Get a broom or swiffer dry mop to “sweep” the floor before mopping if you don’t have a vacuum. Both of these mops aren’t bad depending on your preferences. O’Cedar also has another spin mop that separates the dirty water from clean water, but I’m not the biggest fan. More on reddit.com

Vacuum the floor first. You don’t need any pods—you can use a squirt of dish detergent, or if you have it and use it for other things, a tablespoon full of Fabuloso or Mrs. Meyers or Simple Green or any other general household cleaner. Some people use vinegar, but I usually use it only if I need to rinse. Don’t use too much cleaning solution—the O Cedar red buckets aren’t very big. The O Cedar bucket and spin mop works great. If you have the regular O Cedar with the microfiber mop (where you press it into the wringer) that works well for bigger rooms but it does not wring out as dry as the spinner. Change the water if it gets really dirty. Wash the mop head after every use so it doesn’t get stinky. You can just leave it on the top of the washer or dryer overnight to dry. If you are mopping hardwood, you want to get the mop as wrung out as possible. If you need to dry the floor, just kick a towel around or use your foot to drag it over the wet surface. If you are mopping a filthy floor that has long been neglected, you may need to use a deck brush to loosen the grime. A deck brush is a medium to stiff brush on a long handle and you wet the floor with the mop, scrub with the brush, and then wring the mop out as much as possible and pick the dirty water up with the mop. If the floor is dirty enough to need physical scrubbing, go over it with the detergent water and then mop with a bucket of clean water with 1/4 cup or so of white vinegar to pick up the dirty water residue. For kitchens or other floors where there is a lot of grease, Ecolab makes an instant degreaser that you can get at Home Depot. It’s expensive, but it works really well on kitchen messes—greasy stoves, ovens, and floors. Oh—I forgot to add don’t use a deck brush on hardwood. If hardwood is really filthy, you may need to mist it with Bona or other hardwood cleaner, let that sit for a few minutes, and then get down there with a bucket of clean water and a microfiber cloth and scrub it with the microfiber. If there is stuck on gunk, you can use a Scotchbrite pad and rub gently. More on reddit.com

Commenting because I am also interested and curious. More on reddit.com

Absolute best? Bissell Crosswave machine, hands down. Barring that, a quality microfiber spin mop with a washable head will do great. You didn't specify whether your floors were sealed or unsealed, but I will assume and hope they are sealed. In that case, a neutral floor cleaner will work, a good example would be Bona's hardwood floor cleaner. Never use a steam mop on hardwood... save that for tile, vinyl, laminate, etc. More on reddit.com