I really hate cleaning, but I LOVE to mop {specifically my Cuban mop}!

I really hate cleaning. I know everyone says that, but I don’t think you understand. Cleaning and organizing are just not my thing. I grew up in a family where we all had weekly chores. Every Saturday morning was dedicated to cleaning the house before we had fun for the weekend. My parents are both neat freaks and relatively OCD. My parents and siblings are “make the bed” kind of people. I’m more of a “why bother because I’m getting back in it tonight and no one is going to see it” kind of person.

I’m what I like to call a selective neat freak and selective OCD. I like things done my way. I have a hard time bending. For example, all the hangers in the house have to be the exact same. I will throw them out if they’re not. No exceptions. I also don’t mind doing laundry. And by laundry I mean putting it in the washer and dryer. I HATE folding and putting the laundry away. However there’s one chore that I LOVE. I LOVE to vacuum and mop the floors. Weird right? Hear me out.

Growing up we pretty much always had tile or wood floors throughout the house. My chore that I always chose to do were the floors. Maybe because it was the biggest chore so I thought my mom wouldn’t give me any other chores to do. {Side note: I still got other chores} My favorite thing about doing the floors was seeing the instant results from vacuuming and then mopping. It felt like if the floors were clean then the entire house was clean and who cared about the other chores. {Side, side note: my mom cared apparently}

Then when I moved away from home I lived in apartments that had carpet throughout except in the kitchen and bathrooms. The need for a mop was pretty much eliminated and I just used a Swiffer. But vacuuming was still my favorite because after you vacuum the carpet always felt fluffy again. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.

Last summer my husband and I moved from a condo with carpet to a house with all tile and wood floors. This meant I was on the hunt for a new mop. I reached out to Facebook for recommendations. My fellow South Floridians all responded exactly as I knew they would….the Cuban mop!

The Cuban Mop

If you grew up in Miami, whether you were Cuban or not chances are your parents owned a Cuban mop. A Cuban mop is also called a T mop. It is a stick shaped like a T and you place a wet towel or rag at the end of the mop.

There are many ways people use the Cuban mop. The way I use it is to fill a bucket with water and floor cleaner, dunk your towel or rag in the bucket, wring it out and then place the towel on the T mop. When the towel is dirty you can rinse it out and reuse or use a new towel/rag until the floors are all clean. The beauty of it is that you then wash the towel/rag and put away to use again. It eliminates the need to purchase a new mop every so often and seriously is the best way I have found to clean the floors.

 Below are two ways that I use the towel on the mop.

Perhaps you’re reading this and thinking “this girl’s crazy!”. I swear to you, I have purchased every mop out there before buying old faithful again to make sure that I wasn’t missing out on a better mop. I was always less than impressed and the floors still seemed dirty. If you live in the Southeastern states, you can purchase a Cuban mop at Publix for $2.50. Otherwise I’m sure you can get it on Amazon. I implore you to try it and if it’s not for you then I totally understand, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be joining the ranks of all the other Miamian’s who are obsessed with the Cuban mop the way that I am.

Now excuse me while I go clean the floors.