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Having a clean and tidy home is a joy. Cleaning and tidying said home is less of a joy. Though there are some elevated beings among us who find scrubbing their stovetop a meditative experience, most people consider such tasks exhausting, reviled chores only undertaken with reluctance.
Fortunately, the steady march of technological advancement continues to lighten the burden of domestic labour. The popularisation of washing machines and dishwashers revolutionised everyday chores in the ’50s, freeing up precious time for millions of people. New devices are now furthering the cause, seeking to become the next ubiquitous household cleaning essential.
Here are six gadgets to help keep your home clean with minimal effort.
Kärcher SC 3 EasyFix steam cleaner
Credit: Mashable composite: Kärcher
Steam cleaners are severely underrated cleaning gadgets, sanitising surfaces and blasting away grime that would otherwise take extensive scrubbing to remove. If the grout in your bathroom is perpetually mouldy or you hate scouring your stovetop, you should seriously consider investing in a steam cleaner.
The Kärcher SC 3 EasyFix steam cleaner is a versatile household steam cleaner which heats up in less than a minute, so you can quickly get to cleaning before your motivation evaporates. Relatively compact at around 14 inches long, the SC 3 EasyFix has a 33 oz (1L) water tank which can easily be topped up even during operation, no stopping and depressurising required. Its replaceable descaling cartridge removes limescale from the water to lengthen the steam cleaner’s lifespan as well.
The SC 3 EasyFix comes bundled with several attachments and accessories, including a floor nozzle, cleaning cloth, and extension tubes so you can steam clean your floor without getting on all fours. Kärcher also has various other accessories to expand your unit’s versatility, such as a carpet glider, handy replacement brush sets, and a power nozzle for reaching into narrow areas.
It isn’t entirely magic — you will still have to scrub a little. But scrubbing with a steam cleaner as opposed to without one is like pushing a tricycle instead of a truck.
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Dremel Versa electric scrubber
Credit: Dremel
Keeping a home clean unfortunately often necessitates scrubbing for hours on end until your fingers are permanently, painfully stuck in a clawed position. The Dremel Versa is an electric scrubbing device designed to make this chore much easier, replacing your elbow grease with 2,200 RPM.
The Versa has a slew of attachments available to suit a variety of scrubbing needs, whether you want to clean steel, grout, or glass. While its brushes screw in, the sponges adhere to the Versa via a Velcro-like pad, keeping them firmly attached while also making them ridiculously easy to swap out.
Dremel has a handy chart to help you determine the appropriate sponge for a variety of tasks, though it’s still fairly nerve-wracking at first. As someone who has inadvertently scratched shower glass with a drill-powered scrubbing brush, you don’t want to be applying such power unless you’re absolutely sure you have the right attachment. You should consider wearing hearing protection as well, especially if you’re using the Dremel Versa in an enclosed space such as a shower. After all, it is essentially a drill.
Though once you’ve figured it out, the Dremel Versa can go a long way to making home upkeep less taxing.
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Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra robot vacuum
Credit: Roborock
A decade ago robot vacuums were frequently considered novelties, more suitable as subjects of drunken shenanigans than reliable home helpers. They’ve developed significantly in the years since, evolving to the point where having a robot vacuum is actually a reasonable proposition. Roborock’s S8 MaxV Ultra is the result of those years of technological advancement.
Boasting 10,000 Pa of suction power, Roborock’s flagship model does practically everything you could ask of a robot vacuum within the bounds of current technology — as well as a few things you probably wouldn’t have thought to request. In addition to vacuuming and mopping, the S8 MaxV Ultra’s docking station allows it to automatically wash its own microfibre mop pad, empty its dust bin, refill its water tank, and even top up its detergent. Using LiDAR and AI to identify obstacles and navigate your home, the S8 MaxV Ultra can respond to voice commands and even has a novel in-app feature for tracking down your pet, letting you observe your furry friend via its onboard camera.
The camera quality isn’t much to write home about, but the S8 MaxV Ultra is a powerful tool when it comes to cleaning, which is its primary purpose anyway. The robot vacuum’s stand out feature is it FlexiArm Design side brush, which reaches out to sweep up corners as well as areas under low furniture that might otherwise be missed. Its edge mop also ensures that you get a close clean along walls.
One caveat is that this handy robotic friend will set you back a pretty penny. The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra is one of the most expensive robot vacuums currently on the market, meaning it will primarily appeal to those with a couple of thousand dollars to spend. But if you’re sick of vacuuming and want a set-and-forget solution to keeping your floors clean, investing in a S8 MaxV Ultra might very well be worth it.
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Coway Airmega 200M air purifier
Credit: Coway
As someone who lives in a fairly suburban area, I used to think air purifiers were largely unnecessary gadgets. Having now been through several dire bushfire seasons which smothered my home in smoke, I now know better.
Whether you’re dealing with wildfire smoke or city smog, a good air purifier can be vital to the comfort of a home. After all, it’s difficult to relax if you can’t even get a lungful of good, clean air. The Coway Airmega 200M is a relatively unobtrusive workhorse that can maintain clean air in a 361 square foot area, whether you’re binge-watching Netflix in your living room or optimising your sleep in your bedroom. The result is an environment that feels undeniably fresher and more peaceful.
The Airmega 200M has four stages of filtration: a pre-filter for larger particles such as hair and dust; a deodorisation filter to capture smells; a True HEPA filter for ultra fine particles like pollen, viruses, and germs; and a vital ioniser to catch any ultra fine particles the previous filters missed.
Operating at a whisper-quiet volume, Coway’s air purifier has a timer which can be set to one, four, or eight hours, as well as three different fan speeds. It also has an Eco Mode, which will save you energy by turning the fan off if the Airmega 200M doesn’t detect pollution for half an hour, then turning it back on when it does.
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Bosch GlassVAC Solo Plus window vacuum
Credit: Bosch
Having an abundance of windows can make a home feel refreshing and bright, allowing in natural light to transform an otherwise gloomy space. Unfortunately, these benefits are significantly diminished if you can’t keep said windows clean.
Bosch’s GlassVAC Solo Plus window vacuum aims to simplify this chore, squeegeeing and sucking up liquids for a tidy, streak-free finish. Bundled with a spray bottle affixed to a microfibre cloth head, this handheld gadget is designed to clean windows, mirrors, shower screens, tiles, and other such surfaces. Just turn it on, squeegee as usual, and watch as dirty water collects in its 100mL tank instead of on your window sill.
The vacuum isn’t quite as effective when running the GlassVAC Solo Plus horizontally across surfaces as opposed to vertically, and it may not get every last drop. Depending on how wet your window was, you may still need to give the sill a quick wipe. Even so, the GlassVAC Solo Plus does an excellent job of substantially minimising mess, and is particularly handy when dealing with morning condensation on bedroom windows.
The Bosch’s GlassVAC Solo Plus also doesn’t make that grating squeaking sound that most standard squeegees do, which is an undeniable bonus.
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Tineco Floor One S7 Steam floor washer
Credit: Tineco
A significant obstacle to keeping a household clean is the sheer hassle of lugging out cumbersome cleaning equipment and hauling it from room to room. The Tineco Floor One S7 Steam floor washer offers the function of both a steam cleaner and a mop, paired with the convenience of an cordless upright vacuum so it’s enjoyably easy to grab whenever needed. It also sucks up the water it uses for cleaning, keeping the chore neat while helping dry your floors much more quickly.
The Floor One S7 Steam’s wet vacuum mode can be used for sucking up liquid messes as well as mopping, which is already very handy compared to sopping up dirty water with an analogue mop and bucket. However, floor washer also has two other modes: a regular steam mode for a sanitising clean of your floors, and a boosted steam mode to tackle more stubborn grime.
It only uses plain water as well, not needing any soaps or detergents to deliver a thorough clean. Watching the Floor One S7 Steam’s transparent dirty water tank fill with opaque, grimy liquid is incredibly satisfying, and will likely have you itching to use the device whenever you can. The device also comes with a charging base and self-cleaning mode, so all you have to do is top up the clean water tank and pour out the dirty one.
The Tineco Floor One S7 Steam is only suitable on hard floors, and as with any steam cleaner you’ll want to think twice before using it on wood (never steam unsealed wooden floors unless you want them warped). The standard wet vacuum function should be safe enough for wood though, especially since it leaves floors relatively dry. Just resist getting overeager and mopping too often.
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UPDATE: Nov. 15, 2024, 11:37 a.m. AEDT This article was originally published July 2024, and has since been updated in November 2024.
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Underrated and overlooked cleaning gadgets to help keep your home spotless, from robot vacuums to electric scrubbers.
