Make Your Own Free Swiffer WetJet Refills in Less Time Than It Takes to Find Them at the Grocery Store

The first time I saw a Swiffer, I fell over laughing. Certainly this strange marriage of a broom and a mop wouldn’t catch on, right? Brooms and mops are inexpensive and reusable; for a Swiffer, you’re stuck having to buy refills for the rest of the tool’s life.

Clearly, I’m not a natural-born product developer.

I’ve since come to accept that Swiffers have their advantages; it’s nice not to have to lug out a bucket of water every time you want to clean the floor. But I still don’t like the disposability issue, and how dependent users become on proprietary refills.

So when a neighbor discarded her old Swiffer, I figured out a cheapskate, eco-friendly way to use it.

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Take your Swiffer WetJet. (Mine’s a little crooked because I found it in the trash.)
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Drill a hole in the bottom of the liquid cleanser bottle. Then fill the bottle with water or a 50/50 mix of water and vinegar.

You’re not done yet. You need to close the hole, because the spray mechanism in the WetJet doesn’t work properly if you leave it open. Guess it needs a little bit of a vacuum to work.

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Cut a plug for the hole out of an old flipflop (that’s what the greent thing in the picture is), a piece of styrofoam or cork, or similar item you’ve got lying around the house. Alternately, you can try taping over the hole.
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Plug the hole and put the container back in the WetJet.

If you’re out of cleaning pads, grab a big mateless sock from your rag pile.

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Fuzzy microfiber slipper socks are awesome choice.
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Pull the sock over the head of the Swiffer. You might need to cut a slit on one side to get it all the way around the handle. Or you can use too socks, pulling one over each end and having them overlap in the center.

After cleaning, toss the sock in the wash and it’s ready for the next time you need to Swiffer.

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