to Swiffer WetJet owners.

Maybe you don’t have a Swiffer WetJet and have no intention of ever getting one.  That’s okay.  Talk amongst yourselves.

Those of us who do have them find them very easy to use and quite convenient for quick clean-up.  They are also inordinately expensive in terms of their renewables—i.e., the stuff you have to keep buying.

The expense is bad enough.  But I also get annoyed by a marketing tactic that creates demand by proprietary “technology” rather than quality of the product. It’s bad enough when software doesn’t work with older operating systems, or your music and video collections stop being playable when you buy a new machine, but when we’re talking about cleaning products, it really annoys me.

So, I am very pleased to bring you this Tuesday Tip on how you can refill your Swiffer bottle yourself.  Just one caveat—in finding this tip, I did read of some people who had trouble with it.  It’s possible that Swiffer has changed the design and newer bottles won’t work this way.  However, you’re not out anything if you give it a try.  Nothing to lose.  Oh—and a safety warning.  You’ll be dealing with boiling water.  Be careful.  Use common sense.  Don’t burn yourself or anyone else.

Here’s what you do.

Once the bottle of cleaning solution is empty, get a small saucepan.

Fill it with a couple of inches of water.  Just enough to cover the white cap of the bottle and a little bit of the blue part—when you hold it upside down.

Get the water boiling.  You can turn the burner off now.

Hold the bottle upside down in the hot water.  (I wasn’t sure if it would melt if it touched the bottom of the pan, so I made sure there was enough water to hold it off the bottom.)

The instructions I read said 10 seconds was long enough.  I found it didn’t work until I’d held the bottle in the water for about 3 minutes.

Using a dish towel or something to protect your hand from the hot water, take the bottle out of the water, and twist off the top.  This will take some force, but if you’ve heated it enough, it will not be too hard.  I’m not that strong, and I managed it.

That’s it.  The top will twist on and off now without heating.  If you want to make it easier, you can use nail clippers or wire cutters to cut off the little white teeth around the inside of the cap.

Now you can fill it with a homemade cleaning solution or any commercial solution of your choice.

If your Swiffer is still under warranty, you may not want to do this.  I suppose it would void the warranty.  Once you’re done with the warranty period, however, save yourself some money.

I hear you can also make your own re-usable cleaning pads.  I’m going to try that next.