5 Ways to Non-toxic Clean Your Home’s “Dirty Little Secrets” With Black & Decker Smart Select Steam Mop

Read how I received a Black & Decker Smart Select Steam Mop to review and how I used it to non-toxic clean 5 of the dirtiest, hard to clean, places in my home. All opinions expressed are 100% my own

I love having a clean home, and its something that I work hard at. I always find that a clean and organized home helps me and my family feel more at peace and our home more calm. That being said…. I have two very active kids who love to explore, and discover. For me that means a lot of little (or not so little) messes and that some areas of the house don’t always get as much attention as I would like them to, while I am outside giving that time to my little explorers. Honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way! I have a sign in my house that says “please excuse the mess, the children are making memories” which kind of sums it up for me. It’s just about finding that happy balance!

However, I would certainly take a way to clean and sanitize my home quickly and easily that allows me to get the kind of clean I want and be able to enjoy time with my little explores (and not fret about how long it will take to clean their messes).

This is exactly what I found when I tried out the Black & Decker Smart Select Steam Mop. I loved the lightweight design and the fact that it kills 99.9% of germs without the use of any chemicals; just water! I loved it so much I wanted to try it out on some of the dirtiest spots in my house. Before I take take you behind the scenes with some of my house’s dirty little secrets (don’t judge… You know you have those spots too), you can view the mop in action here. Then come see how I was able to get a non-toxic clean using my steam-mop!

1. KITCHEN FLOOR: Our kitchen floor is probably the hardest spot in my home to keep clean. Because my kitchen is the center of our home (in amount of activity and location) the floors get a lot of foot traffic, spills and messes. Add to that the fact that my floors are a very bright white that seems to reflect even the tiniest spot of dirt, and you can get an idea of why I am constantly cleaning this area!
This was the first place I cleaned with the black and decker smart select steam mop and I was pretty impressed. I was able to set the control to the tile setting, using the smart select screen, and the mop automatically adjusted the amount of steam needed for my type of floors. I didn’t find that it saved me much time on mopping (maybe that is just because I mop that floor so much that I have it down to an art form) but I liked that it left my floors feeling clean and sanitised without any residue from household cleaners, making for a very nice shine on my tiles!

2. SHARPIE MARKS: My 21 month old is a bit of a fein when it comes to permanent markers! I don’t even know how she manages to find them, as I always put them out of her reach! As a result we have permanent marker artwork all around our home. One particular masterpiece ended up on the tile around our fireplace and for weeks I have been trying everything to get it off. I decided to use the steam mop
on it, and it was off in seconds! I was stunned at how well it worked! The steam mop has a “lift and release” feature that allows you to remove a smaller portion of the steam mop out of the larger panel, for use in smaller or hard to reach areas. I used this feature to clean my sharpie mess, and like magic, it was clean!

3. AROUND THE TOILET: I’m going to spare you the details on how this area gets messy, but lets just say… It really does! I decided to use the “lift and release” feature again to clean around the sides and back of the toilet. Even though cleaning the steam mop pads is very easily done (just pull off the pad and throw it in the laundry) the thought of using the same pad that I used to clean the toilet, to later clean elsewhere, kind of creeps me out. However, something I love about the steam mop is that 2 of each sized pad are included in the box, so I was able to mark one as a “bathroom only” pad and not be so freaked out. Cleaning around the toilet was super easy, and once again I was really relieved to know that the steam was killing 99.9% of whatever germs back where there…. Moving on!

4. BASEBOARDS: Maybe I’m just weird, but I have a strange obsession with having clean baseboards. I think clean baseboards make an entire room look cleaner! However, it is kind of “high work” but “low priority” to-do item, so they are rarely as clean as I would like. The Black & Decker Steam Mop made cleaning them so easy though, that I may finally have the clean baseboards I have always dreamed of. I adjusted the steam mop to the “wood” setting, and used the small “lift and release” portion and was able to easily give my baseboards a good cleaning.

5. BATHROOM TILE: I have a walk-in shower that is entirely tiled (ceiling to floor) and a sunken tub that is completely surrounded by tile. I really love it, but scrubbing all of that tile is very tedious. I took the steam mop in there to clean some of the tile. A nice feature of the steam mop is that if you set the handle to the upright position, it turns off instantly, so you can rest it on one of the extra pads and work on that area while the steam mop is just waiting for you.

This feature worked great for cleaning the tile as it allowed me to really sanitize an area after I had scrubbed the grime off. I was really happy to be able to reduce the amount of chemicals used for cleaning the bathroom tile. My only wish for the steam mop is that it came with some type of wand/ hose attachment so I could sanitize even more areas. 

The Black & Decker Steam Mop is available through the Black & Decker website, retailing for $80.00.

Leanne Cox is a guest writer for CleverHousewife.com. She is a stay-at-home mom to two kids, and a credentialed preschool teacher. Leanne teaches “mommy-and-me” and “preschool style” music & movement classes through her business Little Stars Music & Movement Classes. She is passionate about encouraging early childhood education through hands on learning and exploration