I am house-sitting for the next month to month and a half, and the woman I’m house-sitting for doesn’t own a mop or even a bucket. The kitchen (linoleum, some of it “peeling”) and the bathroom (tile) desperately need some help, and I don’t think her swiffer is going to do the job.
I do not want to go buy a mop or a bucket to clean these floors, but I’m just not sure how to do it without at least the bucket. In the kitchen, I am considering plugging the sink and washing by hand as if the sink were the bucket (but then where do I rinse the rag or sponge?). However, neither the tub nor the sink in the bathroom have a stopper. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the floors clean?
Finally, any one have any idea how to figure out what bags her vacuum takes? For some reason, the bags are only sold for model numbers, and the vacuum doesn’t have a model number on it, just a name. Googling the name has given me several different possible model numbers.
You can buy a bucket at the dollar store, which seems easier than some half-assed alternative. Get an oversized sponge for another dollar and you’re good to go.
Really, a bucket and mop at the grocery store or Target will cost less than $20. I can’t imagine trying to jerry-rig something rather than buying a set. Then you can leave them for her to have, or donate them to Habitat for Humanity or something.
It turns out she does own a mop, it was just hidden behind some stuff in the front closet. So that’s encouraging. I may still need [del]ice cream[/del] a bucket, though.
I did look at the bag in the vacuum, AuntiePam, but I didn’t see one. I’ll look again, though.
Anyway, other than the floors, the kitchen and bathroom are now clean. Soon I’ll tackle the dining room. Some of this is her mess and some of it is mine. All of it’s a pain.
Take the bag out, tape over the hole so you don’t get dust in your car, and take the whole thing to the store. Spend 10 minutes taking vacuum bags out of their plastic sleeves and find one that matches. Run from the store employee whose eyes are going to roll out of their head when they catch you.
If you happen to have an actual vacuum cleaner store in your neighborhood (there’s still one open in Evanston that I know of), it’s even easier. Wave the taped up bag in the general direction of the 82 year old man behind the counter, and he’ll tell you the make, model and color of the vacuum cleaner at home, inform you that it’s a piece of junk and they used to make *good *vacuum cleaners, dagnabit, and then he’ll sell you replacement bags for it. Then you can get off his lawn.
Some of their vacs take standard Hoover bags and some take unique bags.
Being a Sears product, the vacuum’s model number is probably a long-assed number like 0203592.2000. If you can find a type number on the bag you should be good to go - it’d be something like 5055 or 50558.
A Sears store would be the best place to go, but Kmart should also have them, since Kmart owns Sears.
