Floor Cleaner

I don't think there is anything more disguising then walking barefoot across a dirty kitchen floor.  Stepping on sticky patches of yogurt or soggy pieces of cheerios really grosses me out. 

For a long time I mopped my kitchen floor with water and Castile Soap.  It worked very well.  But now, between a larger kitchen and a tiled entry way, I have 3 times the amount of floor to mop.

My simple water and Castile Soap wasn't keeping up.  Halfway through mopping I would have to empty and refill the sink with fresh mopping solution because I was basically just pushing dirty water around the floor

I found this Floor Grease Cutter Cleaner (say that 10 times fast)

1/4 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon liquid dish soap (I used Castile Soap)
1/4 cup washing soda (There is a difference between washing soda and baking soda.  You can find the washing soda in the laundry section of most stores.)

2 gallons tap water, very warm

Directions:
1. Place all the ingredients into a bucket and mix well until sudsy.
2. Mop the area with the solution.
3. Not recommended for waxed floors--it may make the wax gunky.

I really wanted to put this to the test so I didn't mop my floor for 2 weeks.  This was really hard for me considering I mop twice a week. By the time the two weeks were done I felt like Miss Inch walking into Susan's (or Sharon?) cabin on Parent Trap with the grass and mud all over the floor.

I mixed all my ingredients in the sink then used a real state of the art (insert sarcasm) sponge head mop. (I almost typed sponge bob ha ha)

The Verdict: This is one of those homemade solutions that definitely lives up to the hype.  I have used it 4 times now and I am still amazed at how easily things come up off the floor.  I don't have to scrub as hard to get 2 day old hardened milk off the floor.  And what really blows me away is that I don't have to refill the sink with new solution.  No matter how dirty my floor is, the dirt stays in the water.

Look how dirty this water is, but for some crazy reason the dirt stayed in the sink so I was still mopping with clean solution.  My floor is so much cleaner now.

There is a down side.  It leaves streaks on the tile that are pretty noticeable in the light.  However, I'll take streaks if it means a cleaner floor.