Anyone who uses a broom on a regular basis knows that the bristles wear out. The constant sweeping, especially on hard surfaces like concrete, cause the bristles to wear at the bottom. After a while, it’s time for a new broom. There are, however, several things that you can do to lengthen the life of your trusty broom. We will assume, for the moment, that your regular broom is of the inexpensive type, made from artificial materials. These brooms are not made to high standards; they are sold at cheap package stores, hardware stores, and gas stations. They are made to wear out quickly so that we will come back to buy another one. If, for example, you desire to keep your favorite broom instead of replacing it every few weeks, here are some suggestions to keep your broom in your home and your money in your wallet.

1) Flip it over. Any broom wears at an angle. This is because we hold the handle across our body and the bristles strike the ground at about a fifteen degree angle. As the broom wears down it will wear at the same angle and, eventually, one side of the sweeping surface will wear down to a fraction of an inch. At this point we must rotate the handle so that the longer side – where the bristles are still of adequate length for sweeping – is brought into contact with the floor to be swept. This action will feel unnatural at first but if you persevere, the broom will start to wear at the longer surface and you will have created new life for your trusted instrument!

2) Change to your secondary hand. That is, if you are right handed, change to using your left hand while sweeping. This action will allow the bristles to wear on the opposite side which, again, allows the wear surface to be utilized completely. Why would you want to buy a broom only to use only a part of it? We will always endeavor to get all the use we can from our tools.

3) Make a mop. All brooms will eventually wear down so that the bristles are only a fraction of what is needed to sweep the floor. When this happens we have two choices. We can either go back to the Dollar store for a new one, or we can take some rags and wrap them around the broom end several times to create a very handy mop. Now, of course, you will hold the handle differently because the side-to-side motion of the sweeping broom is different from the forward and back motion of the mop. Since the bristles have been worn down so far, the shape of the sweeping end has been reshaped into a perfect mop head! When the mop gets dirty it is an easy thing to unwrap the rags and through them into the washer and dryer. In a few minutes you will have fresh and clean rags to place on your new broom/mop for years of trouble-free service.