How do you keep your house clean?? W/multiple pets and/or longhaired dogs?

This might belong under "fire hydrant" so sorry if you have to move it, mods. But I need HELP! I'm under siege! It's summer in Southern California, and everything is dry, dead and dusty.

My dog has a Sheltie-type coat and hairy little paws. Sienna is a magnet for dust, dirt, twigs, leaves, and other bits of the great outdoors that she ends up wearing inside. I'd almost like to shave her. (I wouldn't really) I do try to keep her paws trimmed at the least, but the hair grows back so fast it's ridiculous. It doesn't help that the park I walk her at every day has a dirt path. Gotta start walking on sidewalks...

I also have a cat. She doesn't go outside, but she probably should, because then at least SOME of the cat hair would be outside, too. (With my luck, Sienna would just track it back into the house...) Georgette, the kitty, has a coat like a Chinchilla and "shedding" doesn't even begin to describe what she does. "Molting" would be more accurate, or like collie people say, "blowing her coat."

And she's a virtuoso at tracking cat litter everywhere. I have her litter box inside a piece of furniture, with two rugs she has to cross to get out, and still I end up stepping on litter and litter dust all the time.

Fellow owners of dirty little animals what are your best tips and strategies for keeping the outdoors, well, outdoors? And fighting the fur?

I vacuum every day. With a dyson.

Wipe down the dog ever other day or when needed.

Remove clutter so everything is easier to clean.

That's about it! General cleaning habits, really.

I sweep, mop and vacuum daily and when the dogs are shedding we brush daily.

What hours do you work that you have the energy to vacuum daily? I'm lucky to vacuum weekly. lol

Basically I touch up as I can and do a deep cleaning once or twice a week.

We live in clutter.

It's always been more important to us that the time we have together, is focused on spending time together or with the pets, so we just deal with the clutter.

I stay at home with my dogs every day!

Seriously, LOL. I at least have hardwood floors, but I have to swiffer them at least 2x a week, and even that isn't enough. I try to brush the pets daily, but sometimes it seems like the cat sheds MORE when I brush her.

I have to vacuum the sofas every other day. Daily would be better. I dream about leather upholstery.

Clutter is a very good point, too. I've been in my place less than 6 months, so I'm still figuring out the optimum furniture arrangement and ditching extra stuff. Furniture with either lots of space under it, or solid furniture is the easiest to clean around. Smooth surfaces are good and fabric anything is the enemy. Good thing I like minimalist, modern decor.

Really, I don't mind normal cleaning. But this has grown to Sisyphean proportions...or maybe I have a distorted concept of what 'normal' cleaning should be.

I'm house-sitting right now and was pondering why this house is so much cleaner than mine. Despite having a maid, it helps that they live on an upper floor of a high-rise. All of the dirt gets worn off in the garage, lobby, elevator, and hallway. My house has none of those.

Vacuum, vacuum, sweep, and vacuum. We have wood floors, so most of the hair collects around the baseboards and I take the wee canister vacuum around the edges of the room a few times a week for that, then vacuum the area rugs a couple of times a week, too. Sometimes I can just sort of grab clumps of hair by hand.

We have a few sets of sheets that we cover the couches with, and rotate/wash them as needed (usually weekly).

Vacuum, vacuum the couch, wipe down surfaces with clorox wipes ALL THE TIME, dog laundry weekly or so (beds, bed covers, blankies), swifter the floors and wipe the baseboards/railings clean of fur. Groom the dogs monthly (but mine are short haired - so I just pick a day for baths, toe nail trims, ears & anal glands...), and I think having a lawn guy helps with the amount of stuff they can track in. Honestly, it is a lot to keep up with, but I like to have four dogs AND a clean house. Also, I LOVE those wallflowers from bath & body works - I have three downstairs & one upstairs in the "dog room" and one in the master bath. I like to think it gives an overall clean smell

I go straight to the source and vaccum the dog.

In my mother's house, 'normal' daily cleaning was mopping the kitchen floor, vacuuming all floors(including baseboards and furniture), kitchen completely wiped down, all surfaces wiped clean of dust, dishes done, minor laundry and dog laundry done, and all major clutter or mess(strewn crap on counters or blankets or toys on floors) dealt with.

"Deep cleaning" was much, much more, and done once a week. Shampoo carpets, bed and curtain laundry, animal cages pulled out and completely hosed/bleached down, all windows, vacuum stairs, pantry and fridge/freezer cleaned out of old food and wiped down, window blinds sprayed down and wiped clean, furniture pulled out and floors 'properly' vacuumed, bathrooms completely bleached top to bottom, so on and so forth. Complete cleaning of the house, inside and out.

And it didn't matter what hours you worked, in her house. You did it, period. Full time student, full time job, or both. If anything else, the house was always clean and I have above-average cleaning skills that allow me to excel in maid/housekeeping type of work. Lol.

I've done this. :lol-sign: Zander doesn't mind. Just gives me a bratty look.

My cat hardly sheds at all. My mom's cat sheds a fair bit but really its the dog that sheds everywhere. We decluttered the whole house. Got rid of anything extra that could hold hair or he could lay on so we would have less laundry. Clean the floors daily. Brush him often. Change the bedding lots too. Live with dog hair getting on the clothes.

Yea, I think the dogs are WAY worse than the cats as far as shedding.

I tried vacuuming Squash once, he didn't mind it but I don't think it really did much, either.

Lucy doesn't really shed, and Juno sheds a fair amount but with short hairs you don't really notice it. But my mom vacuums every day - we have hardwood floors and a couple rugs. Once a week or so she gets on her hands and knees and scrubs them (I keep telling her we should just get a Swiffer... she insists those don't do the job right).

The cat sheds WAY worse than the dogs. WAY WAY worse. Every time I pet him, a tumbleweed of hair falls to the ground. And he's short-haired too.

Definitely don't do the job right They leave the floors sticky and gross :lol-sign:

Forced air dryer for the dogs and dyson vacuum for the floor. The dyson works great on kid mess too.

They're convenient though!!

Vacuum everyday or every other day in the dog areas...especially the birds. The living room is cat only and there is way less hair.

Haha! Totally. I think I need to suck it up (er, no pun intended) and pay for a professional groomer, 'cause those blow dryers they use are amazing at getting the hair off of the dog. Bathing her at home just makes more of a mess.

Lyzelle, wow! Props to your mother, that's a ton of work! I love a clean house but am still trying to figure out how to balance cleaning with working full-time.

Did this, too. In my apartment complex the laundry room prices are a total ripoff. The less stuff I have to machine wash, the better. I was putting sheets over the sofas, but that ended up being an extra load of laundry a week at least. If it were just the dog, I'd use throws but the cat lays (and sheds) all over the backs and arms of both couches. Every time I take off/put back on (ie, wrestle with) the slipcovers I curse our &@*%&! Ikea sofas.

Yeah, that sounds just like my cat! If you look at her, she sheds. Darn double-coated spitz cats.

I 'hacked' my swiffer - the cleaning solution that comes with it wasn't making my hardwood floors happy, so I made my own with Murphy's oil soap and dry swiffer cloths. Works much better! I like the smell better, too.