Best Cleaning Tools to Sweep the Floor

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Do you hate to sweep the floor when you have kids to clean up after? I tested 4 sweepers under my kitchen table. Here’s what I found out. With 7 kids here every day, there is a lot of cleaning. Cleaning is a big part of running a home daycare.

The 4 sweepers I tested for sweeping your floor were my regular O’Cedar Fast N Easy Angle broom, an old Shark Rechargeable Floor and Carpet Sweeper Cleaner I’ve had for years, the Hurricane spin broom, and the Shark Navigator Freestyle Cordless Stick Vacuum (SV1106).

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Sweeping tools

My kids make a big, big mess every day. There is at least a half a pound of dirt on my floors every evening. I wanted to find tools to sweep the floor that would make this job a lot easier for me so I could share it with you. They all have pros and cons. I love several of them, but I didn’t find one I thought was the ultimate yet, so I will keep looking. You may love one of these for sweeping your floor. Tell me what you think.

Sweeping with a regular broom

My trusty angle broom has always been my old standby to sweep the floor. It gets into corners well, cleans fairly consistently, but it definitely takes the most elbow grease to use. I also hate using the dustpan. The other options eliminate the need for that.

In the following photo, I took one swipe with each tool and you can see the broom left the most debris. It’s really hard to get moist items such as apple slices with the broom so it requires even more manual labor to get all the big pieces up before you sweep by hand.

The broom is the best at getting in the small spaces and doing the edges. It also gets into corners the best. It’s easy to control and very lightweight. It also doesn’t require electricity which is nice. It’s definitely the quietest. It doesn’t do much for carpet at all.

Sweep floor cleaner spin broom

Let’s talk about the second quietest option that also requires no electricity, the Hurricane Spin Broom. I saw this on tv and when I saw it suck up an entire piece of bread, I knew this was for me! The broom is powered by your own muscle power, so don’t think it’s rechargeable or has batteries or anything like that.

It is very lightweight and easy to control, but it only cleans going forward. When you back up, the broom doesn’t spin and you clean nothing. You also can’t angle to the sides with it, only straightforward. The spin broom does well along the edges of the wall and furniture but it does not get into tight spaces. It takes twice as much work to sweep as it appears on the commercial.

On the pro side of the spin broom, it definitely sweeps up the biggest chunks and it doesn’t mind if they are moist like carrot sticks. I love that. When sweeping under my table, it’s a bit too cumbersome because of all the angles of the wall and furniture. It wasn’t my favorite pick. I would like it if I used the broom also, which kind of defeats the purpose.

Another thing I liked about it though, was no dustpan was needed and when you finish sweeping your floors, you just push a button and all the dirt falls into the trash. That compartment is washable as are all the bristles. Since there’s no electricity or battery power, I would assume you could run it through your dishwasher or submerge it in the sink as well. That’s a nice feature. It does NOT work on carpet at all, it’s just for hard flooring.

How to sweet the floor with the Floor and Carpet Cleaner

I will give my sweeper this, it’s very old and it’s cleaned well for a long long time. It doesn’t have a lot of power. It doesn’t hold the charge for long. I can vacuum my dining and living room at least 4 times before I need to charge it if I’m just running over them.

It does not get into corners or tight spaces and it’s terrible for edges. I think it might be the best option besides the broom, but you’d definitely have to use the broom for the edges and nooks and crannies too.

I love that you don’t need the dustpan. I also love that you can go straight from flooring to carpet and you don’t have to do anything. The cleaner doesn’t get very large chunks of food, it’s just not a power machine. We have pea gravel on our playground and I love how well it sucks that up from the carpet. The cleaner makes noise, but it’s very quiet. It’s also very lightweight.

Floor sweeping machine-stick vacuum

Sweeping your floor with the stick vacuum is definitely the loudest option. It’s almost as loud as a normal-sized vacuum. That can be an issue if you have kids that are scared of the vacuum. It has two settings, one for flooring and one for carpet, that’s a nice feature. The stick vacuum is pretty lightweight, but not as much as the others.

The vacuum head is very stiff and cumbersome. It gets pretty close to the edges but is terrible in corners and in tight spaces. It would be great if it had a smaller head. Overall, I like using it more than any of the other options. It definitely makes cleaning easier.

It holds a charge for a really long time compared to the other chargeable sweeper. The charging dock has a bright flashing light which I find annoying. It makes me feel like I’m wasting a lot of electricity when I charge. The stick vacuum does not do well on the larger items, it leaves most of them, so you’d have to pick them all up before sweeping your floor. Again, not making your job as simple as you’d like, but much better than sweeping by hand.

The stick vacuum’s canister was super easy to empty. I love that it has power, but no cord. That is super convenient for me. The charging dock is pretty large and so is the vacuum base, so it doesn’t fit in my laundry room as all the other devices do. I have to store it at the opposite end of the house from the kitchen/dining area where I need it daily.

How to sweep the floor fast

I didn’t find a perfect solution to sweep the floor from these options. They all have great qualities that I like, but none are perfect for me. I did like the Shark stick vacuum the best overall though. Hopefully, this list will help you narrow down the possibilities according to what your needs are for sweeping your floor.

If you want more info on sweeping, check out what Martha Stewart has to say here or the scientific best way to sweep here.

Check out what home daycare essentials you really need here.

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