Norwex Mop System vs. Swiffer Dry Mop and Traditional Mopping - Savings Showdown

January 24, 2009

In this blog post, I am comparing the cost of a Norwex Mop System (Wet and Dry) versus using a Swiffer Dry Mop and traditional mopping.

In a previous post, I made the following estimates as to my best guess as the cost to use the Swiffer Dry Mop for a year:

I priced these items at Walmart and for the the Sweeper and 2 dry refills, it was $11.37.

32 dry refills are $9.47 or about .30 cents each. Not quite as expensive as the Swiffer disposable dusters. If I assume most households use 3 of these a week, that would mean 156 dry refills in a year. The initial Sweeper comes with two refills, which means one would need 154 more refills. Total cost would be $57.57 for the year. Or $104.37 over two years.

Here is what I estimated the cost of traditional mopping would be:

A bucket: $5.28

Clorox Ringer Mop: $7.97 x 2 = $15.94 (As I’m pretty sure this would need replacing after one year)

Multi-Purpose Mr. Clean: Here’s where the numbers really get rough. I would guess you would go through a bottle of Mr. Clean every two months were you simply to use it for cleaning your floors. I’m sure some people would use more than others. Prior to switching to microfiber cleaning, I could go through a bottle of Mr. Clean in one day if I was really on a cleaning spree. So, at $3.76 a bottle, that would be 12 bottles over a 2-year period or a total cost of $47.64.

Total cost of traditional mopping over 2 years: $68.86.  The combined total for the Swiffer Dry Mop and traditional mopping over a two-year period would be $173.23.  You can purchase a Norwex Mop Starter Package for $99.99 or a Norwex Mini Mop Package for $86.99.

Based on my rough estimates a Norwex Mop System would save you between $73.24 and $86.24 over a two-year period.  I am also quite confident the mop would last longer thn two years and over a period of time, these savings would grow.

Norwex Dry Mop vs. Swiffer Sweeper (Dry) - Savings Showdown

December 13, 2008

In this post, I intend to continue with my savings series and my question as to whether using Norwex products and reducing the numbers of chemicals in my home was costing me more money. In this post, I will look at the Norwex Dry Mop versus the Swiffer Sweeper.

Prior to discovering the Norwex Dry Mop, I went through the dry refills for the Swiffer Sweeper like candy. There was days I considered taping them to my two-year old’s feet. I’ll try to make an educated guess as to the number of dry refills one would go through in a given week with the Swiffer Sweeper. There are the individuals such as myself, who are probably lucky to give their house a really good going over with it once a week. And then there are the “my Mother’s” of the world who could probably use two on a good day. I’ll err on the conservative side and estimate that most households would use about 3 a week.

Here’s what I would guess it would cost you to use the Swiffer Dry Mop for a year:

I priced these items at Walmart and for the the Sweeper and 2 dry refills, it was $11.37.

32 dry refills are $9.47 or about .30 cents each. Not quite as expensive as the Swiffer disposable dusters. If I assume most households use 3 of these a week, that would mean 156 dry refills in a year. The initial Sweeper comes with two refills, which means one would need 154 more refills. Total cost would be $57.57 for the year. Or $104.37 over two years.

Now to look at the Norwex Dry Mop. If buying the components separately, you would need the Norwex dry mop (large - $24.00), a mop base (large - $33.00) and a telescopic handle ($31.00) . All the components together would run you $88.00.  For the same Mop, but with a small base and dry mop, the cost would be $73.  I should point out here that the Norwex Starter Mop Package which includes the Antibac Wet Mop, is only an additional $11.00 (large) or $13.99 (small) so would be a much better value than just the Dry Mop.

The beauty of the Norwex Dry Mop is that once you have the Dry Mop, you do not need to buy replacement pads. I am not sure exactly how long the Mop would last, but it is warrantied by Norwex for two years. Thus, I used two years as a comparison. However, I am sure the Norwex Dry Mop would last much longer.

Again, the Norwex products do save you some money over the two-year period. Based on my estimates, the large Norwex Dry Mop would save about $16.37 over a two year period and the small Norwex Dry Mop would save $31.37. However, the thing I love about the Norwex Dry Mop is that I am not throwing refills in the garbage and I can use the mop as often as I like, without feeling like I am throwing my money in the garbage. As I must admit, when I used the Swiffer Sweeper, I would hate to replace the duster.

The Norwex Dry Mop definitely pays for itself and I think would result in more significant savings over a period of years.

For more information, the full selection of microfiber mops can be found here.

Microfiber Dusting Mitt vs. Swiffer Duster - Savings Showdown

December 12, 2008

There was a time not so long ago, that it seemed every time I turned around I was headed to Walmart and couldn’t make it out of the store without $200 worth of items.

While many of these items were baby or personal care products, quite a few were for cleaning my home: Swiffer duster refills, Mr. Clean, Vim, Toilet Bowl Cleaner, spray for my shower, and so on. Recently, I’ve noticed that since I have started using Norwex products in my household cleaning that I rarely go to Walmart anymore. This got me wondering whether I am actually saving money using the Norwex products or if I am just spending more upfront.

I must admit, initially I started buying the Norwex products based entirely on seeing their performance and thinking they would save me time. Then, I kinda got hooked on the fact that I was no longer bringing chemicals into my home. Only recently have I begun to wonder whether the Norwex products were costing me more. This triggered an idea for my blog on comparing the costs of the traditional cleaning products I have used in the past versus the Norwex alternative.

The first product I thought I would look at is the Antibac Dusting Mitt versus the Swiffer Duster. Admittedly, a former Swiffer Duster Junkie, I’ve always felt the refills were ridiculously priced. For this totally unscientific study, I have made my own assumptions and asked my friends and family about their dusting habits. I guesstimate that the average person uses about two Swiffer Duster refills a week (dusting once a week and using two dusters). This means 8 refills a month or 96 duster refills for the year.

I priced these items at Walmart and here’s what I found:

Cost of using Swiffer Duster for one year:

1 handle + 5 refills = $4.67

10 refills = $8.77

Which means after you buy the starter kit, these refills will cost you .88 cents a pop. For an additional 91 refills this comes to $80.08. Add this to the initial $4.67, and the average total cost for using the Swiffer Duster for one year is $84.75 or a little over $7.00 a month.

Wow - dusting math is complicated. When you look at it like this, that’s a crazy amount of money to spend on dry dusting.

Compare this to the Norwex Antibac Dusting Mitt, which costs $14.25 and it reusable for many years. I’m not sure exactly how long, but I have heard of Norwex’s microfiber still going strong after 7 years. The mitt is warrantied for 2 years.

Here’s a two-year summary of how much you can save over a two-year period using Norwex’s Antibac Mitt:

Swiffer Duster - Assuming you manage to keep your handle for two years, it’ll cost you a total of $164.56. (Initial kit of $4.67, including 5 refills and 91 refills for year 1 and 96 refills for year 2)

Norwex Antibac Mitt - $14.25

This is a savings of $150.31 over a two year period alone, and I am confident Norwex’s Antibac Mitt will last much longer. Not to mention the fact that I feel good not to throw the disposable refills in the garage and eventually a landfill.

I had no idea dusting could be so costly

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