A little housework: How to get more free time and a sparkling clean home

If cleaning, mopping, and vacuuming aren't exactly your favorite hobbies, you probably want your household chores to be quick and easy. But having the right cleaning tools isn't the only thing that matters. After all, even the best broom can only sweep well if it's used regularly. To make your life easier, here are a few simple tricks:

• Do it right away: Most household chores only take a few minutes. But we love to put them off for a designated "cleaning day." That's when they pile up – as a literal mountain of dishes next to the dishwasher or as a dusty carpet. If you clean a small part of your home every day, the overall housework becomes much lighter.
• Do it on the go: Many favorite activities like baking and cooking create a mess. While you're waiting for potatoes to cook or the cake to rise, you can clean up the mess right away. That way, you can go straight to relaxing and enjoying your delicious food afterward.
• Get some help: No, we're not talking about hiring a cleaner, but rather clever household remedies that make tough chores easier. Products like baking soda or citric acid are incredibly versatile and solve many a cleaning problem almost by themselves.
• Be ready for action: Most household goods and cleaning equipment have a fixed place in the home. While this makes sense, it can sometimes feed our inner couch potato – going from the second floor to the first floor just to get the vacuum cleaner? Way too exhausting! For larger apartments and houses, set up multiple cleaning stations – preferably where the respective cleaning system is constantly in use. Then you'll have it handy in no time.
• It doesn't always have to be electric: We've gotten used to maintaining our homes with the help of electrical appliances. But the good old mop or broom and dustpan are far from obsolete. On the contrary: they are quicker to grab, fast to use, affordable, and easily tucked away again after the cleaning job is done. That makes quite a few vacuums look slow.

Which cleaning system do I need?

Most cleaning devices (whether electric or manual) take care of floors. This is, after all, where electric power is most in demand. However, multifunctional devices like steam cleaners are on the rise. If you want to leave the housework entirely to machines, robot vacuums are a great place to start!

Steam cleaners

Against stubborn residue, for refreshing upholstered furniture, for deep cleaning bathrooms and tiles – the steam cleaner is a real all-rounder in the home. It is available as a steam mop for floors and larger surfaces or as a handy handheld model for a wide variety of household tasks. Here, you can mostly do without cleaning agents. The steam dissolves the dirt through pressure, temperature, and the cleaning power of the fine water mist.

Vacuum cleaners and robot vacuums

With a robot vacuum, you save yourself one of the most unpopular household chores of all. These clever autonomous cleaning devices navigate floors along programmable paths and find their way back to the charging station on their own. They work best in apartments or houses without door thresholds and on smooth floors. High-pile carpets can still be a challenge. But for that, there are handy vacuum cleaners with plenty of power. Here, too, there is more and more freedom – with maneuverable cordless models that can go absolutely anywhere. Corded canister vacuums still offer the most power – ideal for pet parents!

Cleaning systems

A mop with a matching bucket, cordless broom, or window vacuum: so-called cleaning systems are designed for typical areas of use in the home where other cleaning devices would be awkward, too complicated, or simply not suitable. The versatile broom is just as much at home here as any type of floor mop.

Which cleaning device is suitable for which floor?

Not all electrical household goods are meant for all floors. Making the right choice prevents scratches and damage, and ultimately makes your household chores much easier:

• Broom: Brooms are ideal for smooth floors. However, pay attention to the choice of bristles: the more sensitive the floor, the softer the bristles should be.
• Pressure washer: Perfect for smooth outdoor surfaces, pressure washers are not only ideal for cleaning driveways – they also get patio furniture cleaner than ever!
• Floor mop: Floor mops are ideal for smooth (sealed) floors like tiles. You have to be careful with hardwood or laminate. Too much moisture damages the wood.
• Mop: The classic mop is closely related to the flat floor mop. On smooth (sealed) floors, it picks up dirt very well and can also be used maneuverably in corners and on sloped floors.
• Vacuum cleaner: The vacuum cleaner has long since evolved into an all-round household helper. It is perfect for carpets and smooth floors, can be adjusted to the floor using different nozzles, and has long been able to do more than "just" vacuum dust.
• Carpet cleaner: As a special type of vacuum cleaner, carpet cleaners are specialists for textile surfaces. They are used on smooth floors and low-pile carpets, but are also suitable for mattresses and other textiles.