Just this morning, AT:Green Home reader Shanalee wrote in:
I have 2 cats and a dog. I Swiffer probably 3 or 4 times a week... that's a LOT of Swiffer refills! Any green alternatives?
-shanalee
Dear Shanalee,
By our calculations, you are spending about $1 per week, or $52 per year, on Swiffer refills, which means that over the next 5 years, you'll spend upwards of $250 on something you'll throw away.
Your email hinted that you are aware that Swiffer refills are not biodegradable, so it's not just a matter of money.
Here are 3 ideas for you, in increasing order of cost:
• Option 1: An old-fashioned dust mop, like this one from Bona. (We've blogged Bona before over at AT:Chicago, with links to places to purchase aside from Amazon.) Because you clean so often, you should buy a bunch—on our laundry cycle it would take 8—and just toss them in the washing machine. Total cost: about $63.
• Option 2: Add to dust mop: The Furminator. PT Barnum-style website aside, our extremely neat friends with pets swear by this pet shedding brush. Cost: around $50 for the large, plus a couple dust mops; it eliminates almost all of the shedding, but you'll still find a few stray pet hairs.
• Option 3: If you're lazy (or is it realistic?) like us, grooming your pet every couple days just doesn't happen, which makes this last option the most appealing to us. At $300 and up, the new Roomba for Pets is certainly the most expensive option, and you'll still need to empty the dust bin, but the idea of a fur-free house with almost no work is really appealing to us.
AT:Green Home readers with pets: what's your advice? Has anyone tried the Roomba for Pets? Previous Roombas had a reputation for choking on pet hair...
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Comments (24)
I have a similar situation. I have used my Eureka vaccuum broom and it picks up most of the dog hair....not all. I brush the dog a couple of times a week. I have tried MicroPlus type of products, as suggested. NOTHING works as well as the Swifter in picking up all of the dog hair. However, I use both sides of the swifter and after I go over my floors I use the vaccuum to clean the dog hair off of the Swifter. I know I am creating trash that is not biodegradable....but using the Swifter as long as I can cuts down on that. If I find some thing that works as well as the Swifter, I will switch but until then, it is the Swifter.
Method's new omop is a green version of the Swiffer; it's great!
http://methodhome.com/products.php?cat=type&type=omop&prod=starter_kit
thanks! this helps a lot!
we're a family who doesn't use paper towels, paper plates, plastic bags, etc. everytime i pull a swiffer cloth out of the box i cringe!
The final solution is to purchase a swiffer cozy which is a knitted cover for your swiffer. It picks up all the animal hair and dust and is machine-washable! Email at christine@aperfectbag.com and I will email you a photo and price. x0x0
I bought some washable swiffer covers on E-bay. They were hand-made. This way you don't have to throw away your swiffer if you already have it. They work REALLY well.
my mom has a broom that has rubber bristles and it squeegees hair off the floor. it's AWESOME i love it so much i almost (not quite) look forward to sweeping her house.
My hairdresser uses one of those rubber-bristled brooms.
the omop is great. you can get a washable microfiber cloth for cleaning floors and their "swiffer" cloths are compostable
The omop swiffer cloths are compostable, but they don't pick up pet fur like Swiffer cloths do (with 3 dogs and 2 cats, I've done fur-pick-up testing). The washable cloth for the mop, though, is good at cleaning the floors and will "sweep" most of the fur into it.
The regular Roomba does choke on pet har. I have to cut it off every time it runs, which kind of defeats the point of having an easy robot vacuum. I'm curious how the Pet version is better. Hmm... it looks like there's a brush upgrade if you already have a Roomba and don't want to buy the new Pet one. I'm definitely going to try that one out.
http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2447112
Don't spend $50 on the Furminator. Go to a pet shop and buy a $6 shedding blade or curry comb. It's practically the same thing and gets more of the undercoat than the Furminator. Trust me - you'll be there for hours wondering how much more fun you could possibly get off one animal. And then wondering how one dog can produce so much fur and not be bald.
I just take a bar towel or rag and swiffer with that ... no need to buy new products and washable!
I have three dogs and my entire house has hardwood floors, so I have my share of dog hair too. I use a dustmop that I bought from Target for like $10 and it works wonderfully.
I have to chime in and say that I've been using the Furminator on my cats and I'm a total convert! They love it and it gets off waaaaaay more than the other combs and brushes we own.
hey joan a - do you know where to get one? my mom doesn't remember and i want to steal it from her. but she won't let me.
I started using cut flannel cloths on my Swiffer - they sell them as rags at HomeDepot/Lowes at something like 12/$6. You can just clip the fabric right into the Swiffer and toss them in the wash.
I am very interested in that Furminator!
Why not shave them?
;0)
elizabeth in AL -- I'll try to remember to ask her.
elizabeth in AL --
Is it the carpet rake?
http://www.shophometrends.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_020011
I have a Furminator-like brush, and it does work as advertised...on one of my cats. I can't use it on the other one because he bites me after the first couple of strokes. Evil beast.
As far as removing pet hair from my floors, I prefer to vacuum once a week. I'm not sure where that fits in the heirarchy of greenness though. I mean, it uses electricity, but there's no rags to throw out, and I would probably vacuum once a week anyway even if I didn't have cats.
elizabeth in AL-
The one I use is the FURemover: http://www.stacksandstacks.com/html/11243_furemover-broom-sweep-away-messes-with-the-power-of-rubber.htm
not the carpet rake - more like the FURemover, but smaller in width with blue bristles and white plastic where the bristles come out - i think - but i know it has blue/navy bristles - the FURemover seems like a better version - the other one is so small it takes me half an hour to sweep the living room - I'm going to buy one pronto - our 2 puppies came home this weekend!!!
After reading the posts here, my boyfriend (who has a dog, a cat and a *very* small apartment) and I stumbled across a FURminator knock off at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $15.00. We figured "what the hell", bought it and tried it out on his black lab right there in the parking lot. Holy Crap, it was amazing!
When we got home, we finished up the lab and got a good start on the cat. Cat didn't like it, but we found that putting him in a high-sided bucket with just enough room so he didn't feel so restrained worked really well.
this is the reason I don't have pets.
Why. On God's green earth. Does anyone have 3 dogs in the home?!?!??!?!
It boggles the mind!
Option2; brushing your dog often does not help.
Option 3: I got a roomba. I was happy for 10 months. Please read the reviews, most roombas last 1 year, and of course they come with 1 year warranty.
Now I am using daily the swiffer vaccum. It is cheap and super light. Although I am getting tired of charging the battery. I would like to be able to use it while plugged.