Friday, September 20, 2013

What Does Mopping the Floor Have to do with Your Dog?

Our 5 dogs tend to track in all kinds of goodies throughout the day.
 Leaves. Mud. Dust. Germs. Who Knows What. 
So does Mr. Mutt....but that's another story. 

That's 22 feet tramping in the great outdoors...because of this floor mopping is an every day event in our home. 

It's not that bad of an event. I've learned to combine mopping with my morning exercise routine. Yup, me and the mop have grooved to ABBA, The Beatles, Rob Zombie, John Denver & Blake Shelton...whatever is on. I'm not as good as Gene Kelly in Thousands Cheer...but who is.


 
Years ago, I would give our floors a bleach wash once a week because: I. Hate. Germs. I figured a good bleach wash would take care of those microscopic fiends just ready to pounce on my family. 





Then we began to get into organics & holistic care. We began to change our lifestyle. Which included how we cared for our floors.  Some of us that enjoy snowy winters (yes, we do enjoy them. yes, we are odd but we also enjoy brussels sprouts - so there)  need to salt our drives and pathways. Those of us with pets should be aware of the damage salt can have on our pets paws. Putting on my Sherlock Holmes cap - I love hats - I deduced that

 Bleach + Paws = Bad 

We replaced the bleach wash with a better floor cleaner for our household. 

Here is the SIMPLE cleaner we use daily

1 Gallon Hot Water
2 TBS Liquid Castile Soap (this is the one we buy)
1/4 Tsp Peppermint Essential Oil (our favorite is from Mountain Rose Herbs)

Mix ingredients in a large bucket. Mop floor.

Easy Peasy no? If you aren't familiar with Castile Soap here is a link for you.

Plus a short summary about this soap from the Dr. Brommers site:
 "In earlier centuries, an all-vegetable based soap was made in the Castile region of Spain from local olive oil. By the turn of this century, "Castile" had come to mean any vegetable oil-based soap, versus animal (tallow) fat-based soap. "Pure-Castile" is now also your guarantee that what you are using is a real ecological and simple soap, not a complex blend of detergents with a higher ecological impact due to the waste stream during manufacture and slower biodegradability". 

As with any product you bring into your home...do your homework. Be sure it will work for you. This recipe works perfectly for Mr. Mutt and I. Great smelling, low impact on our pups and a fabulous cleaner. 
Go ahead, grab your mop and do your best Gene Kelly impersonation around the kitchen floor!

 

2 comments:

  1. Is this floor cleaner good for hard wood floors too?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have to give you my least favorite answer. It depends. If your floors are like mine & Mr. Mutts (rustic – think no shine, wear, pit marks etc) , then yes – it should be fine. If, however, your floors are like my mother’s (think museum quality) then maybeTypically, a shiny floor needs some sort of “polish” or wax to keep the shine. This recipe has neither but as I mentioned, Mr. Mutt & I don’t have or want shiny floors. I do know that with any hardwood floor, a little water goes a l-o-n-g way. I am always sure to wring my mop thoroughly before I place it on the floor, rustic or not. I can appreciate your desire to get away from chemicals on your floor so the only real way to tell is to try it in a small section. Wet your fingers with water then flick into a corner of the floor where there’s not much traffic. If there’s wax on the surface, the floor will turn white under the water beads (may take a half hour or so to turn white). If you want to make your own polish for the floor you can try equal parts of olive oil & white vinegar. Let us know what your results are!

      Delete

Merci♥ J'adore your comments & I'll be sure to get back to you tout de suite!