what should I clean my hardwood floors with?

[cotopaxi]

I used to mainly vacuum, and verrry occasionally mop with a not-so-natural wood floor cleaner. Now that my baby is starting to crawl, I feel the urge to do more - we have dogs, and we often wear our shoes inside the house. But I don't want to use a lot of harsh chemicals either, obviously.

Suggestions??

[Caneel]

I use hot water, a couple gulgs of vinegar and splash of mild dish detergent (a very tiny splash). This weekend I added tangerine EO, what a pleasant smell!

We have cats and also wear shoes in the house. It may have something to do with the fact that I actually get down on my knees but I have yet to encounter any crud that I can't remove with the above mixture. (floors are vaccumed/dust mopped every week and washed once a month)

[cotopaxi]

cool; well that's cheap and easy too!

we don't have a lot of crud to dislodge, it's mostly dog hair and crumbs (which get vacuumed up) and the thought of what germs are on the floor from my shoes and my dogs' paws (and tongues... if I spill anything, they lick the floors) rather than anything visible.

[yukookoo]

we have hardwood floors and DH is convinced that vaccuming the floors will scratch them!!!! Is that true?

Therefor I get on my knees and "mop" the whole house with a towel and cleaner when I can. Only about 1 time a month (maybe) and its such a pain with our 2 chihuahuas and all their dog hair.

DD is not crawling yet though

I use vinegar and water and some eo, I like euculyptus

I have also used Caldrea All Purpose Cleaner but I dilute it A LOT like a bucket of water to a tbs of cleaner. It smells really strong to me and gives me sort of a soar throat even though its non toxic and natural and all that. It leaves the floors very pretty and smells great, just strong if not diluted but I am very sensetive to smell

[Caneel]

I don't think vaccuming will scratch them any more than allowing grit to accumulate on the floors, on the bottom of feet, in the bristles of a broom, etc. The type of vaccum may cause scratches. The beater brush action may be hard on the finish. I use the hard floor cleaner attachment on the wand of my Dyson. Depending on the dirt level, I also use a wool-string dust mop but that can have the affect of dragging dirt across the floor.

[Llyra]

I stick an old rough washcloth on the end of one of those Swiffer contraptions, and use that to mop my hardwood. I mop with a bucket full of warm water and white vinegar; I've never seen the need for anything stronger, and I can then be confident that there's nothing harmful there for either kids or cats.

I don't worry myself about germs on the floor much. If there are germs, they're OUR germs, so we've already been exposed. The kitchen sink is the germiest place in most homes, not the floor.

[cjcolorado]

For some reason, the finish on our floor looks more dull after we use vinegar/water on them, so I've found that water with a little splash of Mrs. Meyer's all-purpose cleaner works pretty well (and smells very nice!). Also, there is a Swedish floor cleaner called Bona that is non-toxic/pet/kid-safe (and has no smell) that leaves them very nice looking. It's just a bit more pricey. I've seen it at Safeway and Home Depot. But, for quick cleans, I use a swiffer-type mop thing with a microfiber rag on the bottom, spray on the Bona or Mrs. Meyer's mix and mop up quickly.

[mirlee]

I use Mrs. Meyers or Method Good for Wood, though I have recently realized that this particular Method cleaner, is made in China. It does work wonderfully on the hardwood though.