Cinderelly, Cinderelly
Night and day it’s Cinderelly
Make the fire, fix the breakfast
Wash the dishes, do the mopping (source)
Our kitchen floor is tile. Our dining room, hallway, and master bedroom are hardwood. Bathroom, linoleum.
And yet…
I don’t own a mop. Mops don’t work for me. Hands and knees scrubbing is the only way I can get the grime off of my textured tile kitchen floor. And the grout? Ha! A mop wouldn’t begin to dig the dirt out of there! Even on my wood floors, it’s hands and knees all the way.
Included in my scrubbing arsenal is a bucket of soapy water, a rag, a rough scrubby-sponge, and my trusty nylon scraper.
Go ahead. Tell me how you do your mopping. Surely I’m not the only one on my hands and knees!
I get on my hands and knees to do the bathroom floors, using the bath mat as a knee cushion. It’s just such a small space, and I don’t want to use the kitchen mop in there since bathrooms, are . . . you know . . . germy.
I 100% agree. I fail to believe you do anything but push around dirt with a mop. I have a little mop I use for getting up spots quickly but I always clean my floor on my hands and knees.
I concur…we have laminate floors in the mudroom and tile in kitchen and bathrooms. Hands and knees definately work best. I do use a wet-jet swiffer for a quick run thru but not often. Hopefully we don’t have to replace “knees” as ofen as a mop!
This is such a great idea!! I scrub our bathroom floor on my hands and knees from time to time and it always makes my poor knees so sore. I’ll have to keep this in mind for next time!
Tee hee – not too long ago I gave my knee pads to my Hubs who was doing something (roofing?) that required a lot of knee scraping. A dear family friend did this with her daughters’ knee pads… I still have carpet almost everywhere and I do my best to ignore (yikes!) the tiny bit of linoleum we do have. :>)
I bought my hubs his OWN set of knee pads.
I mop and bucket it, except when deep cleaning is needed, then it’s hands and knees. Although, when I was pregnant and in my serious nesting phase, I was washing all of the floors in our house on my hands and knees. With my belly hanging to the ground. LOL!
I am a knee mopper as well, but I do own a mop for one purpose…to clean the bathtubs–it works wonders!
How funny that you just posted this, I was on my hands and knees scrubbing my floor just this past weekend! I have always mopped my linoleum floors but was noticing that it was getting dingy looking so I broke out the scrub brush and a bucket of hot soapy water, it did wonders!
I always gave my mom a hard time because she mopped her floors on her hands and knees but guess what? I now mop my floors on my hands and knees because yes it does get all the grime off the floor. I invested in a pair of volleyball knee pads as well. Right now I am 6 months pregnant and my wonderful husband is doing all the mopping on his hands and knees:)
I too do my scrubbing on hands and knees, last time I pushed around a small skinny (knee size) piece of carpet for my knees, the knee pads just move too much for me.
Sigh, I really do need to get down and do a good scrub on my floors. I’ve been doing a half job for a long time and truly it’s not cutting it… I have the swiffer pads for the in between (company is on the way RIGHT NOW) cleans, but need to do a good once over.
How often do you get down and scrub?
The bathroom? I TRY to scrub once a week. The other rooms? They get a lot of “spot cleaning” until I can’t stand it any more.
Our entire house is carpeted aside from the kitchen and bathrooms which are flat linoleum. I regularly use the dry Swiffer to keep the crumbs from getting ground-in and use the wet pads on my Swiffer to mop once a week (or more often if there are doggie or cooking accidents or “aiming” mishaps). I can’t imagine getting down on my hands and knees to clean the floors, but I don’t have texture or grout to worry about.
Great idea with the knee pads! I don’t have a mop either and we have hardwood and tile in every room accept the kid’s rooms which is carpet. I put vinegar and water in a squirt bottle, spray the floors and then using an old towel or rag, I wipe and clean with my feet. Crazy but it works for me!
Oh, I use the same methods complete with knee pads for the exact same reasons!!
When I read this, I had visions of my 70 year old grandmother who gets on HER hands and knees to clean under the kitchen table after people have eaten (we have to try to beat her to it). She’s known as “Clean Jean.”
I use a mop for my hardwood kitchen floor, but I do get on my hands and knees in the bathroom (when I clean it……..*sheepish*).
~Alicia
P.S. How long does it take you this way??
And your next question should be “how often do you do it?”
I try to do my bathroom weekly, but my kitchen and dining room? They get a lot of “spot cleaning” till I can’t stand it anymore. Bathroom takes 10 minutes. Dining room, maybe 20. Kitchen? Probably 20-30. That grout is a pain!
I don’t own any knee pads but I think I need some. We only have tile in our kitchen then some linoleum scattered about but any time on my knees cleaning warrants comfort! Thanks for the idea!
I only have a few small areas of linoleum (2.5 bathrooms and the kitchen) and I get on my hands and knees, too! I just couldn’t get the floor anywhere near clean with a mop!
I don’t know why this never occurred to me, but you can be sure kneepads are going on my shopping list! Brilliant!
I always watched my Dad on his hands and knees cleaning the floors, and I have always done the same. Just a much better job. But I must admit that floors are what I hate to do the most. I have heard that vinegar does wonders cleaning the grout on tile floors. I really want to try it with my floors. Maybe I will get to mine later this week.
The kneepads are brilliant.
I was honestly JUST thinking of you yesterday as I crawled around my bathroom floor with a rag. I thought, “I wonder if Amy’s gotten herself a mop yet?”
Guess not!
Ha! I think one would work on my wood, but NEVER on the textured tile/grout in the kitchen. I have to use my plastic scraper on some of that stuff!
We use a mop and bucket. I get down about twice a year (spring and late fall) to do the hands and knees scrub. We don’t have grout or anything, no indoor pets and everyone is required to take off their shoes in the house and we mop once a week so my floors don’t get nasty. The main reason I even get down on hands and knees is that my linoleum is about 15 years old (hopefully I am getting new this fall) and it is got some buildup and bad places (cuts, etc.) that I feel like require a better scrubbing. I probably won’t scrub my new floor on hands and knees. I used to use vinegar and hot water to clean my floor, when it was not as old, it seems like the older they get, I have to use other things ….may be just me. I only have to mop 2 bathrooms and the kitchen, everything else is carpeted. I can’t imagine mopping on my hands and knees every week…such a time consumer! That’s why I only incorporate it for spring and fall cleaning!
I sit on my tush and scrub! I find it more comfortable than hands and knees, and as I scoot out of the kitchen, I’m cleaning tough. Although, I have to say, I LOVE mopping my sister’s kitchen with the mop, and I do that every time I’m there. Weee!
I don’t do bathrooms. That is my partner’s job.
Will you come to my house please?!?
I’m about a once a month hands and kneer.. The rest of the time my boys do a rather poor job of mopping. As a lot of other ladies have said, I use vinegar and warm water. Our whole upstairs is hardwood, so it’s quite a chore.. but why o why did I never think to use knee pads??? Brilliant idea Amy! Thanks for sharing.. you bet this weekend I’m digging out my gardening knee pads and straping them on do do the cleaning! THANKS!
This image made me SOOO glad we have carpet everywhere except flat lineoleum in tiny bathroom and tile in kitchen–kitchen tile grout I haven’t found anything that works, but I have a microfiber type swiffer thing that works miracles for cleaning the tile! (And then you toss in the washer, so no germs like a mop!)
WOW… you women amaze me. I can’t stand being on my hands and knees for… wow.. just about anything. I have a steamer that I use on my floors and it has these rotating scrubby brush things. I love it. It squeegies itself dry and sucks the water up into a vacuum, too. I’m just blown away at how many of you do that… WOW WOW WOW
Hands and knees are how it’s done here too. I have a small, but thick foam rubber pad originally intended for gardening that works indoors as well. I store it with my bucket, cleaners, and cleaning rags, and I can do all of our floors – ceramic tiles in the entry, hallway, kitchen, and bathrooms, hardwood in the family room living, dining room, and office. Phew! And to think I want hardwood in our bedrooms…
Right now this is the best WFMW post of the week!!! I need some knee pads!!! Thank you!
Hmmm! Wonder if I can get hubby to do this LOL!
i get my kids a pair of old socks and a bucket with a little soapy water in it and let them dip their feet in it and “ice skate” all over the kitchen! i make sure they scrub the grout with their toes!! LOL! it works and they are usually worn out!
My kids would love that! I may need to wait a couple years, though. Might be more mess than it’s worth right now.
I’m a hands and knees mopper too! It’s the only way to get it really clean even in the corners.
We have an endless expanse of linoleum, and when I finally clean it, it’s always on hands and knees, with an occasional sit-down. Mops are too big and hard to squeeze out with my small hands. Since I’m down on my knees already, I figure it’s a good time to pray, too.
Great idea on the praying! I’ve got a post in my head about “Pray Throughout the Day” and that would fit right in.
Thanks for the tip! I may have to buy knee pads now. I have a bad knee, but prefer to wash the floor like this. I just haven’t been able to lately. Maybe knee pads will help me to be able to do it for at least a little while.
I thought I was crazy for thinking of using knee pads … and then my friend told me I was crazy to be on my knees scrubbing the floor … and then I bought kneepads (at a yard sale) that were too small!
I’m glad I’m not crazy … and I shall have to show my friend this list of people who (mostly) do the same … and I will have to keep my eyes open for adult knee pads.