Has anyone else managed to get that damned Devo-themed ad to not pop into their head whenever they hear about Swiffer products yet? Me neither.
Anyhow, with the holidays, comes a slew of products I’m asked to review, and I recently received a Home Care Kit from the fine folks at Procter and Gamble, purveyors of Mr. Clean, Febreeze, and the almighty Swiffer.
Especially good since the season of good cheer and entertaining is also the season of wet, muddy dog, and I need all the help I can get!
I didn’t have a lot of these products around the house, since I’ve been trying to switch to more environmentally friendly options. But I figured, what the heck, I might as well see how they stack up to my usual arsenal.
I’m pleased to report that, in general, the Method products I use (cleansing wipes, dish detergent, wood, granite, stainless and leather spray, candles) all performed equally as well as the P&G products I tried out – with the added bonus of (in my opinion) smelling a lot better (do we love almond-scented floors and cupboards? Oh hell yes we do!).
But darned if there weren’t a few of the P&G Products that just kicked my beloved Method square in the behind, and pointed and laughed at him to boot.
1. Febreze. I have had a love-affair with this stuff for ages. Method, where is your fabric refreshing spray? My dog’s bed demands it. I also use it when traveling with a limited wardrobe: fill one of those travel-sized hairspray bottles with the stuff and spritz it on your clothes at the end of the day, then hang them overnight. It’s worked well to eliminate smoke and strong cooking odors.
2. Febreze Noticeables. I used the Method Aroma Pill for a while, but found the scents all far too cloying in that particular format. The Febreze one just smells… fresh. Despite it being called “Noticeables,” I don’t actually notice the smell when I walk in. I just notice that it smells “nice” instead of like a wet, dirty dog. Or leftovers. Or the garbage we forgot to take out (it happens). The biggest win? Neil doesn’t complain about the scent (as he does with just about every other air freshener, scented candle or home-perfuming-thing known to man).
3. The Swiffer Wet-Jet. Oh my holy hell this thing is incredible. And I HATE THAT. I really, REALLY wanted to love the Method oMop. I fought to love the oMop. I still love the Wood for Good floor cleaner. But none of it can hold a candle to the WetJet in terms of actually, you know, working.
My oMop actually broke (the head snapped off the handle while scrubbing at some dirt) in pretty short order, and I went right back to my regular Swiffer. (Aside about the oMop vs. Swiffer dry cloths: the Method ones claim to be recyclable, but the fine print says they need to go in an industrial composter – I have no idea where to find one of those, and the Swiffer ones work better on grabbing dog hair.) I’d been using the Method microfiber cloth, attached to the Swiffer head, with the Wood for Good floor solution to clean the floors, and that did an okay job, but the WetJet blew it right out of the water.
The WetJet cleaning solution works just as well as the Method Stuff, but the whole “dispenser in the device” thing is genius, and makes it easier to maneuver around stuff (without lugging a bottle with me). The mopping pad is also awesome. It breezed through muddy paw-prints, dried up spilled beer, and our usual layer of grime without leaving streaks on the floor afterward (something I always seem to have with a mop & bucket or had with the oMop).
But I hate that it requires batteries. I hate that the pads need to be thrown away (one pad lasts about two moppings for me of about 600sq/ft of floor). I don’t even want to know what’s in the cleaning solution.
Is that enough for me to stop using it? HELL NO. With the oMop (and my later Swiffer hack) cleaning the floor was annoying enough I didn’t really do it. The WetJet is so easy and effective, I’ll actually use it on a semi-regular basis (and just die a little inside every time I do).
So P&G: please step up and make your products a little (okay, a LOT) greener.
And Method: please fill in those gaps before P&G jumps on the greening train so we no longer have to have an open relationship and I can commit to you for good!
I also use the swiffer wet-jet, but once you finish the bottle of cleaning solution there is absolutely no way to refill it! You have to go and buy a new bottle and that bugs me. Instead, I leave the holster empty and spray the floors with my cleaner of choice, then use the swiffer to wipe it all clean. Works well, but kind of defeats the purpose of having an all-in-one system.
nooooo! not the wet-jet!
you are killing me with the p&g loving, woman. you, me, method. it was meant to be forever. for. ever. remember that trunk-full of methody goodness from target? i do! method does! why don’t you?
*sniff*
come back to the almondy floors… come back!
Oh Method, how we love thee…
I love my Vileda flat mop – tough, adjustable, and fully launderable (therefore reusable) – and use it with an all-purpose/floor cleaner spray in hand. The pad is nice and big, which makes for quicker cleaning, and the whole thing takes very little space to store.
hm… vileda…
We have a microfibre pad that attaches to our wet-jet. It makes me feel better than throwing out the swiffer pads all the time.
I know…. god do I know.
I’ve got a few things I’m going to try for WetJet hacks: the pads attach with velcro, so my old oMop pad may stick to the bottom of it.
And it doesn’t look, at first glance, like the WetJet solution container requires a vacuum to dispense (hopefully it’s gravity-only), so I’m thinking I may punch a hole in the bottom, and try filling it with the Method wood floor cleaner.
Of course, at the rate I clean, those could both take a while, but I’ll report back again with whether they worked or not.
I don’t remember the details, but I do know that my friend Sarah managed to engineer something to replace the WetJet cleaning solution with a green and homemade alternative (something you make from raw ingredients instead of buying in non-reusable packaging – the greenest of green!)
You can reach her via my blogroll – she’s Food and Stuff.
Thanks for the tip Sue!
Also, an update: the oMop microfiber pad attached to the WetJet just fine (it’s originally designed for a velcro attachment anyhow). I used it yesterday to clean 1000 cookies worth of baking grime (seriously – one THOUSAND cookies) off the floors with no problem.