What is a Cuban Mop?
You don’t really see many Cuban Mops in the UK but they are widely used in Cuba, South America and the Caribbean. The design of the Cuban Mop is incredibly simple, it’s basically two pieces of wood fixed into a T shape. To use it you can either drape a cloth over the end or fold it over. The cloth can be used damp to clean or dry to dust.
The simple design makes it perfect for anyone who’s looking to reduce their waste as you don’t need to go out and buy special mop heads as you can use any piece of cloth about the size of a small hand towel. Old towels, tea towels or muslins are perfect for using with it. And, you can make up your own natural floor cleaning solution to use with it.
I couldn’t actually find one to buy anywhere in the UK so I bought a wooden broom handle and a piece of wood dowling (35cm diameter) and Mr J made me one in about 10 minutes 🙂 If you can’t find a Cuban Mop or don’t want to make one a simple alternative is to use a long handled broom.
How to use your cuban mop
To use your Cuban Mop for cleaning the floor make up a your natural floor cleaning solution (see recipe below) and soak your cloth in the solution and then wring it out, it just needs to be damp not soaking wet. You can then either just drape the cloth over the end of the stick or fold it around the end. I prefer to use the folding method so I’ll show you how to do that.
How to fold the cloth
- Lay the damp cloth on the floor and place the mop onto it
2. Fold the back corners over from back to front
3. Then fold the front corners from front to back
4. Slightly lift the mop and tuck the loose back corners under the mop, You’re now ready to go.
5. Whilst mopping the floor don’t lift the mop up, if the cloth gets really dirty you can turn the mop over and use the other side of the cloth.
6. When you’ve finished mopping the floor rinse the cloth out and wash with your other cleaning cloths.
What to use on your cloth for cleaning your floors
You can use a pre-made natural floor cleaning solution such as the mix general cleaning solution or you can make up your own natural cleaning solution to use with your Cuban Mop.
DIY Natural Floor Cleaning Recipe to use with your Cuban Mop
YOU’LL NEED:
- 2 cups warm water
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol (surgical spirits in the UK)
- 3 drops liquid dish soap
- 5-10 drops essential oils (optional)
This recipe contains vinegar so isn’t suitable for stone floors, however you can leave the vinegar out if you have stone floors.
I hope you found this useful and if you’re looking for more natural cleaning tips and recipes check out my Home Cleaning & Organising section.
