I would like to try that Roomba thing, but how does it survive pets- both cats and dogs who "attack" anything that moves? Too expensive to use as a toy.

Not enough.

Once every couple of weeks, but it should be at least 2 times a week. We have a standard schnauzer :-(

I love my Miele but after reading the comments a Roomba is on my shopping list. Might buy three and cover them in sheepskin so my dog can get exercise herding them.

Daily - but only because I have dogs and cats. Thinking the Roomba is a great idea!

I vacuum once a week, sometimes more as I have 2 cats.

Did you hear the one about the dog doing his business and the Roomba did its business...spreading it into every corner of the house????

Ahh! Aaaaagh! Vaccuming? As little as possible wold be my inclination...too interested in my hobbies and love my cats, but unfortunately for me who hates vaccuming (like lawnmowing, regarded as time-wasters...as in - time better spent on more exciting persuits) I live in a really old (but much loved and quaint) cottage that is a real dust collector. So I've devised a strategy. Vaccuming happens when visitors are coming and when I get too disgusted with my laxity in home duties. Its always a guilt thing with me. When the guilt gets too burdensome...vaccum! I have, as the rest of you seem to have....PETS...fluffy cats so no need to explain anything about that...vaccuming just needs to happen at some stage. Roomba? "Oh Joy!", I thought...yes, Oh Joy...what a great TOY! It didn't last long. My best idea yet was to pull up all fixed carpeting, polish the floorboards and use really decorative and ecclectic mats...that hide the dust and that are not too big for one senior lady (more interested in artwork than is housework) to just pick up and hurl out on to the back deck and shake...then vaccum out there after using the old fashioned soft hair broom and rag mop soaked in eucalyptus oil on the boards inside. Result? People think I'm very house-proud! Eucalypyus wafts throughout...whilst it imprisons any residual dust under the rugs until next "flying carpet" day. Ecclectic, multi- coloured rugs act as camoflage for any residual dust. A long bristle broom sits in the corner adorned with ribbons and gay colours....as decoration until needed for the next lightening fast clean-up...I've brought "sweeping it under the rug" to new dimensions and vaccuming to an artform!
Ladyrob

Every day or two, my husband or I vacuum something. Usually the kitchen. We have a chocolate lab and a siamese cross cat. They both shed. I have a built in vacuum - does a good job.

A built in vaccum would be the ideal...unfortunately single T&G timber walls have no wall cavities. Must be great to have a modern solution to this age old drudgery of vaccuming. Your Siamese sounds beautiful and my dad bred Labs and I bred Siamese cats for years. I envy your modern, functional home but equally love my arty one...despite the extra, often labourious but necessary "oild fashioned" approaches to cleabnliness. The "flying rug system" is the best idea I've come up with in all the 30 years that assists me in maintaining a healthy environment. I've resurrected this quaint, once very neglected little miner's cottage into a cosy home that suits my lifestyle. I believe that there's a good healthy way around every domestic conundrum. Often wonder what the old laundress did to keep this olden place clean without hot water and only two power sources. I count myself very fortunate having had some funds to make my life here more comfortable and maintain an acceptable degree of cleanliness....even though I've had to employ some lateral thinking to keep it "up to scratch". People have said that there's something romantic about doing it the old fashomed way....though I'd still LOVE to have a built in system...one with a sensor that just takes off when it "smells" dust would be perfect!

@ladyrob1 - my house is only about 45 yr old. We put the vacuum in about 7 or 8 yr ago - it actually isn't on an outside wall - the outlet is in the floor in a small linen closet in the centre of the house (we have a full basement - most houses in my city have full basements). I bet your home is just charming though - even with no built in vacuum.

Every other week the cleaning girl comes...but it's just my husband and I, no pets and we don't wear shoes in the house. Central vac is the bomb! I wouldn't put in a kick plate again, why would I sweep it to the kick plate when it is so much easier just to vaccum?

I spot use the cordless Hoover Link - best cordless out there for under $150 (I've tried them all :/) I then use the central vac once a week to do the whole house.

Unfortunately the cleaning crew consists of my husband and me.....

All great suggestions. My old Australian 1924 cottage is set on timber piers embedded in the ground. It is about 3 ft off the ground, no where safe to put anything underneath...except to close in around the perimiters and install a cat tunnel so they can run to their outside play garden. Nothing much modern to be done in such an old fashioned place..Can't even conceal any new electrical wiring without resorting to some sort of artistic idea! I got it for a song because nobody else could work out what to do with it...so got a bargain and lots of brainstorming. Its a cute place, secure, solid and comfy...just a bit of hard work at times that I've tried to simplify and believe I have succeeded in doing so. The "cleaning crew" here is ME! No built in vac for me unfortunately....although I think that some of the clever fellows around here could fashion an especially designed version of one...you've given me an idea mmers! Thanks! Yes the house is charming...just keeping it clean requires some lateral thinking. There's always room for an exxentric and happy old lady with way-out ideas on how to accomplish drudgery jobs in this serious world and even more room for the satisfaction that ensues when the "silly" idea actually works! What a fun conversation!

OMG appytrails lol, hope that wasn't true

Every day!

My husband bought a shark rocket for me so I wouldn't have to sweep everyday around the house. Turns out he liked it so much because of light weight and performance, he vacs about 2-3 times a week on our hardwood and ceramic floors and leaves me out of the equation.

With four k9z, every day!

Dogs, Kids, farm life. Every day. Love it with my hand held dyson. 20 minutes whole house perfect. Big farm house.

Definitely everyday and sometimes twice a day. Pickled hardwood floors tend to show a lot of black dog hair. And on the carpet, it keeps it fresh…...

Vacuum and Swiffer every other week. No kids at home and no pets. We've been thinking about getting a cat, but wow all these comments are making me rethink. :(

Every day.....an extreme necessity with two German Shepherds in the house...oh! And a husband.. LOL!

I have a routine for the house. Bedrooms once a week and when necessary otherwise just a sweep if small area needs to be done. Family sitting areas every 2 days and sweep in areas when Needed. I use a damp mop to lightly sweep near dressers etc. to pick up fallen hair and it works wonders!

My wife vacuums every single day,But she's OCD.

CASSIE JOHNSON: I'm w/ you, girl! Central vac came in my 70's California Contemporary home. I knew nothing about it when we moved in. Now, I could sell the system door-to-door that's how much I love it. I have sold a few friends on it...they retrofitted and was not as costly as one might think. They kept telling me about this "new" kick plate in their kitchens. Crazy! Just put the oval brush attachment on and suck away...kitchen, entry, dining. Suck up spiders, wasps, webs, stove ash, fireplace residue after removing the big stuff, the full box of poppy seeds the kids dumped on the floor (those things bounce...so glad to be able to just suck them up). Some complain about the long hose/snake...simple, buy a shorter one too. I would like the Roomba maybe for carpeted areas, but living room sunken (70's house, remember), so not so practical here.

Well...all you wonderful people sharing your vaccuming ideas, its been extremely interesting to have a peep into your domestic cleaning rituals. I'm glad that my house is small so don't need a lot of modern gadgets... (vaccum cleaner classed as 'modern' by 1924 standards). Lcve the insights into your life with pets, if you have them you need to make allowances or make up your mind that perfect furnishings and floors that gleam like glass all the time are not a priority. I could write a funny book based on all the stories here with an amount of exaggeration. Each to their own vaccuming/cleaning solutions. Everyone finds a way to live comfortably and healthily in their chosen environments. Some of the tips about the different types and brands of vaccum cleaners were interesting and might look into a couple. I didn't mention that I have a "Dog 'N Cat" Vac that does a good job with the fur and hair and dust...once a fortnight deep clean I suppose but its a heavy darn thing so alternatively the old fashioned flying rugs and mop-oiled floors system works. Good house cleaning everyone...who would have thought that such a long thread would come from a simple question about vaccuming! Was it a ruse by some manufacturer to see how many households used their product and who could they sell their product to? KAREN Baumgartner...I'm thinking of a retrofit if it is at all possible....have never solved the SPIDER problem except with creepy crawly spray UGH...and a broom, and STOVE ASH has always been a big chore...Thanks everyone for this discussion!

We only do it when the mother-in-law comes to visit. Yow...not much.

LADYROB1: Well, check into it...there are different kinds...ones w/ electric wire in hose (we call it "the snake") that run a beater bar. They sell different heads for carpet like turbo heads. One other perk is they are the lightest, as the tank and dirt are carried away to another location...basement or garage, not sure where else tank might go. Great on stairs too. Good luck w/ it. I'm getting offa this thread now.

Thanks ALL...I'm getting off this vaccuming thread now too....I think the problem too complicated for my place...but appreciate all the interesting input!

I have 4 cats and a dog and it is spring... I vacuum the house EVERYWHERE once a week- moving all the furniture, the furniture, the floors, etc. It is a long and involved process, but I hate seeing the fur floating around... I generally see a tuft once I finish floating somewhere....
I generally do a touch up once or twice a week on the chair my dog loves to rub, the hard wood stairs that collect hair, etc.
It keeps me sane.
It drives my older child crazy! ;)

I WANT A ROOMBA!
I do love my dyson, but to use it less would be lovely...

While it could use it every couple days, I'm too busy to do that!

With this fat boy and dark area rugs....I need it often!!

I'm wondering if others, like me, are too ashamed to admit vacuuming doesn't happen very often? Mainly when I feel the pressure of those little thoughts in the back of my mind saying, "I see the specks, I should do something about it". LOL! Seriously, it's just me and my husband and 2 non-shedding Maltese. Doesn't get too dirty to vacuum every day, or even every other. Once a week is a goal I aim for. :)

About once every other week, or when lint become visible

Honestly, I think we all do what we can do when we can do it and THAT is enough.
I'm just really ocd about it and I have a 3 year old. I can't stand the idea of him covered in hair as if he were another pet and not a boy!

We vacuum every week however, our Roomba vacuums every time the floors feel dirty.

I read somewhere to vacuum as many days a week as there are people/pets in the house.

I vacuum weekly, we have a cat and with cats there is hair everywhere.

I was brought up with pets in the home and at one stage prior to getting married, I had a chihuahua and a siamese that slept with me every night.
My beloved cat decided for no aparent reason, to use the carpet behind the couch in the lounge, as a toilet box instead of using her perfectly clean accessible litter and not once but twice, it was a ghastly smell.
My husband on the flipside, grew up with no pet cats and a working farm dog that always lived outside and on a chain when not working, not a horrible life as some might think but different to the city or non working dogs life.
Farm dogs by law must be confined on the property at night to avoid them learning to wander paddocks and learn to kill sheep as many have done, so it's either a chain or pet cage or run.
My appologies, I digress,
Now married, the question of allowing pets into our home is a no go zone, no discussion, end of story, hubby is adamant that it will never happen!!!
If my cat so much as looks into the slightly ajar front door, he shrieks at the cat to not even think about it!!!
It bothered me for a while, as I dreamed of having my dog or cat on my lap and then I thought of that accident my cat had and would just about die, if I had to clean that up again.

My cat Pipi and dog Ruby, live on the veranda, much to hubby's displeasure, Pipi has a basket with a clean blanket and a hottie bottle when its cold and Ruby has an electric blanket and appears to love her bed as she is still cosy and warm when it's cold.
When our home we are building is finished, I would no sooner think of having a cat or dog in my home as jump off a cliff, especially if you watch what cats and dogs get up to in their day to day living escapades outside but I think that I've provided them with all they need.
So in answer to how often I vacuum, about once a week but it's never to vacc up dog or cat hair just the usual trappings of living on a farm.

I vacuum my kitchen floor pretty much daily with my cordless Makita (love it) ....but the rest of the house gets it about every 10 days to 2 weeks. I hate vacuuming almost as much as dusting!

Is a Roomba safe to use on engineered wood floors? We are moving soon and I don't know how to best clean them regularly.

I use a Roomba and he vacuums daily. Perfectly safe on engineered hardwood, tile,hardwood and concrete. I haven't tried him on a cork floor yet. Sometime leaves black rub marks on baseboards. I think I would buy a white unit next time.

carefreehouse: I put about 6 self-adhesive felt bumpers on mine. My Roomba is a he, also.

cabingirl13: My sister and I don't even say those words. We say "the V-word" and "the D-word."

Three times a day

At least once a week maybe more if needed. Have a Roomba as well but he doesn't come out much. Ha ha

Like that I have no carpets just throw rugs but still use vacuum. Does a good job getting dust bunnies and cat hair.

Once a week - shark navigator. We have two small dogs. In our new build we did hide a hose central vac and I cannot wait!!!!

Ironically I have a cleaning business so my own carpet only gets done when it gets really obvious; everyone else’s homes I clean look great though hahaha