My Mom Told Me to Put a Paper Towel on My Kitchen Floor, and It Was Brilliant

When I was a kid, my parents’ house essentially looked like nobody lived there. Sure, we had furniture and decor, but it always looked like it was staged for real estate photos: zero clutter, meticulously clean, and everything in its place. Both of my parents deserve the credit, but it was and has always been my mom who does the bulk of the cleaning — and naturally, she has a solid arsenal of ingenious tricks I’ve stolen.

Given their track record, you can only begin to imagine my confusion when I started to notice that there always seemed to be a single paper towel lying flat on the kitchen floor, near the sink and dishwasher. The first few times I saw it, I picked it up and recycled it, thinking I was helping them out. But the next time I entered the kitchen it was back in the same spot, like it never left.

I asked my mom about it, and that, dear reader, is when she explained the Floor Paper Towel. 

The Floor Paper Towel is exactly what it sounds like — just a paper towel on the floor — but the point of it surprised me. My mom started using it to quickly mop up the few drops of water that get on the floor after you wash your hands or load dishes into the dishwasher. Instead of using a new one every time, she just keeps one there, then uses her foot to mop up the excess water. She doesn’t even need to bend down!

If you’re anything like me, you might be ever-so-slightly rolling your eyes, but hear my mom out: “About 10 years ago when we had the kitchen redone, we had laminate floors put down,” she says. “No one explained to me that they weren’t waterproof, so when I found out that standing water on the floor could cause the boards to swell and buckle, that’s when I began to mop up any drops of water immediately.”

It’s that attention to detail and the way my mom takes care of her things that is precisely why my parents’ house always looks like a museum. Plus, let’s not forget that water on the floor can be dangerous, as it can cause falls and other accidents. Of course, leaving a paper towel on the floor also poses some risk of slipping and falling, so always be careful if you try this hack at home. As a precaution, let everyone in the household know that it’s there, and consider picking it up at night before you go to bed.

My husband and I bought a house that also has a laminate kitchen floor, so I’ve started to do the same thing. Not only does it help protect the floor, but an added benefit is that it also helps keep our cat from walking in water droplets, then using her litter box and subsequently leaving litter paw prints all over the floor. It’s a win-win situation, all thanks to the Floor Paper Towel. Although it may seem silly, your back (and floors) will thank you!

Would you try having a Floor Paper Towel? Let us know in the comments below!

This post originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: My Mom Told Me to Put a Paper Towel on My Kitchen Floor, and It Was Brilliant