Tips on Tuesday: Steam Mops

I have a friend from college who called me yesterday to tell me all about her new steam mop. She swears by it and wanted me to spread the word.

I did a little side research and found there are a lot of brands of steam mops. The most well known, because of their infomercials, is the Shark steam mop. The Shark got a lot of mixed ratings. My friend owns a Shark and said it works great for now, but she uses it several times a week and expects it to only last about a year. Her intention is to upgrade to a higher quality model when this one goes. She wanted to try it out with the less expensive model before investing the big bucks. I found a Bissell Steam Mop at the HSN website. It only cost $10 more than a Shark. There are several other brands available so do a little research if you plan to invest in one.

She said that one tip for use is to pre-wet the cleaner pad with hot water before using. Then it takes a lot less time to hit maximum cleaning power. If you wet the pad, it will take a little longer to dry--about the same length of time as an ordinary mop--but the results will be better. I can't tell you how excited she was about the tile, linoleum and hard-wood floors. She's got all of them in her house and she has a dog and two cats. She said it picks up the animal hair really well and she never knew how beautiful her wood steps really were.

So there's a product testimonial from my girlfriend. I haven't tried out the steam cleaners yet, but after talking to her, I'm intrigued and interested.