Inflation Busting #8 – House Cleaning Products & Paper Towels

Inflation Buster #8: DIY Floor Cleaners & Reusable Paper Towels

Welcome back to our Inflation Buster series! Today, we are targeting another major area where sneaky "Cash Eaters" live in your budget: house cleaning products and single-use paper towels.

Between disposable mop pads, specialized tile and hardwood sprays, duster refills, and constant rolls of paper towels, keeping a house clean can feel like feeding an insatiable money pit—not to mention the synthetic chemicals brought into your home.

The good news? You can ditch the chemical cleaners and disposable tools for simple, budget-friendly DIY alternatives that cost mere pennies to make and work just as well (if not better!).

The Ultimate Low-Cost Cleaning Tool: The Cuban Mop

Instead of buying pricey commercial mop systems with disposable pads and expensive refill bottles, consider a Cuban mop. It’s a simple T-shaped wooden stick that uses standard cloth rags folded around the head—no plastic clips, no single-use pads, and no unnecessary gadgetry.

DIY Your Own Mop for Under $5!

 

You don't even need to buy a store-made Cuban mop. You can easily build your own custom version using:

• ½-inch PVC pipe

• A PVC T-connector

DIY Tip: Make the base piece slightly smaller than standard Cuban mop models. This makes the mop lighter and allows you to reach into tight corners and smaller spaces that standard mops can't hit!

Pair your mop with a few inexpensive shop towels or car-washing microfiber cloths. Be sure to look in the car section or tools/hardware sections in the big box stores because kitchen towels cost about quadruple the amount of car washing towels and shop towels.

For the PVC/Cuban mop method, you can cut a small hole or slit in the center of the towel to slip it right over the handle before wrapping it around the head.  This is the way I do it.  However, some women wrap a towel around the mop as shown in the diagram.

Stop Burning Money on Paper Towels

Is there a bigger waste of household money than paper towels?  Tossing out 30 to 40 sheets a day is essentially throwing dollar bills straight into the trash can.  Paper towels are costly with one or two people, but in a family, it can create its own financial problem.

Even keeping small kitchen paper napkins for single-wipes can be a savings, but buying any kind of paper products (except toilet paper, of course) is a complete waste of money!

The Fix: Use those same shop rags or microfiber towels as reusable paper towels.  It only takes a few days to retrain yourself and family members to use the clean rags instead of reaching for another paper towel.  Shop rags are 100 times more absorbent than even Bounty!

They even sell re-useable paper towels and re-useable cleaning rags, so a one-time purchase of these can set you up to save big as the weeks go by without any paper towel purchases.  I still keep paper towels to clean tops of jars, etc., but one roll lasts me over a month -- sometimes up to 3 months!

• DIY Sewing Idea: If you want something prettier for your kitchen, invest in commercial reuseable paper towels as shown here, or if you like to sew, stitch a pretty patterned fabric onto one side of a shop rag or inexpensive face cloth. Stack them in a basket on your counter, use them for daily spills, and throw them straight into the laundry!

3 Simple, Eco-Friendly DIY Cleaner Recipes

Ditch the toxic store-bought sprays and whip up these effective, natural recipes using everyday ingredients.

1. Hardwood & Tile Floor Cleaner

• 3 cups Water

• ¼ to ⅓ cup Vinegar

• ½ tbsp Dr. Bronner’s Biodegradable Sal Suds (for extra cleaning power)

• 5–10 drops Essential oils (optional, for scent)

2. Specialized Wood Flooring Cleaner

(Always test on a small hidden spot first)

• 3 cups Water

• ½ cup Vinegar

• 1 tbsp Castile soap

• 15–20 drops Lemon essential oil

• 5 drops Tea Tree essential oil

3. Daily Shower Spray

Keep soap scum at bay without harsh fumes.

• 3 cups Water

• ½ cup Hydrogen peroxide

• ½ cup Rubbing alcohol

• 1 tbsp Dishwashing liquid (or Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds)

• 1 tbsp Dishwasher rinse aid (optional)

• Combine all ingredients in a standard spray bottle.

How to Clean Tile & Hardwood Floors in Minutes

Here is the quickest, easiest routine for sparkling floors using your DIY setup:

1. Prep: Vacuum or sweep all loose dust and dirt off the floors.

2. Dampen the Cloth: Spray a shop rag or car-washing microfiber towel generously with your DIY Floor Cleaner. (For hardwood, keep the cloth damp rather than soaking wet).

3. Mop: Slip the towel over your Cuban mop and wipe down the floors. No rinsing required!

4. Spot Clean: For stubborn spots, spray the solution directly onto the floor and scrub with the mop.

5. Switch as You Go: For larger homes, flip the shop rag over to the clean side or toss it in the laundry hamper and grab a fresh one.

Bonus Polish for Hardwood: Once your hardwood floors are clean and dry, spray a fresh shop rag with a little Murphy’s Oil Soap or Pledge and run it over the floor. In just minutes, you’ll leave behind a rich, subtle shine!

Summary Checklist to Save This Week:

• Build or buy a simple Cuban mop.

• Swap paper towels for shop rags / cloth towels.

• Mix up a bottle of DIY Floor Cleaner with Sal Suds or Castile soap.