WFMW: cleaning tools

We are almost done! I don't know who's more excited, me or the girls. :) I only have the master suite left to do. I always leave this for last, but some years I peter out before I get to my room, so I am determined to get my room deep cleaned this year! But not today. Or tomorrow either - we have places to be in the morning. We need a day off anyway. :)

But while I am on this cleaning kick, I thought I would talk about a couple of cleaning tools that I have in my house. One I highly recommend, and one I do not. First, I'll start with the "not."

A couple of years ago I bought one of those Scunci Steam cleaners at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I had a coupon, and I was desperate for some way to clean my shower. So I thought I'd give this a try. It does work, it does put out steam. However, it did nothing for the hard water stains in the shower. :( It is useful for a couple of things, so I bring it out once or twice a year to clean the dishwasher seals and hinges and the joint where the kitchen sink faucet meets the sink. It gets more gunk out of there than I ever knew was in there. It's also good for the electric can opener. Other than that, it collect dust on top of my deep freeze the rest of the year.

I did take it to Dallas with me last year to help my MIL remove a wallpaper border from her kitchen. If the border is applied with the self-adhesive paste on many borders (you know, the kind you just wet and apply), than it would work great. Unfortunately, my MIL's border had been applied (by the previous owner) with wallpaper paste, and I thought we'd need a jack hammer to get the stuff off.

Over all, just come borrow mine, don't spend the money.

Second however, is the Swiffer Duster with Extendable Handle. This is not the flat dusting sheet that can also go on the Swiffer broom, but is more like an old fashioned feather duster. Except, of course, that the heads are disposable, and the handle extends a long way. I don't use this for my routine cleaning every week - I try to stay away from disposable products for that. However, I have found nothing that can beat it for dusting things high (ceiling fan blades, window sills ABOVE my front door, picture frames up very high, the tops of door bell box, the light globes in the halls, etc.) or in awkward places (the chandeliers over my two-story entry way and stairs, the speakers hanging from the ceiling, the back of the entertainment center, behind appliances, etc.). Great, inexpensive tool for those jobs!