Techy Tuesday: Bissell Steam Mop

Something a little different this week...a little housewife tech :)

When we moved into our house 4 years ago, I was just starting to really look into chemical free cleaning and was quite interested.  My fragrance allergies prevent me from using commercial cleaners anyway, but having a brand new house meant we had an opportunity to live in an environment that had never really been tainted by harsh chemicals.   We started out by using natural cleaning products and, when I was pregnant, I was introduced to Norwex Antibacterial Microfibre cloths and was an instant convert!

It was around that time that I started to look into Steam Mops.   With two little babies on the way, I wanted a cleaning method for our hard surfaces that would disinfect but not leave a chemical residue that babies would end up getting on their hands and toys and, subsequently, into their mouths.   A steam mop seemed like the ideal solution and, talking to other moms, they enthusiastically recommended their steam mops - especially once the babies were on solids.  They claimed NOTHING got sticky food off the floor like them!

As timing would have it, the very next week London Drugs had the Bissell Steam Mop in their flyer for a really good price.   I decided to take the leap and buy it.   At the same time, I also picked up a couple of extra packages of the microfibre mop heads because I have the ill-luck that almost anytime I buy something - it quickly gets discontinued!  (This was one of the few times it HASN'T happened).

Putting the mop together was fairly simple...just a couple of screws to connect the handle to the unit.  I think it took maybe 2 minutes.   Then I filled up the reservoir and plugged it in.    It was around that time of year where the dogs dredge a ton of spring mud into the house and the first mopping took care of the pawprints super-easily (much easier than lugging a mop bucket out and sloshing around).   I was impressed.

Then the babies came and, as a busy mom of two - the steam mop made it easy to clean up quickly during naptimes.   The thing became worth it's weight in gold once we started solids.  The dogs made sure the bigger pieces of food were taken care of and the mop made sure it was sanitary for my little scooter babies to play on the floor again.   My girls were mobile from a very early age (Doodle learned at 3 months that if she lay on her back, planted her feet and pushed - she could get anywhere.  A trick that her sister picked up in short order) so it was nice to know that I wouldn't have a bucket of dirty water waiting for little people to knock over.   It also let me quickly keep the floor clean so their clothes wouldn't get super dirty (most of the time).

I love our steam mop, but it hasn't been without a downside.   It has had a funny smell to it recently and we discovered that we we were long overdue for a new water filter on it.   These were impossible to find locally so I had to turn to ebay to get one (well, two.  I like to stockpile things that will be used up quickly).   I also used one of the mop heads to clean up some dog puke in the basement and the concrete floor shredded the microfibre head.   Not a big deal, but good to know they aren't for every surface.   The manual says to use distilled water, but I can't be bothered and just use our tap water (we do have a whole house filtration system in our home so the water IS somewhat filtered).  The filter life is probably reduced because of this but it doesn't bother me.  It's not worth the hassle of buying bottled water for a mop.  Overall - I highly recommend it.  I just say that it pays to stockpile the extra supplies so you'll always have them.