New mops make housecleaning easy

FRESNO, Calif. — Household chores don’t always have to be laborious. Mops with disposable or washable pads can make cleaning floors quick and easy, and there are many to select from.

“When I started about four years ago, the only ones I remember were the Swiffer Sweeper and WetJet,” says Richard Zavala, a sales floor team leader at the Target store in northwest Clovis, Calif. “There are just so many now.”

Standing in the mop aisle, he counted at least eight options.

Donna Smallin, a Mesa, Ariz., author of cleaning and organizing books, says these disposable products have revolutionized how we clean.

“We used to get a bucket, fill it with hot water and soap, brush the floor and then let it dry. Now, you can keep (floors) clean with tools like the Swiffer. I think they’re fabulous.”

The Swiffer Sweeper was launched in 1999, and ever since, its parent company, Procter & Gamble, has introduced other Swiffer products that come with disposable cleaning pads, cloths or cartridges.

There’s the WetJet PowerMop, which comes with a pump to squirt cleaning solution on the floor before you mop; Sweep+Vac, which “combines the power of Swiffer cloths with a rechargeable vacuum to pick up dirt, dust and pet hair simultaneously;” and the CarpetFlick, which is for carpet cleanup, according to Swiffer product descriptions.

Other cleaning manufacturers also have come out with similar cleaning tools. Clorox has the ReadyMop, while Mr. Clean has the Magic Reach, with its football-shaped mop head. Instead of a rectangular mop head, Scotch-Brite has a triangular-shaped head for easier movement in the bathroom.

For hardwood floors, Orange Glo has a dust mop with washable, microfiber cloths. Method also has washable microfiber pads that can be used with its nontoxic cleaning solutions.

The cost of these quick mops ranges from $10-$20.