15 OF THE BEST CLEANING TOOLS

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Over the past few months, I have been sharing with you various  printables  to help
you organize, manage and stay on track of your  daily , weekly , monthly  and annual
cleaning tasks . While I think it’s incredibly important to have routines in place to
clean your home, you also need to have some cleaning tools too!

While I try to keep gadgets to a minimum around the house, especially in the
kitchen, there are just some cleaning tools that you need to have on hand to clean all
areas of your home. Today I’m sharing 15 of the BEST cleaning tools that I
personally use on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

15 OF THE BEST CLEANING TOOLS

As a side note, while I am linking to Amazon to show you these products, most of
these can be found cheaper at either Wal-Mart or Target especially if you stack a
sale with a coupon. With that being said, these are affiliate links below meaning
that if you click through and make a purchase, I receive a small commission. You
can read my disclosure policy  here . Thank you for supporting Creative Home
Keeper.

1. Swiffer Sweep & Trap  

80% of my home is either hardwood floors or tile and the other 20% is carpet. In
fact, our entire main living area, including our bedrooms is hardwood. While only
the basement and upstairs bedrooms  (which we don’t use yet since my kids are so
young) are carpeted. Which means that I hardly spend any time vacuuming carpet
and spend a LOT of time sweeping hardwood floors.

While I love the beauty and ease of hardwood floors, I don’t love that they show
every piece of dust, dog hair, water spot or crumbs. In fact, I almost hate the early
morning sun that shines in because it highlights ALL the dust. While a broom and a
dustpan are great at picking up the dirt and crumbs and a dust mop is great at
getting the dust and dog hair, I need something that does both, without having to
drag out the vacuum cleaner every day.

Enter the  Swiffer Sweep & Trap . This thing is amazing! It picks up most of those
crumbs, dirt, hair and dust in one quick sweep. Plus it’s quiet which means I can
quickly sweep the floor while the kids are asleep. The one negative is that it does
require those disposable dust cloths which can be both expensive and not exactly
environmentally friendly. But I have had some luck in attaching a thin washable
microfiber cloth.
2. Hand-held Broom and Dustpan Set

Thanks to my kids spilling Cheerios all over the floor I use a hand-held broom and
dustpan daily  hourly. It helps pick up those loose pieces that my   Swiffer Sweep &
Trap  misses, plus it’s great at picking up those hard to get crumbs under the kitchen
table.

Between this and my Swiffer, I have absolutely no need for a traditional broom
anymore, except for garage and patio cleaning.

3. Rubbermaid Reveal Microfiber Spray Mop  

As I mentioned above, since 80% of my home’s floors are solid surfaces you can bet
that I spend a lot of time mopping! A spray mop makes it so much easier to mop,
plus it’s incredibly handy to always have a mop ready to go whenever you have a
spill or small mess.

I like to make my own cleaning solutions for both my hardwood and tile floors and
on the Rubbermaid Reveal Microfiber Spray Mop  you can easily swap out the
cleaner bottles and replace the cleaning pads. In fact, I have an extra  cleaning pad  
and an extra bottle  that make it super easy to switch from my hardwood floor
cleaner to my tile cleaner.
4. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers

These little erasers are like rock stars! They seriously clean everything! From scuff
marks on the floors, stains on the counters, soap scum in the shower, burn marks on
the stove top and sticky glue on glasses, these remove all marks.

I am seriously in love with my magic erasers, I always have some handy. They
definitely are not the most “green” cleaning product around but for how well they
work (they are also  cheap, you can usually get them with a sale and coupon)  they
are high on my cleaning must-have list.

5. Dust Mop

If you have lots of hardwood floors, like I do, then a large, quality dust mop is a
must-have! This is a better option if you are more of a minimalist and don’t want to
mess with a Swiffer. You’ll still have to vacuum or sweep up the crumbs and dirt,
but these do a great job at getting all the dust.
I have a Rubbermaid Reveal Mop Dry Dusting Cleaning Pad  that I can easily attach
to my spray mop. It’s not as large as a traditional dust mop head, but it does the job.

6. Scrub Brush

I firmly believe that a scrub brush with a grip handle is worth the small investment.
I’ve used the cheaper scrub brushes without the grip handle many times before but I
was always loosing the grip as the handle got wet. With a gripper, I never loose
traction and I believe it’s easier to hold.

Scrub brushes are great at cleaning the floor and walls of your bathtub or shower,
sink and grout on the tile floors. I  like a medium size one that can easily fit into
most spaces and clean those hard to reach corners.

7. All-Purpose Squeegee
As part of my morning routine , once I finish taking a shower I quickly spray down
the walls and use a squeegee to wipe off the excess water. This helps me to keep the
shower clean so soap scum doesn’t build up and I’m not having to clean as hard
later. I leave my squeegee in the shower so it is always within reach.

Using a squeegee to clean windows and mirrors is also very effective at getting rid
of smudges, marks and build ups.

8. Hand Duster

I have a small confession to make–I don’t polish my furniture or use any type of
cleaning product on them… ever. I’d like to say that it is a frugal and green
cleaning practice, saving money and not using any extra potentially harmful
cleaning products. But in reality, it’s actually more of a laziness thing, or what I

like to call using my time wisely tactic. 

The only thing I use to clean my furniture is a hand-held duster. Occasionally if I

notice water rings or other mysterious marks, then I’ll use a damp cloth to scrub.
I’m sure there is probably a pool of germs and bacteria resting on our end tables but
I like to think that I am building up our immune systems.
9. Vacuum with Tools

Once a week I pull out the vacuum and give the floors a more thorough sweep. Our
vacuum has a bare floor setting that is really great at sucking up all the pieces of
dirt and crumbs. I also use the tools to vacuum under the couches and beds and in
the seat cushions.

As part of my annual cleaning tasks, I vacuum the carpet upstairs and in the
basement since we don’t use those rooms frequently enough to need to vacuum
every week.

Currently, I’m LOVING my cordless vacuum ! It’s awesome. You can read my full

review here .

10. Microfiber Cleaning Cloth

I used to use old rags to do my cleaning until I discovered the cleaning power of
microfiber cloths. They are a workhorse at getting all the grime and scum up off the
solid surfaces. I have since thrown all my rags away and have invested in some
microfiber cloths. I also keep hearing about how great Norwex cloths and it is on
my wish list to get a set in the future.

11. Dish Brush

While I am a huge fan of the dishwasher, I love using a dish brush  (especially one
that has a soap dispenser attached)  to scrub off the cooked on food messes. Dish
brushes are also great at scrubbing your pans that have been soaking for a while to
help remove the food particles. I also use our old  bottle brush  to clean inside our
smaller cups and water bottles too.

12. White Vinegar  
I love that vinegar is a multi-purpose cleaning and household power horse. I use
vinegar in my cooking, cleaning, laundry and beauty routines on a daily basis. Most
of my DIY natural cleaners involve using vinegar. Plus I love how frugal it is too! I
buy a large jug at Costco for a few dollars that lasts  for months.

13. Baking Soda

Baking soda is another staple that I use throughout the home as well. It’s a great
odor neutralizer, scrubber, cleaning tool and baking agent that is multi-tasking and
powerful. Plus it’s also super frugal too. I also buy this in bulk at Costco. A huge
bag of this lasts for years!

14. Castile Soap  
While a little more expensive than vinegar or baking soda, castile soap is the
standard in natural cleaning products. I love using this in my DIY cleaning
solutions, as well as using it as a body wash too.

15. Essential Oils

I’m still a newbie when it comes to learning about and using essential oils, but I’m
quickly learning about just how valuable and useful these are in cleaning and
homeopathic health remedies.

Now a word of caution, not all essential oils are created equal which is why you
need to do your research on the best brands and types of oils. They are also pretty
expensive, but since you only need a few small drops they do last for a very long

I do make most of my own cleaning products for several reasons. The main being
that since I like to use more natural products free from potentially harmful
chemicals, it’s cheaper to make my own. On my  Natural Homemade
Cleaning  Pinterest board, I have links to several different DIY cleaning tutorials
and recipes.

Follow Victoria @ Creative Home Keeper’s board Natural, homemade cleaners and
tips on Pinterest.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE CLEANING TOOLS THAT YOU USE?

Updated from the archives, originally posted 4/19/14