The house I grew up in was spotless. The accumulation of dust was for me a theoretical phenomenon until I moved away from home and realized the extent of my domestic incompetence. Like many people, I find cleaning, especially mopping, so loathsome that I put it off for ages, even if it means I can no longer receive guests.

But enough! I want to live differently. I recently searched the marketplace for gadgetry that would be an improvement over my off-brand sponge mop, and maybe even make the chore more palatable.

And so I tested seven mops in my apartment, which has three different kinds of flooring, each more difficult to clean than the next. The kitchen is done in large, smooth, square tiles – the kind in public elementary schools. Another room has vinyl flooring with a textured, slightly dimpled surface. And the bathroom floor is the lowest level of housekeeping hell: tiny beige tiles surrounded by light-colored grout.

On each of these surfaces I subjected the cleaning implements to two tests. One was the orange juice test, in which I poured juice on the floor and let most of it become dry and sticky. Because of my warped, undulating kitchen floor, some of the juice pooled usefully into little puddles, allowing me to also test the absorption capacity of the mops. The second test was the kitty litter test, in which I poured clay kitty litter on the floors and sprinkled water onto it so that it melted and rehardened into an obdurate mess.

As I tested a given mop, I considered its absorption capacity (can it clean up serious spills?), convenience (how far do you have to bend and how hard to you have to press to wring it out? In the case of the bucketless mops, is it easy to apply cleaning fluid and change the cloths?), the effectiveness of the mop’s cleaning surface (is it abrasive enough to scrub off stubborn, gooey material and pliant enough to get into the cracks between tiles?), its ability to reach corners and crevices, and its heft. I rated the mops on a scale of 1 to 6 in each of these categories.

I am sorry to report that I did not find the ideal mop. Depending on your lifestyle, your physical stamina, and the degree of filth in your apartment, you may actually prefer the first runner-up, the Swiffer WetJet to the mop that came out on top, the Wonder Mop. Me? I will use the Wonder Mop several times a year for comprehensive cleanings, and for cases of particularly stubborn dirt. But to be perfectly honest, for the light maintenance that I hereby vow to do every week, I’ll be using the Swiffer WetJet.

LIBMAN WONDER MOP PLUS

Price $8.99
Replacement head $5.99
Absorption capacity 6
Ease of use 1
Effectiveness of cleaning surface 6
Ability to reach corners 6
Heft 6
TOTAL SCORE 25

I never thought the tiara would go to an old-school string mop, but it was by far the best all-around performer. The Wonder Mop’s “strings” are actually strips of absorbent, spongy material. It has a sturdy feel and you can bear down on it for efficient scrubbing (kitty litter: no problem). The tentacles have excellent absorption capacity (the orange juice simply disappeared into the mop – it was the only device that didn’t spread the juice around even for a few seconds before sucking it up). The strings are also thin, flexible, and pliant enough to dig into corners, under the edges of appliances and, best of all, down into the cracks and chips left by broken kitchen floor tiles. I was able to reach surfaces that hadn’t felt the tickle of a cleaning implement in years. The mop head is even machine washable, creating less waste and making the Wonder Mop the best value among those I tested.

Alas, even the Wonder Mop is not without drawbacks. It was the hardest of all the mops to wring out (hence its low Convenience score). You have to reach all the way down near the end of the mop, push a sleeve over the mop head, and twist the sleeve with all your might.

SCOTCH – BRITE BUTTERFLY MOP

Price $12.99
Replacement sponge $5.99
Absorption capacity 6
Ease of use 2
Effectiveness of cleaning surface 3
Ability to reach corners 2
Heft 5
TOTAL SCORE 18

This is a basic sponge mop with a built-in wringer that you use by pushing a cylinder halfway down the length of the mop’s shaft. The wringer is made of lightweight plastic and feels a little flimsy. In fact, the very first time I tried to wring out the mop, the sponge came detached from the handle. Nothing was broken and I was able to snap it back in place, but it made me wonder about the mop’s stamina.

SWIFFER WET

Price $9.99 (kit includes two wet cloths for mopping and two dry cloths for dusting)
Wet cloth refills $4.99 (12 count)
Absorption capacity 1 (out of 6)
Convenience 5
Effectiveness of cleaning surface 1
Ability to reach corners 5
Heft 1
TOTAL SCORE 13

This rickety thing – not to be confused with the Swiffer WetJet – is a disappointment: Its handle is so thin that if you bear down on it while scrubbing, it actually starts to bend. Because of its lightweight frame and smooth cleaning surface, I couldn’t generate much friction for scrubbing. It also isn’t very absorbent – when I went to clean up the spilled orange juice, the Swiffer Wet just pushed it around the floor. Its advantage over sponge mops is that the head is thin and can slip under stoves and refrigerators. And, of course, the pre-soaked cleaning cloths are disposable. But both of these benefits are offered by the much sturdier Clorox Ready Mop and Swiffer WetJet.

CLOROX READYMOP

Price $16.99 (kit includes cleaning fluid and eight disposable pads)
Absorption capacity 2
Ease of use 6
Effectiveness of cleaning surface 2
Ability to reach corners 5
Heft 4
TOTAL SCORE 19

This is a new-generation mop that uses disposable cleaning pads and allows you to squirt cleaning fluid onto the floor by pulling a trigger on the handle. It has the less-than-stellar flat head common to its ilk, but is otherwise a fine contraption. Its quilted pad and heftier build make it considerably more effective on both juice puddles and kitty-litter sludge than the Swiffer Wet.

STARMOP PRO

Price $16.95
Replacement pad $6.95
Absorption capacity 4
Ease of use 2
Effectiveness of cleaning surface 5
Ability to reach corners 5
Heft 5
TOTAL SCORE 21

This mop, available on the Internet (and advertised in TV infomercials), looks like a new-generation mop, but its detachable pad, which is made of microfiber and looks like dense terry cloth, is reusable – you rinse it when it gets soiled and eventually put it in the washing machine. Infomercials claim that the fabric absorbs dirt so well that it can clean your floors with just water, and that the mop won’t streak or leave residue. It’s true that this mop, when moistened with water, scrubbed away kitty litter at least as well as the new-generation mops that use detergent. But is your floor clean just because you can no longer see the schmutz? As for the second claim, if you’re working with kitty litter or any other seriously messy substance, you’re going to have streaks. All the mops I tested left them, and this striver was no exception. That said, this is a pretty good mop. Though it’s not as convenient as mops with disposable pads, it was just as good at soaking up an orange-juice puddle as the Swiffer WetJet, and it has a nubby surface that works on grout. Its machine-washable cloth pad also makes it environmentally friendlier than the new-generation mops.

VILEDA ROLL-O-MATIC ROLLER MOP

Price $8.99
Replacement sponge $4.99
Absorption capacity 6
Ease of use 3
Effectiveness of cleaning surface 4
Ability to reach corners 2
Heft 5
TOTAL SCORE 20

Of all the mops I tested, this excellent sponge mop was the easiest to wring out – you activate the wringer simply by flicking a handle in the middle of the mop shaft. The sponge itself has a ridged surface that puts up a good fight on textured and tiled floors, and the whole mop has a pleasantly solid feel compared to the chintzy lightweight plastic of the Scotch-Brite Butterfly Mop.

SWIFFER WETJET

Price $21.99 (kit includes cleaning fluid, batteries, and three pads)
Absorption capacity 4
Ease of use 6
Effectiveness of cleaning surface 3
Ability to reach corners 5
Heft 4
TOTAL SCORE 22

This bucketless mop edges out the Clorox ReadyMop because of its thick, absorbent cleaning pads, which work almost as well as a traditional sponge mop on spills. Its jet spray is battery-operated rather than manual (you hold down a button on the handle to activate the spray, which is accompanied by an unfortunate whirring noise). This seemed to me a gratuitous touch. Nonetheless, this is the superior mop if you’re looking to get rid of the bucket.

NOTE: There have been rumors on the Internet that the cleaning fluid used by Swiffer WetJet is harmful to pets, but these rumors are unsubstantiated. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center has stated that Swiffer WetJet’s ingredients are safe to use around animals.