I too am a wash-floors-by-hand person. Where do you find these thingys?!?

I actually went and found the thread, since you posted such praise about it. I'll pick up one of these today. Johnmari knows her stuff; if she recommends it, I'll try it -- thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: need to clean lots of hardwood today...

You all have piqued my interest. What "Miracle Cloth" are you putting on Swiffer mop heads? Do you mean microfiber cloths?

Yes, microfibre cloth heads. There was a name brand one (Swiffer maybe?) at our supermarket for about $15 but then I found a no name one for about half that. You can buy extra cloth heads for them too. The one I have just slips over top of the frame and has elastic to hold it on.

Johnmari, I think you have started a revolution.

So are we talking the regular Swiffer mop that comes in three pieces that you screw together? The mop head rectangular in shape? I had one of those and often used my MCs on them but the handle (where it screwed together) was flimsy when applying too much pressure. Johnmari, is this it or is there a different one?
Monica

Budge, does yours have a place for cleaning liquid to squirt out? I'm not sure which one you have but I want to change my life too! : )

Susan ~

No, there is no liquid - I just wet the microfibre cloth and rinsed it out a few times.

Mine isn't screwed together it came as one piece. A broom like handle and pretty sturdy rectangular head.

What I really like is the wide swivelling head that goes down so low it's easy to do under beds, radiators and of course the dreaded claw foot tub. The head is probably 18" wide so does way more in a sweep than I could do with my hand. Sort of the difference between painting a wall with a paintbrush and painting with a roller.

My DH will roll over laughing, but I will try to take a picture later and post.

JM where are you? Moving?

LOL, thank you...photos are a good thing! : )

*chuckle* Thank you and you're welcome, budge! I was out-and-about all day yesterday closing on the new house, playing in it a while and then having dinner with friends to celebrate; today we had a (long!) showing here at the old house and I had a very long nap afterward.

BTW, although they're super-cool, I'm too cheap to buy the nifty elasticized mop covers when I can get "irregular" microfiber cloths at three for a buck at the dollar store and use them for a dozen other things besides the floors. :-) (Okay, I did cough up for the Bona Kemi oversized hardwood mop and two covers, but we can call that a post-hardwood-installation euphoria. ;-) It's not maneuverable enough for my bathroom though.) I just use a regular ole Swiffer frame, the simple little one that comes in three pieces (no squirty thing) for about eight bucks from the grocery store, and while it's not the strongest thing in the world if you need to scrub that hard maybe it's not the tool for you! I wet and wring out a microfiber "miracle" type cloth, drape it over the rectangular head and push little bits of it in the holes with which you secure the disposable cloths. If you want to use a cleaner that requires rinsing, just wring out one cloth in the cleaning solution, then go back over it with a second cloth dampened with clean water. Me, I'm a one-step kind of gal, and for me one of the great joys of the microfiber cloths is that they just need water to get the dirt off stuff. I think Budge may have gotten a rather more specialized and less "cheap, quick and dirty" (ahem...) product. I just combined what I already had on hand, and I know a lot of other people already have Swiffers and microfiber cleaning cloths on hand so they don't necessarily need to go buy another product either.

BTW, just a weird little thing I thought I would pass along - did you know you can use a wet miracle cloth to remove makeup? It even took off waterproof mascara and extra-long-lasting lipstick without having to resort to the oily crap I usually had to use to get the stuff off. (I'm not really the makeup type, and I hate raccoon eyes and touching up lipstick!) Another case of me being cheap - I wondered why I should pay $14.99 for a "makeup remover washcloth" at one fancy store when it looked and felt like the 3/$1 miracle cloths I had at home, so I tried it next time I had to paint up my (already-adorable) visage and it worked. The squeamish might want to get a different color to keep them separate from the ones in the cleaning supplies. :-)

I keep reading on many of the GW forums the praises about microfiber cloths. I can't stand how they feel to the touch, and because of that I've hardly used them. But over and over again, people say how wonderful they are, so I'm gonna rustle them up and give them another go.

I don't like the feel of the cloths at all when they're dry - even shortly after I've put moisturizer on my hands they catch on my skin which is a just plain creepy feeling. I imagine if someone's hands are really callused from, say, gardening it would be even more crazymaking. But they save me so much work and I don't have to use as many cleaners so I just put up with the ick-ick-ick feeling until I can get the cloth wet. I don't use them for dusting because I would have to use it dry and I would be grinding my teeth before I made it halfway around the room. :-)

I hope I can find these Miracle Cloths that y'all speak so highly of...do they have them at Target or WM?

And if so....am I looking for something in the cleaning aisles (where you would find the Real Simple microfiber cloths, about $5 a pop) or some disposable type cloths in the paper towel section? Thanks!

Susan ~

Miracle Cloth is just one name for the microfiber cleaning cloths, I think it was one of the first brand names for them and it's sort of gotten generic, kind of like Kleenex and Q-Tips! I've never seen these Real Simple ones you're talking about but a microfiber cloth is a microfiber cloth, pretty much. You're not looking for a disposable product, the point is avoiding the whole disposability thing. Target and Walmart certainly have them, although one trick to getting them cheaper is to check the automotive department where the things for washing cars are instead of the household cleaning stuff; you can usually get a pack of a dozen for under $10 in the automotive department. I've heard Costco has a good price on them too, no Costco here so I couldn't say. The orangey "microfiber car towels" that are sometimes labeled faux chamois cloths and look a lot like stiffish felt are not the ones you want (although those are pretty durn cool for other uses!), you want the ones that look kind of like terrycloth or velour. I have gotten a bunch at the local dollar store where they were selling "irregular" ones (ones that weren't cut or hemmed as prettily, had slubs in the weave, etc.) at 3/$1.

Oh, and one very important tip about microfiber cloths - never, ever use fabric softener or dryer sheets when washing them. Softeners really mess with their absorbency. I put them in with my towels, which you shouldn't use fabric softeners on either because it makes them less absorbent too. It's a drag to have a towel just sort of pushing the water around on your skin! If your beloved laundry detergent contains softener, you can wash them with just white vinegar and no detergent at all and they will still come clean.

Just want to throw my two cents in that I've been using a microfiber cloth on my swiffer mop ever since I read about it here a few months ago. I use it on both my hardwood and tile floors. I got my microfiber cloths at Sam's Club.

yep, Costco, baby :) They're yellow.

johnmari, I agree about the feeling, and my hands *are* calloused from remodeling...the things practically *stick* to my fingers--YUCK. But they're amazing, so I use them and have come to rely on them to get things that nothing else can. Better living through technology :)

And if they take off makeup, I wonder if they're good for general "exfoliation" for older complexions...

OK, got it -- microfiber, any brand, in hot water and put on a regular swiffer head, which I already have. We've got Sam's Club (no Costco) so I'll look there first and also the automotive section. And no Downy.

Thank you so much! : )

Susan ~

I purchased a bunch in the auto section at WM. Not sure if they still have them. I do the same thing JohnMari described (Swifter mop, plain water). This also works well for washing walls. Not that I wash walls a lot, I rarely mop my floors, but when we were building we had a huge amount of dust on the walls and it worked great.

The ones I get in the automotive section are blue and white, 3 of each in a pack.

We were in Tuscany this spring and visited a local flea market on a saturday morning; the only thing that caught my eye were red miracle cloths in 3 different sizes. Talk about a cheap souvenir from a trip to Europe !!!!!!!!