No Stupid Questions

Roomba. OK, not exactly, but I have an offbrand bot that does touching up and my wife and I take turns doing a proper cleaning of the floors every couple weeks. It’s not perfect, but it’s presentable. Neither of us are going to dedicate too much time to keeping things perfect. Cleanliness is important, but take care that it doesn’t become an obsession at the cost of your other interests.

Smaller houses tend to be better for this, generally. Cut down on all the stupid useless crap you own that you only use like once every 3 years, it's not worth it to keep it sitting around. Buy and sell everything on craigslist, and rent the rest of what you might need. Maybe look into a storage shed or something, or dedicate a portion of your house to this, a room, something like this. Most people have a garage, I think. Pawn stuff off on everyone around you, call them when you need it, and then that's a good opportunity to socialize. The same goes for "makerspaces" or whatever. Get out of your house more.

Work from the top down, start in an area with your fans, cobwebs, whatever, then work down to the pictures and higher shelves, the windows, lower shelves, tables, then hit your walls and baseboards, and then, after all that's done, do the floors.

Remove clutter and little aesthetic baubles on shelves where dust and hair and crap might accumulate, unless you're actively using the things in that space, or frequently moving stuff around in that area. It also pays to be conscious of how airflow moves throughout your house and how dust settles. It always tends to be the corners, but then corners also tend to be the deadzones where people put things anyways. If you can turn this on it's head, and keep things away from the walls and corners more, that's probably a decent idea, and could also help you open up your house more. If you can't do that, you could look into like, these triangular dust guards they make for the corners of things, especially stairs, though those are mostly for sweeping, and I think dust might end up sticking to them regardless. The best solution for most people is probably just to go in the complete opposite direction, and get some big sealed corner cabinets with actual doors, instead of just having a bunch of open shelves everywhere.

Make sure you always remove your shoes when you come in from outside, and if you're especially dirty, your outerwear. It's easier to clean this all in one location by the door. Cats and dogs and all your other pets also shed a ton which can suck really bad and get on everything. I really like having pets, but god damn it can get pretty nasty. I would probably not do it all over again if I had the choice. Maybe look for breeds that don't shed as much. Or just brush your pets maybe more than daily, that might also help.

Also, invest in a good stick vacuum, don't get one of those huge corded garbage vacuums, or those ones that roll around and have the tube, those also suck and are awful. Also a good spray mop with the bottom that sticks to the cloth pad, and not like a normal stupid mop with a bucket or whatever, because those suck.

Yeah. Do all that, revolve your life around just cleaning and maintaining the shit that you own, and then you can probably get away with like an hour maybe once or twice a week for your whole house. How fulfilling!

Robots

I use a crosswave, and it's disgustingly effective at cleaning floors. It's basically a self cleaning Swifer wet jet.

I used it on floors that I mopped with a traditional mop twice right before, and the water was dark brown when I finished.

I usually just deep clean once a year and wash the floor multiple times over until it's pretty clean. Then I let my robot vacuum/mop keep it mostly clean twice a week the rest of the year. The robovac helps enforce a cleaner lifestyle by ensuring things aren't left out and about. The floors will never be perfectly clean though, just the nature of life~

As for everything else, I set reoccurring calendar tasks to space it out but I try to do one area per weekend. Keeps cleaning manageable but regular.

Robot vacuum has been a game changer for me. Highly recommended!

Put a large air cleaner in on high. Beat the couch cushions outside, shake down blankets outside, carpet wash the furniture and carpets. Scrub hvac vents and air handler ducts. Wet wipe your walls and base boards. Clean you dryer vents. Dust is everywhere. Light mop daily with a spray mop.

Change your HVAC filters every month until it gets better. If you don't have HVAC, get more air cleaners and stay on top filter replacements.

It'll take ages, but it'll get better.

Clean the worst of it and let the rest be. I try to do a more thorough cleaning spring and fall.

I don't wear shoes in the house and run an airfilter. Every friday or sunday, I do an hour of cleaning (if necessary). Keeps things extremely clean. If I make a mess, I immediately clean it up.

If you're lucky enough to have a furnace, replace the filters monthly if you can. They sell them in multi packs. Buy the cheap ones and replace them often.

How to create mental illness 101.

I clean the kitchen pretty thoroughly once per week after meal prepping. By thoroughly I mean do the dishes, wipe down the stovetop and counters, clean the sink with dish soap and a sponge, then sweep and mop. During the week I try to clean up small spills and such as I go and load the dishwasher after meals.

For the bathroom, I usually do once per month. Clean the counter, mirror, toilet top to bottom, and shower top to bottom. Sweep and mop.

Living spaces and bedroom I sweep/mop/vacuum once per month and clean tables as needed.

I hardly dust or clean windows. I maybe do that a couple times per year or if it's particularly filthy.

The general idea for me is to clean regularly and as needed so that nothing is really nasty at any given time. Anything else gets done roughly once per year or on move out.

At some point the shame overcomes the laziness and then I clean it.

i don't, its a nightmare

Do you just sweep with a broom? A good vacuum cleaner is a lot more thorough. And if you mopp right after there's a better chance to get most of the dust.

The other question is where the dirt is ultimately coming from. Most notably rom outside via air movement and shoes, but also consider shedded hair and skin from humans & pets, dropped food crumbs, lints from textiles and any hobbies/activities.

I like to avoid any "dust catcher" objects like carpets or rugs. In the end it's a tradeoff between how clean you want it to be and how much time you're willing to invest.

If dust is the problem then you start at the top and work your way down. Ie Clean ceiling fans, Dust, then wipe surfaces then vacuum.

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.

I bought a good vacuum cleaner and a steam cleaner. That and microfiber rags.