Making the Swiffer Wet Jet more Environmentally Compatible

There are products on the market today that make life so much easier.

Take, for example, the Swiffer Vac.  I personally LOVE this device.  I hate sweeping because the broom doesn't get everything.  I love that the Swiffer vacuum sucks up everything and that the cloth picks up what the vacuum misses.  The only quam, I guess you could call it, is that the battery life is not the greatest.  I wish it would last longer.

I e-mailed the Swiffer people about it, and they kindly got back to me, however, I don't think they'll be rushing into R&D to create a new and improved Swiffer Vac battery just for me.

Or maybe they will?

On to the Swiffer Wet Jet.

I REALLY like this device.  I have bad knees and find it difficult to get down on my hands and knees to hand wash the floor each week. 

I'm sure the next thing you're going to say is that I should just use a mop.  But mops freak me out.  The bacteria and mold and yuck that accumulates on the mop head freaks me out.

I don't, however, like two things about the Wet Jet.

First of all, the absorbent cleaning pads are way too expensive.  Ridiculously expensive. 

Secondly, and maybe most importantly, I detest the environmental impact the cleaning pads make.

Maybe the second thing should be first.

I guess my only two questions would be - why don't the Swiffer people make something reusable?  Or biodegradable?  Don't we live in a "green" era?

In a brief moment of insanity, I decided to forsake my Wet Jet and switch to a Rubbermaid Reveal.

I liked the idea of the washable pads most of all, and I was very excited to begin a new chapter in my floor washing history.

But the first time I used the Reveal, my bubble was immediately burst.

The construction of the Reveal was incredibly cheap.  The sprayer, as opposed to a powered-automatic spray like the Wet Jet, was a pump-action sprayer.  But it seemed to stick after the first spray, and then only sprayed little droplets.

Basically, I hated everything about that thing.

Except for the pads. 

Those I loved.

Back to the Wet Jet, the bottom of the Wet Jet has these velcro strips on the bottom that the cleaning pads stuck to.

The Reveal pads stuck to the Wet Jet just fine, but they were a pain to pull off.  And then the velcro strips started pulling off.

So here's what I did.

I pulled the two remaining velcro strips off the bottom of the Wet Jet.

Then I put the Reveal pad under the bottom of the Wet Jet, just as though the velcro was still there.  (But it's not)

Then I folded each end and held it in place.

Then I pinned elastic into place.

After all four corners were pinned with elastic, I sewed them down using a type of zig-zag stitch on the sewing machine.

And you know what?  Even though I'm pretty positive I dulled the needle on my sewing machine and I stabbed myself two hundred thousand times, the elastics are on the washable pads, they fit snugly and don't come off when I wash the floor!

I am ENAMORED once again with my Swiffer Wet Jet.

I'm sorry I can't provide a pattern of any kind - it really was just holding and pinning and eyeballing.

This is the Cane girl - still with swollen hands - signing off.