

Give this a try.  It's cheap and good for the environment too.  

Nydia 8)