If you have many areas in your home with hard floor surfaces, chances are you might also have a handy mopping tool called the Swiffer Wet Jet that helpfully squirts out cleaning solution onto the floor as you mop. I bought a Swiffer Wet Jet Starter Kit several months ago and so far I’m finding this mop very helpful! But it was going against my frugal nature to have to keep purchasing the disposable pads and the refill solution. It was time to see if I could make my own homemade wet jet pads and refills!

Homemade Wet Jet Solution

The tricky part of making a DIY wet jet refill is actually getting the cap off the solution bottle in the first place to refill it. It’s designed to not come off. They want you to spend your money on their store-bought solution!

If you start researching how to get that cap off, you’ll probably find as I did, that the suggested method is to immerse the bottle in boiling hot water to soften the plastic flanges that are holding it on, so that you can then screw it off. Well, that didn’t work for me.

But then Bob came along and saw what I was doing and said, “Well, you need a tool!” and proceeded to come back with his Channellock groove pliers and twisted it right off. Was it because it was already softened from the boiling? Was it because he’s just strong? We’re still figuring this out . . . He did get it off a second time using his pliers without any boiling, so I’m thinking it’s just the strong thing. 🙂 We’re still debating on what other options there might be and I’ll update this post if we come up with a better idea.

So once the cap was off, I made a homemade Swiffer solution without vinegar to refill the bottle. This is a double batch of my homemade no-vinegar floor cleaner. The bottle that came with my wet jet kit holds about 12 ounces so here’s the recipe I used:

Make Your Own Swiffer Wet Jet Solution:
2 cups Distilled Water
1/2 cup Isopropyl Alcohol (Rubbing Alcohol)
Squirt of Dish Soap

OK, now that we’ve got our homemade Swiffer wet jet refill made, let’s figure out how to make reusable Swiffer wet jet pads too!

Homemade Reusable Wet Jet Pads

I’ve been making my homemade Swiffer covers for my dry Swiffer for several years. These won’t work on a Swiffer wet jet though because they cover up the little nozzles that squirt out the cleaning fluid. But with a little bit of sewing, we can still create a reusable wet jet mop pad to use in place of the store bought disposables pads.

You can watch the video below to see how it’s done. The steps are also written out below too, with a few screenshots from the video.

Step 1: Cut a 12″ square from a piece of terry cloth fabric or from an old towel. I use a piece of crafting scrapbook paper as my cutting template as they are perfect 12″ squares!

Step 2: Fold the square in half and sew the open sides, leaving a 4″ opening on the long side.

Step 3: Clip the corners to reduce bulk.

Step 4: Turn the piece right side out, making sure to get the corners turned completely (I carefully poke the end of my scissors in the corners).

Step 5: Fold in the raw edges of the opening. You may also wish to iron the piece at this point to get the raw edges creased and folded in well.

Step 6: Top stitch around the entire piece, 1/4″ from the edges (the width of your presser foot), which will also close the opening as you top stitch across that portion of the fabric.

Step 7: Place two 9″ strips of 3/4″ velcro (the fuzzy side only!) on your piece, placing them 1″ from the side edges, and each strip will be 1″ from the long side of the piece as well.

Step 8: Sew the velcro in place, sewing close to the edges of the velcro.

And now your homemade wet jet mop is complete! Your finished homemade wet jet pad should be about 5.5″ x 11″. The placement of the two strips of the fuzzy sided velcro gives the homemade pad a way to stick to the bumpy bottom edges of the wet jet mop, while still leaving the nozzles uncovered. Stick it on and you’re ready to do some mopping!

Print Pin

DIY Swiffer Wet Jet Pads & Refills

Looking for some reusable options for your Swiffer Wet Jet? You can make your own refill solution, as well as sewing your own reusable terry cloth pads for your mop. The refill solution makes a 12 oz batch. The finished size of the reusable cloth mop is 5.5" x 11"

Yield: 12 oz refill

Author: Beverly

Equipment:

• Pliers for removing refill bottle cap
• Funnel
• Sewing Machine, thread, pins & scissors

Materials:

For Refill Solution:

• 2 cups Distilled Water
• 1/2 cup Rubbing Alcohol (Isopropyl Alcohol)
• Squirt of Dish Soap

For Reusable Pad:

• 12" square of Terry Cloth Fabric
• 2 strips 3/4" wide Velcro – 9" long (Fuzzy Half Only)

Instructions:

To Make the Refill Solution:

• The trickiest part of this is removing the cap from the bottle. Some people have success dunking the top of the bottle into hot boiled water which softens the plastic flanges on the cap so it can be twisted off. We had better luck just using a groove pliers (also called channelock pliers).
• Once the cap has been removed, and using a funnel, pour the distilled water, the rubbing alcohol, and the squirt of dish soap into the bottle.
• Screw the cap back on and insert bottle back into your Wet Jet mop.

To Sew A Reusable Pad:

• Cut a 12" square of terry cloth fabric. I use a piece of 12" scrapbooking paper for a template.
• Fold the square in half. Pin the edges but leave a 4" opening in the middle of the long edge.
• Sew the top and sides, remembering to leave the 4" opening.
• Clip the corners to reduce bulk, and then turn the piece right side out through the opening, and making sure the corners are completely turned too.
• Turn the raw edges of the opening to the inside and press.
• Topstitch around the entire piece using a 1/4" seam and enclosing the raw edges of the opening as you work across that area.
• Place the two fuzzy velcro strips on your pad, placing them 1" from the side edges, and 1" from each long edge, so that the two pieces run vertically down the pad near each long side.
• The fuzzy velcro will stick to the bumpy underside of your wet jet mop and can be taken on and off, and washed again as needed.

Need a few more bright ideas?
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