Dear FlyLady

I was wondering if you can help me understand when to use what tool for which job?  Tools such as the toilet brush scrubber is obvious.  But what about the dry dust mop?  When do I use that?  Is it used instead of a broom or in between broom sweepings?  My yard has a lot of pine trees and we get bits of pine straw tracked into the house almost daily.  When I try to use my dust mop, the pine needle bits get trapped in the dust mop and it's hard to get it out.  But if I sweep first and then dust mop, that seems like it would take twice a long to do that job so that doesn't seem right either.  Also, what's the difference between the rubba sweepa and FlyLady mop?

Thank you!

Shauna
Raleigh, NC

Dear Shauna,

I would be happy to help you understand our tools. Keep in mind that it really does not matter what you use as long as you use it. Sometimes our perfectionism gets in the way of using something because we might be using it wrong. All you really need to do is set your timer and have some fun.

I use the red dust mop head every day on our floors. We have three dogs and two cats. After I do a quick dust mop; I take it outside and shake it. The red dust mop head is impregnated with wax. It does a great job of picking up dust and hair and it leaves a bit of a shine as you go.

Once a week, I use the micro-fiber cloths to wet mop our floors. Three of the micro-fiber cloths comes with the Mop Package. I wet them and use a little window cleaner on the floor. There are lots of ways to mop the floor. One fun way is to put some water down and  baby shampoo and let the children slip and slide on the floor. You can use old towels.  Your babies are going to love this and you will be making memories and getting the floor clean at the same time.

We have rugs at each door in our home. The dogs believe that we do that for them. They get covered in dog hair. Each week I take the rugs outside and use my Rubba Sweepa to remove the dog hair and then I shake them off the back deck. Once every couple of months they get washed. The Mop and Rubba Sweepa both fit our extendable handle. So it can be the right size for your little helpers or someone tall. There is a swivel top so you can hang it from a nail in your broom closet. You could even use one of your extra water bottle loops to hang it.


Our dogs stay on the floor but the cats have free reign with our furniture. We have a red couch with a white cat. He thinks he owns it. We don't fuss. They live here too. Once a week, we use the handy scrubba or the Rubba Scrubba to gently take off the cat hair.




We have several packages. One of our most popular packages is our Essential Pack.  It has everything you need to make blessing your home fun and efficient. Keep in mind that if you purchase the Epack that it only has one of the mop micro-fiber cloths. So you may want to add them to your order.

Have fun and don't be afraid to try your tools on other things. We are always looking for new uses for our tools. Be sure and tell me all about it.

FlyLady