"Enjoy Mop Walking!"

I have a love/hate relationship with the flooring in my Japanese apartment. Its wood (laminate) flooring has to be vacuumed and mopped- always.  Toss in a very messy three and a half year old kid, and my floor is a never-ending time suck.  Vacuum, mop, vacuum, mop, rinse, repeat. 

My floor is tied with my sink full of dishes- that need to be hand-washed- for my most hated household chore (Japan, get with the program.  By 2013, you should be past mere dishwashers and on to personal dishwashing robots).  Having spent my childhood and early adult life in entirely carpeted homes, at first I really really hated the constant attention my smooth floor demanded of me.  Dust balls pile up, crumbs scatter, and, with two long-haired women in the place (Little TF and me), there's a lot of hair for the vacuum to deal with.  I just didn't remember my mom's wall to wall carpet getting dirty so quickly! Until I realized that....carpeted houses aren't somehow magically free of dust, crumbs, and hair.  Carpet just hides all that nasty stuff more effectively.  GROSS.  

So, onto the "love" part of my smooth flooring. Once I realized that easily spotted dirt means a more effective floor cleaning, hard wood floors (can I graduate from the laminate, someday?) became my number one requirement for any future houses.  I may have to constantly clean my floors, but at least I know they are clean!

Let's be real, though.  Mopping the floors every other day is not my idea of a good time.  And different areas of flooring are not created equal. The dining area and hallways may still be pretty good, but my kitchen floor has gotten nasty.  Break out the mop, and I might as well clean every thing.  Which I'd rather not do.  So....I might skip the mop altogether.  I'm a bad housewife, what can I say?

But if I had these fabulous, Japanese cleaning slippers?  I could mop the kitchen floor while cooking!  I could mop the floor behind the vacuum! Little TF would freak out and demand her own, ridiculously cute pair!  Maybe I could miraculously find a set big enough to fit Mr. TF's enormous man feet!  My apartment could be mopped into spotlessness at all times.  MUST. BUY. THREE. PAIRS.


I've seen cleaning slippers sold at 100 yen stores.  These particular animal slipper friends were spotted at Tokyu Hands, Machida.  They have just topped my list of what needs to come back with me to the States!


Disclaimer:  I do my best to make sure all my information is accurate.  However, details may change or I may just be flat-out wrong.  Please let me know if something needs a correction.  Thank-you!