Kimberly Uy's Blog: Essentials for Floor Washing

Washing floors is one of the most gratifying homekeeping tasks there is—don’t you just love clean, shiny floors? Your hard work this week will be worth it and I promise, every week you do the routine will take less time and be easier.

Why do I wash floors on Thursdays?

I wash floors on Thursdays because all the hard floors were thoroughly vacuumed the day before on Wednesday. I realize that it would be even more thorough to vacuum and wash floors all on the same day, but that takes so much time, don’t you agree? So, years ago when I was developing my cleaning routine, I split it up and vacuum on Wednesdays and wash floors on Thursdays. Do I have to re-vacuum on Thursdays? No. I do CHECK FLOORS before I wash the floors but rarely do I need to re-vacuum. Any re-vacuuming is minimal and it is usually under the kitchen table or around the island.

Concentrate on what you can do today – even if you have 10-15 minutes, do something!

Make sure you grab the printable Cleaning Class Kit – it’s FREE this week only and there’s a 15% off coupon in there for the shop too!

Favorites:

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is about what tools I use for washing floors. Here are my favorites on my favorites page and you can also see my favorites on Amazon as well. Truth be told, my favorite method is with a microfiber cleaning cloth – especially in the bathrooms because I think you can get a better clean but most weeks I only have time for a quick wash and mops are great for that!

Daily Maintenance:
Every day of the week I have ‘check floors’ as part of my routine. This means that after meals we check the kitchen floor and sweep or vacuum as needed. If I see something on an another floor in the home, I do a quick sweep or vacuum. This checking of the floors is something that I do, my husband does, and the kids will also grab a broom and help out. It’s not intended to be a full-on floor sweeping or vacuuming, it’s a daily dirt clean up. With 3 kids and 2 dogs, this is necessary.

Here’s what I want you to do today for floor washing:

I have found that a couple methods work really well when it comes to floor washing. Every once in a while, the floors need an old-fashioned, hands-and-knees washing. Depending on the time you want to invest and if you prefer washing your floors this way, you might want to go all out today. If not, simply wash them with your favorite method and tools.

Quickly move any chairs and rugs that might get in the way.
Start at the back of each room, in the corner farthest away from the door, and wash from left to right, washing your way out of the room.
Wash every single hard-surface floor, including the laundry room, bathrooms, entryway, and living areas.

This post talks about my favorite methods for washing floors – check it out.

If you have a hard time vacuuming and not washing the floors right afterwards, this post shares some tips for splitting up vacuuming and floor washing.

Try this DIY Recipe for ANY floor – this recipe is for a 16 oz spray bottle and is super easy to mix up – you can find the full recipe here or just grab it below. Use it in a spray bottle or in a refillable mop.

Quick DIY Floor Cleaner

1 3/4 cups warm water
16 oz. spray bottle (HERE’S MY FAVORITE GLASS SPRAY BOTTLE + LABELS)
1-2 drops of Sal Suds or castile soap (both can be found in my Amazon shop HERE)
3-5 drops ESSENTIAL OILS if you’d like a little scent – some of my favorites are lemon + clove for the castile and pine + lemon for the Sal Suds (it has a pine-y scent already)

My favorite application for deep cleaning is with a spray bottle and microfiber cloth but you can also spray and use a microfiber mop or spray mop (you can see my favorites here) or pour the solution into a small bucket and wipe up with a microfiber or cleaning cloth or with a mop.

Tip for Microfiber Mop Pad: Dampen the mopping pad before starting and add a drop or two of lemon essential oil to give your home an uplifting scent as you mop.

Something to think about:

I talk about this extensively in my book, Clean Mama’s Guide to a Healthy Home, if you’ve ever not worn socks on your hard surface floors (of course you have), or allowed a child to play or crawl on your hard surface floors (how can you not?), you can definitely appreciate a clean floor. But a clean floor and a safe and clean floor are very different. Did you know that residue can come into your bloodstream through your bare feet on the floor. If you have kids that put their hands on the floor and in their mouths (hello, toddlers), this is really upsetting. I’m not saying this to scare you but to give you some information so you can make your own choices. When it comes to floor washing day, there are plenty of easy options for cleaning your floors without chemicals, so why even bother cleaning with them? I love a steam mop for tile and linoleum floors, I don’t use steam on my hardwood floors (or recommend it) but I know that there are mops that are ‘suitable’ for sealed hardwood floors.

This post is part of Cleaning Class – I’ll be on Instagram quite a bit this week in Stories and going live – make sure you’re following along over there too.

I’m linking up the days as we go this week – click below on any day to catch up!