GuateMop

The Wife made an interesting observation the other day; how the Maids’ mop is actually equally efficient and yet far more sanitary than the standard US style mop.  Now this is not the type of thing I would normally be interested in (housework being womens’ work and all), but I thought some of you noble savage types would appreciate this.

When we first moved here we were shocked and perplexed by the behavior of the maids when preparing to mop; they would stand over the pilar with our sharpest knife from the kitchen, jabbing it wildly into one of our best kitchen towels.  Then they would slip the handle of the broom through the towel and wrap the towel around the business end of the broom to create a mop.

At the time I rolled my eyes and thought of it as a crude and wasteful use of two otherwise functioning resources.  For one thing, we never seem to have enough towels (at least when I’m on kitchen duty), and the children observe that the broom ends up wet for the day, reducing its efficacy.

However, the Wife has noted that the Maids are able to remove that permanently altered towel and give it a thorough washing in the pilar every day.  This would never happen with a normal mop, whether the medusa style or the sponge style.  Instead those mops tend to collect nastiness until you throw them away.  In addition to losing their effectiveness they almost certainly represent a health hazard.

So, score one for the Maids (and add a line item in your budget for towels, because between the daily mopping and the pilar, they’re not going to last long).  Now if I can just get the Maids to work in an organized, pattern around the room they would not leave so many large spots untouched which are visible to anyone who stands back and looks.