The Shark Steam Mop saved my floor and is now 20% off

As someone who can’t function in chaos, speed cleaning is my specialty. I haul away dirty dishes before they ever hit the bottom of the sink, collect my kids’ Magnatiles, vacuum Legos by hand, shoot basketball-soaked socks into the laundry basket, and hyper vacuum crumbs… a million times a day. (And that’s not counting the billions of times I wipe down the countertops.) But the one thing I never, ever To do? Mopping.

I realize this is unwise, and that doesn’t mean I’m against a thorough cleaning (the bathrooms do get scrubbed once a week). But all the drama of mopping—the bucket of water, the chemical smell that hits your face, the feet-skating-on-towels-to-wipe—just goes way beyond the time limit I’m willing to dedicate to home maintenance. Until I discovered the Shark steam cleaner.

“Steam cleaning isn’t just a new fad. Steam is the only natural way to clean and can kill up to 99.9 percent of bacteria without the use of chemicals,” says Jacqui Knapp, CEO of Knapp House and an expert in professional organizing. Here’s the gist: Steam cleaning works by using heat and moisture to sanitize and deodorize without the use of strong, scented cleaning agents. With steam mopping, the steam itself helps the mop glide, while pads on the bottom help trap dirt.

Shark Steam & Scrub Steam Cleaner — $130.00

• Cleans and removes unpleasant odors without using detergents and harsh chemicals
• Comes with 6 scouring pads, each of which is machine washable
• Fast acting (steam activates within 20 seconds) and quick drying
• Can be used on all sealed hard floors
• More environmentally friendly due to less water use than traditional mopping

• Needs to be plugged in (although the cord is long)

“Shark products have been leaders in the cleaning industry for decades, and the Shark Steam & Scrub Mop is no exception,” Knapp says of the Shark steam mop, which is now more than 20 percent off through Sept. 26. “It does the work of three products for the price of one, is easy to use and covers a variety of surfaces. Its Steam Blaster technology gently scrubs, mops and sanitizes without the use of harsh chemicals.”

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The “no harsh chemicals” part is especially helpful for me, since I have a 3- and 4-year-old at home who spend a lot of time on the floor building pillow forts. They also happen to be germ magnets, bringing home a new virus from school, oh, every two weeks. “It’s a surefire way to protect toddlers and pets from germs and viruses,” Knapp adds. Score.

The Shark steam cleaner comes with six pads, which clip onto the base of the cleaner. You fill the tank with water, plug it in, wait about 20 seconds, and you’re good to go. Pressing the steam button releases a stream of steam as you glide across the floor, partly carried by the steam blast and partly by the cleaner’s own rotating scrubbing action. It’s about the same size and weight as my beloved Dyson stick vacuum, and takes about the same amount of effort. In other words, steam Mopping is as easy as vacuuming up crumbsTo me this is revolutionary.

If you need further selling: “Traditional mopping is ineffective due to the lack of hot water and the need to use harsh chemicals to sanitize. Mops can develop mold that spreads easily and is not visible to the naked eye,” Knapp says of old-school mopping methods. “Replacing a traditional mop with steam is a total upgrade with less water and zero waste.” With the Shark steam mop, there’s no lugging around buckets or aggressive drying required: the steam simply gently dries your shiny floor in seconds.

After my first use, I threw the scouring pads in the wash. Despite my initial skepticism, they came out clean, intact, and ready to use. My three-year-old, who is my child’s most interested in cleaning, happily toddled along behind me with his own toy mop during my second scrubbing session, which sanitized every room in my house, removing stubborn dirt, caked-on food, and even paint chips from the floor.

From a safety standpoint, just make sure to keep kids a safe distance from the steaming action, and use distilled water in your tank to make your mop last longer. The Shark steam mop can be used on all sealed hard floors, but avoid anything heavily waxed as the steam can remove the finish.

“Using a steam cleaner is basically a one-stop shop,” says Knapp. I agree, and I’m adding it to my rotation for quick cleaning right now.