Mopping up life's little issues

In this day and age when there is war and widespread famine, when slavery still exists, there seems to be enough truly important issues that we shouldn't sweat the small stuff. That I have any personal issues seems shallow, meaningless, selfish...and yet, here I am with a peculiar problem.

I can't find a decent floor mop and I have about 800 square feet of vinyl flooring in my home.

I have a white kitchen floor and here is where it started. There is a large expanse of white flooring in the diningroom. I mopped this last week and when it dried, the entire surface was coated with dried brown water marks. I would have gotten a new mop head, but they are $10 and require a special trip to a special store. They last for two moppings and they are dead, one of many reasons I don't do my floors regularly (and the main reason is sheer laziness).

I decided to go mop hunting. Those nifty Swiffer things? At $2 a mop head, just how many will it take to do 800 square feet? Can I afford it? Seems cheaper to get another mop head for $10, considering and I can see the brown rivers it would leave.

How about a felty strip mop? A string mop? A self-wringer? A small one or a really big one? Does Wally's usually carry replacement heads? Do I buy them now, when I am not so sure I like the mop or later when they are out of the mops and the extra heads? I meet some really anal woman who tells me she uses and tosses a new mop head every week because, well, she has two little kids and her wood floors MUST be mopped everyday (you wanna make a bet? Your DH can do them sometimes, but she goes on to tell me he insists she keep the house spotless). I can't believe there is still a woman alive who will still cater to a man. Where is her head? On the end of a mop handle being pushed around by someone who can't aim, hence the need to keep the bathrooms spotless.

I end up at Big Lots. I find the ONLY Rubbermaid mop of its kind left in the store and about 40 replacement pads for it. I buy three extras because they are machine washable, have a microfiber surface and they velcro onto the mop handle. They also don't leave a trail of dirty water and the silly thing is a self-wringer. I am out $11 for this set up.

If only all of life's issues, great and small, could be effectively mopped up for $11.