I Had No Idea I Lived In Such Filth!

If you ever came to my house, the first thing you would notice is my dogs. Not that they are large or anything, but that I have four of them. Granted, they are small (two Italian Greyhounds and two Doxies), but still, I continually have a total of 16 little paws trampling over my floors... ALL OF THE TIME. And since my dogs won't wear shoes, even the slightest dirt, dust, or mud always seems to find its way into my house and onto my wood laminate and vinyl flooring. I've tried everything under the cleaning sun: vacuuming, a traditional mop, The Swiffer, The Swiffer Wet Jet, and just about every contraption you can buy at a local fair or home show. Nothing seemed to work and I just about surrendered to the fact that I was going to forever be cleaning my floors, only to have the get dirty within a few hours.

You can imagine my intrigue when I stumbled upon the Bissell Steam Mop late one evening when I was contemplating if I should just give up and buy a load of dirt for my floors. Now if you've never heard of using steam to clean, think of it how an iron works: you use steam to, well, clean. By doing so, the dirt, grime, marks, and whatever else is on your floor is literally "cooked" off of your floor. And, with NO added chemicals or cleaners. "Get out!!", I thought, "no way could this work, you HAVE to use some sort of cleanser to get the floors clean!". I knew I just had to at least give this a try, especially after seeing the video on the Home Shopping Network.

With that, the hunt for a Bissell Steam Mop was on. I did find it on hsn.com, but at 89.99 plus shipping and tax, the total came to nearly $115.00, and it would take 10 days to ship. I finally found it at my local Linens And Things for $79.99, minus a 20% off Linens And Things coupon... score!

What you get: The Bissell Steam Mop comes unassembled, but takes just a few minutes and a phillips screwdriver to assemble. Besides the Bissell Steam Mop, you also get two microfiber mop heads and one water filter (note: the Bissell Steam Mop on hsn.com did come as a "deluxe package", and included a total of four pads, a storage hook, and a longer cord).

Usage: It takes just a few minutes to prepare the Bissell Steam Mop for cleaning. Simply fill up the water tank with tap water (to extend filter life, Bissell recommends using purified water, but tap water will work fine), and allow the unit to heat up. A nifty light on the front of the machine indicates when you can "steam away". I should advise that when using the Bissell Steam Mop, you should wear, well, minimal clothing (such as shorts and a t-shirt). Why? Because it creates quite a bit of steam, easily enough that within a few minutes, I could feel my forehead perspiring. And by the time you are done,
it feels like you have gone to a sauna. I also highly recommend that prior to using the Bissell Steam Mop, that you sweep and then vacuum your floors, to get as much dirt and grime up from your floor as possible. Be sure that you test a small area of your floor before you use the Bissell Steam Mop without abandon, as each floor is different.

Okay, does it work? In two words, "heck yeah!!". The Bissell Steam Mop does do a very good job of cleaning without using chemicals, and it was quite amazing to watch stains that I had given up on magically disappear, especially on my ceramic tile entry. I was able to get my entire floor (wood laminate, vinyl, and ceramic tile), cleaner that it had ever been, and it was really quite easy, as the steam head pivots easily around small areas and the unit is not as large as traditional steam vacuums. One complaint: Bissell really should include more microfiber mop pads, two just is not enough, and I found myself having to clean the pads out in the sink midway through cleaning my floors. Additional pads are available from Amazon.com, but you can find them on ebay for $10.00 for a pack of two (forget about finding the pads at a retail store, believe me, I've looked).

Overall, I would highly recommend this unit, as it does get the floor extremely clean, with minimal work. Rather than drag out a stinky mop and bucket, I now just sweep, vacuum (which I would do anyways), and then steam away... all without chemicals. I have also noticed that after just two cleanings, my floors seem to stay cleaner for a longer period of time, which is always a bonus. And my dogs? They are just happy that they can still walk around without me forcing them to wear shoes.