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How do you keep your homes clean?

I’ve just swept and mopped. Once the floor dries, I could easily go sweep again and turn up more dust and dirt. If I were to mop again, I’m almost certain the water in my bucket would be filthy. It feels like it’s never actually clean.

Beyond that, there’s dusting, cleaning windows, sinks, countertops, bathrooms, and probably things I don’t even consider. How do you all stay on top of these things?

Dagwood222 , (edited )

You’re never going to be sterile; good enough is good enough.

Keep an abundance of cleaning supplies. Soaps and rags in the kitchen and the bathroom. Think about investing in a vacuum and a carpet cleaning machine. Edit = Also get more trash bins. One for the kitchen, one for the desk, one by the coffee table, one for the bathroom.
Some people find it easier to do one big push where they clean the whole house in one session; other folks like to do a little bit every day. Figure out which type you are.

Also, check and see what cleaners charge in your area. It might be worth it to have a pro come in and do the work for you. Figure out what your leisure time is worth to you and then compare.

PeepinGoodArgs ,

I’m the little bit everyday person. I’ll clean the bathrooms one day, then vacuum the floors the next. Wash clothes later in the week, something I need to do today.

I feel like doing a bit a day helps keep things cleaner than if I did it all at once. Things can appear overwhelming pretty quickly, at which point I won’t want to do it at all.

Dagwood222 ,

I’m a combination. If something looks bad I’ll get to it right away, and try to do a blitz once a week.

idiomaddict ,

I’m an all at once person and I also think that’s less clean. It’s easier for me to think about it like shaving: you’re more likely to have a grown out patch of hair if you do a big shave once a week vs a daily trim.

Pacmanlives ,

This is the way. I use Trello and have automated task creation on days and use its Kanban. Also a great habit to get into is if you walk into a room do one cleaning thing while you’re in it. Walk into a room and forget what you’re looking for. Take a moment to do some quick cleaning or organization. The little bit adds up and does not become overwhelming

GraniteM ,

We got a service. We’ve two cats, a dog, and a toddler, and no family closeby to help with child care. We did the math and decided we needed the help. It’s fantastic.

OceanEyes ,
@OceanEyes@lemmyf.uk avatar

I splurged on a Bissell cross wave pet and I can’t believe how amazing it really is. I wish I would have gotten the cordless version but it really has changed how often and easy it is to keep our floors clean!

I also really try to do a “closing shift” every night. And even if I have dishes in the sink, they have all been rinsed.

I wipe down the surfaces in the half bath every time I use it.

And I wipe the hand rails and base boards once every couple of months. We have 4 kids so there is always some kind of “mess” but I’ve gotten so much better about keeping up with the house. And I don’t beat myself up when I skip a day or two.

BlackPenguins , (edited )

I heard steam vacuums are bad for hardwood floors. Do you have just carpet?

OceanEyes ,
@OceanEyes@lemmyf.uk avatar

I didn’t say I used a steam vacuum.

RozhkiNozhki ,
@RozhkiNozhki@lemmy.world avatar

I’m a little late to the party but keep in mind that people who stay on top of cleaning and have sparkling houses are doing just that and nothing else because it is so time consuming. You don’t want to invest all your free time (or all your time) into cleaning that will never end. Good enough is good enough.

soggy_kitty ,

Not true, it takes me a moment to put away my things into drawers and tidy up after myself.

RozhkiNozhki ,
@RozhkiNozhki@lemmy.world avatar

That’s not what I mean, I’m not talking about tidying up, I’m talking about proper cleaning, as in wiping the dust everywhere and keeping every imaginable surface clean, including walls, ceilings, cupboards etc.

ShepherdPie ,

I think wiping walls and stuff are only things people do quarterly, every 6 months, etc and not something people do weekly as that is insane.

RozhkiNozhki ,
@RozhkiNozhki@lemmy.world avatar

My mom does and yes, it is insane, and she spends all her time doing it. What I mean to say is there’s no limit to cleaning unless you set it up for yourself. For the sake of sanity it’s better to accept the fact that there will always be some dust around.

ShepherdPie ,

Not sure why you got downvoted as cleaning efficiently and maintaining things as you go (rinsing off stuff as you cook for example) makes the whole process so much faster.

For example imagine you’re going through your clothes looking for an outfit to wear for the night. You can either dump all your clothes into a pile while trying things on or try them on and hang them up as you go. That way when you’re done, you don’t have a pile of clothes to deal with.

Alpha71 ,

wait til’ it gets bad enough to bug me, then clean.

We’re almost there.

Tar_alcaran ,

I have a roomba to get rid of 80% every day. I strive to manually vacuum once a week, because the roomba doesn’t do corners and some hard to reach bits. Nor can it do stairs, obviously. After vacuuming I run a steam mop over the floors, which is amazing and SO much faster than regular mopping, without any cleaning agents.

Since its a combination steam mop/hand thing, I also use it for the windows. That’s not on any schedule, just when I think they’re dirty.

I wetwipe the countertop after I make dinner, and I clean it with soap whenever it looks dirty enough to be worth the effort.

Honestly, things like wooden floors can be hand-scrubbed four or five times before being actually clean, but it feel that anything that’s stuck on there after running the steam mop is probably not coming off during normal use, so it qualifies as clean enough.

Rai ,

I’d love a roomba but I’m horrified at the privacy nightmare hahaha

I have a rechargeable stick vac I use whenever the cat hair builds up too much.

Tar_alcaran ,

I have the dumbest, non-mapping I could find. It works basically just as well as the 800 euro hypersmart ones

scytale ,

What brand/model do you have?

Tar_alcaran ,

Eufy robovac 11s, but they probably don’t make those anymore

twistypencil ,

What is a steam mop?

Tar_alcaran ,

Apparently is called a “steam vapor cleaner”

jjjalljs ,

I pay someone to clean once a month. I hate cleaning and it’s worth the $200 to me.

I keep my sink clear of dishes and take out my own trash, but the rest is just stuff I don’t want to do.

volvoxvsmarla ,

What do they do? I’ve been thinking of getting a cleaning person but I just wonder how much they can do if they come once a week or every other week. Like, I don’t think I have cleaned the windows in the 3.5 years I’ve lived in my previous apartment. And I absolutely do not want to waste money on someone cleaning windows more than once a year. I have to clean the kitchen every day at least once because I cook a lot and it’s a dirty mess and otherwise there is just no room to cook. I need the dishes, so the dishwasher is running once a day. I also have to at least sweep the kitchen floor once a day. The apartment floor is constantly dirty so I sweep here and there all the time too. It’s not very tidy in here, but we have a toddler and even if everything was super tidy it would stay that way for 15 mins max. Also it would take me longer to explain where stuff goes (we do have a lot of stuff) than to put it away myself or just surrender to untidiness. I don’t care if some vase or decoration has dust. I have a lot of laundry and no dryer so I cannot wait for a cleaner to come and do my laundry every other week. So the only thing that is left that I can outsource is maybe the bathroom. But it then seems ridiculous to have a cleaning person come in to just clean the bathroom. (This is actually the room I enjoy cleaning the most, but I rarely get around to doing it.)

jjjalljs ,

wecandoit.coop/services/

The cleaning person seems to take as long as it takes. The first time someone from there came, she was here for like 8 hours. Now that they come monthly it doesn’t need as much work.

I used to use another service but they weren’t great. More expensive, less cleaning, missed appointments, gig work nonsense.

jemikwa ,

Most organized companies will do a deep cleaning to form a clean baseline, or let you add on extras per session to address when you need. Usually it’s hourly based with a minimum time requirement. If you don’t need them to do something, it might work out to be cheaper if doing it would have put you over the minimum time.
If you find a self employed cleaning person, they are likely to be more flexible and able to handle the odd tasks like tidying up or handling laundry. Maybe even help organize or do other routine tasks that you don’t have the bandwidth for.

Rai ,

Preach. Also

Me eating ass: “don’t put clean dishes on the cat feeding counter, it gets bits on it!”

dditty ,

I take a day off work occasionally to clean my apartment. It can be hard to remain motivated doing it on my own time during the weekend, but if it’s Monday during work hours it’s not so bad!

Septimaeus , (edited )

In newer construction, especially high-rise apartments, there’s a lot less dust. But in older buildings, it’s just an endless torrent, and the solution has been…

Robot vacuums

While they must be maintained, and won’t work well if you’re not diligent about picking up and keeping obstacles off the floor, they make it far easier to keep the whole house clean by reducing the overall volume of interior dust and debris inside the building envelope.

To illustrate (this will be gross) I change the bags about every month and weigh them and it’s usually ~1 kg (~2 lbs) per bag, and each year they remove roughly 30-40 kg (70-90 lbs). And every time I’ve cut them open to see what’s causing all the weight (or make sure nothing important was eaten) it appears to be mostly dust and hair.

It’s freaky thinking how all of that would be floating around, settling on surfaces, collecting in corners and crevices, saturating carpets and upholstery, and of course getting breathed in constantly. Instead I don’t have to manually dust and vacuum very often and our indoor AQI is usually better than outside.

So yeah. Robots.

Edit: added imperial mass equivalents

Rai ,

Robots is great, but the privacy implications scare me.

Septimaeus , (edited )

I do have one that’s dumb, only just smart enough to set a daily schedule, no WiFi or cameras, but it’s bullet proof and easier to maintain than the others, so It’s possible to not sacrifice privacy.

Kayday ,

What brand/model do you have? I’ve been looking into purchasing one.

romano ,
@romano@lemmy.shtuf.eu avatar

Not the person you’ve replied to, but I’ve got a Roborock Q7 Max. It’s cheap and relatively simple. It’s got a LIDAR and proximity sensors, but no obstacle avoidance or stair/cliff detection and no camera. From what I can see it’s also silent (no network activity) even though it’s bound to my WiFi. After months of using it I’d say its been a great choice to splurge on. Never had one, never thought I’d need one, but after seeing dust settling on every bit of the floor every day… I got tired of sweeping.

Septimaeus ,

That one’s a refurb iLife v3s. Not sure of current price but I paid $62.

romano ,
@romano@lemmy.shtuf.eu avatar

I hear you. There’s always Valetudo. Get yourself a supported vacuum and install Valetudo whenever you feel the need. Had my robot for half a year but haven’t come around to doing it just yet. Maybe after its warranty runs out.

twistypencil ,

Ate there ones that aren’t loud? I work from home and never leave the house, and if robot vacuums are only ever used when you jagger the house, then they aren’t for me

BingBong ,

We use a Neato Botvac Connected (it’s an older model) and the eco mode is quiet enough that we can run it at night. I’m an exceptionally light sleeper and it has worked for me. If we are leaving the house for a while I set it to turbo and that’s loud but cleans even better.

Highly recommend Neato. I think we’ve had ours for 7 or 8 years at this point.

RBWells , (edited )

Roomba twice a day. A dishwasher run every day. A biweekly cleaning by a professional, and a tolerance for some degree of chaos. We live in the world, not in some clean lab. There will be dirt, dust, clutter. Just don’t let it get too much.

I have a yard of weeds, and a flower garden and a vegetable garden, some trees. It will never be a weed free environment in my gardens, I just try to advantage the plants I want, and keep the weeds under control not gone. Same with the house, don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good.

MintyAnt ,

Yeah can’t stop the weeds. Nature is gonna grow and you can’t stop it. Better to plant native plants and let them bunch up, less to maintain once established

RBWells ,

Yep. I actually love the “lawn” we have, the mowed weeds are lush and green. I just also want vegetables. The flower garden looks fine with the weeds and as you say, the native plants are filling in nicely. And I put the veg in raised beds, dug out first so it’s not too bad. But with any real world situation it’s not going to be perfect and pristine.

fine_sandy_bottom ,

I can’t believe no one has said this… Don’t wear shoes inside the house.

This will dramatically reduce the griminess of your floors.

Its a big commitment. You’ll prioritise shoes you can just slide your feet into, or at least out of. I still have nice boots and stuff but wear them less often.

Adderbox76 ,

As a Canadian, I still find it shocking that people don’t take their shoes off inside. That’s just gross.

fine_sandy_bottom ,

To be fair, some people just aren’t that flexible and its a bit of a chore tying & untying laces.

sockenklaus ,
@sockenklaus@sh.itjust.works avatar

But that’s why shoehorns exist?

fine_sandy_bottom ,

Shoehorns tie laces?

sockenklaus ,
@sockenklaus@sh.itjust.works avatar

No but with a shoehorn you can slip in and out of your shoes without tying the laces?

dream_weasel ,

The laces are supposed to keep the shoes on your feet… Show horn with laces is just loosening their fit and kinda defeating the point yeah?

twistypencil ,

If you can take them off to go to bed, you should be able to take them off earlier, at the door

otp ,

How do those people wash their feet?

fine_sandy_bottom ,

With difficulty?

Mr_Blott ,

It’s always the Brits and the yanks

Fuckin barbarians 😅

ndondo ,

Its winter that makes it a necessity for us

angrystego ,

My floors are clean and warm enough for me to walk barefoot. I can’t imagine not taking of my shoes at home. I treat shoes as a necessary evil. Not even barefoot shoes give you the same comfort as just a bare foot. Can’t imagine not having the feeling in my life. Also, the airflow around my feet - wouldn’t want to spend more time than necessary in a closed shoe. I even wear slippers at work for this reason.

dan1101 , (edited )

Yeah I can even feel dust on the floors with my bare feet, tells me when it’s time to vacuum.

FeloniousPunk ,

I have 2 dogs and a cat and have hard floors throughout. The roboVac runs twice per day and is always FULL when I empty it after every run. In addition my roboMop runs 3 days a week. My job at home is no longer cleaning but, roboTending 😂

But yes, taking off your shoes from outdoors is a must. We all keep a pair birks just for use inside.

twistypencil ,

There are robot mops now? Are there any that do not send your house floor plan to the company?

cynar ,

Most will still work without an internet connection, you just lose some of the QoL functionality. I believe some can also work with Home Assistant, for self hosting those functions. Unfortunately they generally require an initial internet connection to set up.

cynar ,

I invested in a self emptying one. It empties the dustbin and automatically cleans the mop. I just have to dump the waste water every week or so, and fill up the clean.

AnUnusualRelic ,
@AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world avatar

You need a meta robot that cares for your robot fleet.

TheBenCommandments , (edited )
@TheBenCommandments@infosec.pub avatar

So wait, you take your shoes off at the door, but your dogs (who invariably step in their own piss and shit), have free reign?

Pika , (edited )
@Pika@sh.itjust.works avatar

I gave up keeping the floor clean, I’m the only one that cleaned in the house, any complaints about the dirt on the floor was met with “well you should be wearing shoes”, any attempt at cleaning the clutter is met with the other household members stressed out because things changed. I take any W I can, but it’s defo a learn to get used to it type of situation at least in my case.

But if you manage to somehow do that let me know cause I haven’t managed it completly either lol

z00s ,

Maybe take the approach used in Asia of taking shoes off at the door to avoid tracking in dirt

Maalus ,

Not just Asia. Wearing shoes indoors is mostly an american thing.

Species8472 ,

Europe here. Taking shoes off at the door is cleanliness 101 in my house. Stops people from spreading all kind of dirt inside the house.

Then well, there is the matter of kids and pets. 1 kid, 1 cat here. This fundamentally changes how you need to clean the house.

Sometimes I try to remember what a great princess once proclaimed: let it go, let it gooo…

Drummyralf , (edited )

Nah, in the Netherlands I’d say 75% of guests in houses wears shoes indoor.

We don’t have much carpets though. With carpets I’d totally get it.

Maalus , (edited )

That’s why I said mostly. There are exceptions of course. I only tell people to keep their shoes on if the floor is too dirty and it wasn’t raining / snowing.

Edit: also, flip flops exist. Lots of people have guest pairs somewhere so you don’t walk on the cold floor.

SkippingRelax , (edited )

Italy too, pretty much everyone that is know wears shoes indoors.

Australia, it’s a bit more normal to ask if shoes should come off when visiting someone, as that might be their thing.

Not just america

I do take my shoes off now, but did not growing up

Maalus ,

www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.re…

Mostly America.

SkippingRelax ,

Sorry links to this reddit.com site don’t seem to work here

Maalus ,

Wdym it works fine in Sync.

shottymcb ,

Your link says shoes off is considered rude in all of Central/South America and all of western Europe.

otp ,

The last time this topic came up, someone said…

Of course I wear shoes in the house; I’d rather not walk in cat barf without shoes!

Pika , (edited )
@Pika@sh.itjust.works avatar

I do, the issue is I’m the ONLY one who does. My parents raised me to take shoes off indoors but I’m not sure where she learned it from because nobody else in the family does.

SomeAmateur ,

As a wise friend once said about home repairs “It’s easier to keep up than to catch up”

You can do a lot at once, you can do a little all the time but either way you have to clean regularly to stay on top of it.

masquenox ,

You’ll never be able to get things clean - all you will be able to manage is “cleaner than it was before.” It becomes easier if you accept that.

ShepherdPie ,

And unless you’re trying to save money on buying dishes by eating on the floor, it shouldn’t really matter if they have a bit of dirt on them.

Pulptastic ,

Define your standard of clean. How much clutter do you want? How much dirt is OK?

Then break tasks up - decluttering, vacuuming, dusting, mopping, and schedule each as often as is needed.tp.mwet the above standards.

My personal standard is to do light vacuuming and decluttering every day. Dishes and cleaning kitchen +dining room at least daily, sometimes twice as needed. Bathroom cleaning and more extensive vacuuming every week. Dusting and mopping every couple weeks.

Most of my non-floor surface cleaning is done with method pink or 409 and microfiber cloths. A battery Dyson vacuum was a game changer and makes touch ups way easier; no wrangling with cords, just grab it off the wall charger and push it around for a few minutes hitting spots you can see dirt.

Nature’s miracle is great for pet or kid messes, I use both the hardwood and carpet formulas.

PriorityMotif ,
@PriorityMotif@lemmy.world avatar

20"x20" air filter taped to a box fan while you’re cleaning and leave it running for a few hours. Change your HVAC filter.

thesporkeffect ,

This seems like an amazing idea. Someone should sell 3d printed adapters for the filters

PriorityMotif ,
@PriorityMotif@lemmy.world avatar

The fans are also 20", so you can just tape the filter right on.

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