Let me tell you about the mop I almost threw away.
I had this old string mop—you know the kind. It had seen better days. Way better days. The strings were gray instead of white. It smelled faintly like… well, like dirty water that had been sitting too long. Every time I used it, I felt like I was spreading old dirt around instead of actually cleaning.
I stood there in the cleaning aisle of the grocery store, staring at the price of a new mop. Twenty dollars. Not a fortune, but not nothing either. I almost bought it. Then I remembered something my grandmother used to say: “You don’t need a new mop. You need to clean the one you have.”
I called her. She laughed. “Baking soda,” she said. “Just baking soda and hot water. Soak it overnight. You’ll be amazed.”
I was skeptical. Baking soda? That’s for refrigerators and toothpaste. But I tried it. I filled a bucket with hot water, dumped in a cup of baking soda, and submerged my sad, gray mop.