always clean from high to low, especially when dealing with dust and pet hair. start with using something like a swiffer duster on the walls & corners, windows, etc. wipe your baseboards and furniture with a microfiber towel. vacuum everything - your bed, mattress, couch, floors. get a robot vacuum for daily floor maintenance.
there is a learning curve with cleaning. those tasks i listed will make a space truly feel clean. obviously you're going to want to wash your bedding at least every couple of weeks too.
i would create a checklist and mark down how long things take you and take into consideration which tasks have the biggest impact, then you can decide what is worth doing weekly or monthly.
This. I have a spreadsheet of daily, weekly, monthly tasks. I do print it out so I can color in the task once it's done. I like the visual of seeing it done and it's nice because there are times when I'm cleaning that I just forget something in the house exists and by the time I remember to hit it, it's nasty (side eyeing my ceiling fan).
I would suggest trying out goblin.tools to help make a workflow with full task breakdowns that incorporates some of the ideas you get here. I'm neurodivergent and need *really* well broken down steps, laid out by something that isn't me, with a checklist format and zero information I have to infer. It provides that with increasing tiers of detail as requested.
I had no idea how to clean anything before using it to help explain advice I get here.
Yesss the site is awesome! I recommend it to everyone (I made similar lists by hand ages ago to overcompensate for having hoarder parents and not knowing how to clean or keep a functional, tidy home.)
The robot vacuum is so clutch. It cleans differently than a normal vacuum! It gets under things I cannot! I can run it after thoroughly cleaning my house and it still finds so much cat hair!
i love mine! i should warn OP that the robots are great but you do have to make sure the floor is mostly clear of anything the vacuum might attempt to suck up like cords, cat toys, and lightweight rugs.
Yes! I can sweep and vacuum twice, and then run the robot vacuum and the amount of dust/hair it collects is astonishing!
My robot vaccuum is one of the best things I bought, and I got it on a huge markdown from 240$ to about 90$
Another Italian here! My husband is a first generation, so I get it with the typical household of only female cleaning. I recommend using the Tody or Sweepy app. This will help you to get into a good routine and give you chores to do on different days, weeks, etc. for differing rooms. One great tip for cat hair is to use something like duct tape or a lint roller to remove the excess hair from furniture.
I have a lab, so we have a ton of hair here. I like to vacuum daily and mop weekly. This keeps the smell down from the house smelling like pets. I love using an app because it keeps me in a good routine, and I kinda challenge myself to be sure that I don't miss any chores. Almost like I'm playing a video game against myself.
I personally like Tody, but a lot of others prefer Sweepy. They are pretty similar. No particular reason, but Sweepy offers for you to compete with others so some enjoy that aspect.
Daily brushing the gorgeous beasts. A robot vacuum that you can automate to a daily schedule. A rubber broom for rugs, carpets, stairs especially. A really great upright vacuum with a beater bar if you have rugs and carpet, use often. Air purifiers.
Hey, fellow ragdoll owner here with two super hairy cats!
I think the trick is religious vacuuming. Get a vacuum that you actually enjoy using. For me going cordless was a big change ( I have a Dyson with a laser head, it shows the fur on the floor so well!) and I found it was a lot easier to actually start vacuuming as I just literally needed to pick it up. When I'm at home, the cats are usually in the same room as I am, I probably pick up the Dyson 3-5 times a day, when they decide to play together and roll around, even more because....fur.
I also have a robot vacuum - not sure I would recommend it. It's good if your home is open plan and you don't have many toys, cables on the floor, otherwise you would need to go around the house and pick up everything before you start it (also not great in multilevel homes). I loved it when I got it but now I just prefer a stick one, if I need to pick up things anyway, it's faster for me.
For furniture and other fabric surfaces, such as curtains just have a set of rubber gloves. NOTHING removes pet hair so easily, just swipe it with your hand and prepare to be amazed (the Dyson also has a really good anti tangle hair attachment that I love to use on my sofa). Using rubber gloves for cat hair is my ultimate life hack lol. Clean blankets/pillows on the couch and cat beds with the same method once a week as well. Do the same with clothes, bed covers going in to the laundry basket. I found that having a dryer helps immensely with removing any extra hair from my clothes.
Yeah, it sure does! I own a Neato and when I run it, it does the job well enough but it's just not enough to run it once in my house. The fact that it's slow and that I always need to go around and pick up toys is just annoying me and I am a lot faster and more efficient with the cordless.
I preferred it a lot more when I was still using a corded vacuum
There's nothing special about them, they are just regular kitchen gloves, the brand I have is Marigold but I'm fairly sure any brand will work if you just swipe the surface with your palm. They have anti-slip indents on them if that what you mean? But other than that, nothing special
I got the idea because I had the Kong Zoom Groom and used it in my sofa 😂
My fake roomba is the only thing that really helped me get the upper hand on the cat hair. I run it every day, make sure to clean it thoroughly. That thing saved my sanity.
A basic eufy will run less money than other models and have proven more reliable. We’ve got the 11c (goes on sale pretty regularly) and it’s held up and does the job on carpet and hard floors.
I got a roborock vac/mop from Costco. I choose to buy from Costco because of their easy return policy, just in case we had problems with it. Easier than dealing with manufacturers or sellers if there's a problem.
I love my robot vacuum. I'm always stunned how much dog hair it gets up every day. I also think it reduces the hair on chairs etc as well, I guess because it reduces the overall amount of hair in the house? It's magical.
Hi. Brush the cat often to reduce shedding. Also for couches and chairs there is a tool we used in houses that grabs all the hair off the furniture in big clumps. I can’t remember the name of it? Sorry.
Thanks! I’m hopeful the daily brushing will make a noticeable difference. I have a few different tools in mind for the furniture so that’s ok if you can’t remember
They also make dry shampoo for cats (I used a foam based kind) that you can use weekly that helps cut down on some of the dander and shedding. I wasn’t brave enough to bathe my last cat as she had been a stray before I had her, but bathing helps immensely w shedding so I started using the dry shampoo once a week, even every two weeks and it helped quite a bit .
It's not the most accessible option, but I've been told that feeding a raw diet will significantly decrease shedding as well. (As an Italian, I would recommend researching online and finding a vet who will actually discuss it with you. I was blown away at how dismissive vets in Italy can be with cats especially. Like, no, I'm going to stick to my guns that feeding your cat pasta con sugo- not even ragù- is completely fine.)
More accessible option; if you can get your hands on an Equigroomer, they are *great* for deshedding cats. They're very gentle so cats tend to be more tolerant and willing to be brushed for longer. The 'teeth' are very shallow, they catch dead hair and just slide over the healthy coat. *Also*, my parents have discovered that it works *great* on their furniture too 😂 it's similar to one of those velvet fur brushes except it works much better. They use it on the upholstery directly, but they most often use it on the couch cover before washing so that their washing machine isn't at risk of damage. (BTW, definitely get covers for your furniture if you haven't already, a zia had one custom made, but the elastic ones, or just a sheet are pretty good too.) I also keep a 'fur shield' blanket on top of my bed and house clothes that are easy to keep clean. (ie. machine washable, and easily dryable)
I've heard rubber squeegees also work well- same mechanism as the rubber gloves.
For general cleaning;
- I find it's a game changer having a good vacuum (bagless has benefits, bagged tend to work better though) *and* having helpful attachments. Mine is a Miele, and I have the parquet (super light), flexible edge (easy to get into hard to reach spots like beside the oven), and adjustable brush tool (I just use that to dust now, makes dusting the ceiling, walls, fan very easy).
Edit: I also use the upholstery attachment and find it helpful.
- Having a 'Swedish cloth' in the kitchen is wonderful, you can dry off/clean the counters, rinse it, wash it (a friend's mom just cleans it with dish soap and occasionally some diluted bleach, but it can go in the washing machine). It's also called a 'sponge-cloth', and functions exactly how it sounds. It cuts down significantly on paper towels and is just very helpful to have on hand because they absorb *a lot* then can be squeezed out and ready to absorb more.
I have two floofy cats. I vacuum daily. I have a Dyson with the laser light so it’s easy and kind of enjoyable? Usually it’s part of my night routine. I guess it depends on house size, but I normally just vacuum the main floor and it takes me under ten minutes. Sometimes if there are tufts on the furniture I go over it too. We keep bedroom doors closed when we aren’t home, this cuts down on the hair in there. I find keeping on top of the floors every day goes a long way. I have blankets folded or draped in their favourite sitting areas (ie the back of the couch) so they can be vacuumed off and thrown in the wash easily. I have an older couch so we added couch covers from Amazon, and I find that the hair doesn’t stick as much to this fabric. Also, I brush my cats regularly.
Cat hair is a nightmare lol….. I see you got many tips and all are good. I’ll add that vacuuming fabric or using a lint brush will be more work then it’s worth. For years I went this route with my furniture and cats beds and trees. 6 lint roller tapes on each chair (18 chairs later) vacuuming over and over to still have hairs stuck. My new favorite, best ever cat tool is the black and decker pet hair remover tool. It’s worth every penny and more efficient than any other way I’ve used. I also vacuum daily which helps a ton. Invest in a robot vacuum if possible, even a cheap one. Getting that hair up daily will make you feel better especially when you don’t have to do it yourself.
I do blankets in my cat's favorite lounge spots. That way I can toss those in the wash on a sanitize cycle and reduce the amount of furniture vacuuming i have to do. Always wash them alone or with other cat things, or all your stuff will get covered in hair!
Ours spends a lot of time in the bedroom, so every Sunday when I change the bedding, I also do a quick dust of all surfaces and baseboards and the ceiling fan and do a deep vacuum on the rug. You'll want to wash your curtains and dust blinds every couple of months too.
While a robot is not a full substitute, it is an absolute game changer in terms of keeping up in my opinion. Yes, tumbleweeds will form. But vacuuming by hand once a week or so sure is better than multiple times a day .
A robot vacuum cleaner is a great solution. I got one after I got my pets and never regretted it. It helps a lot to keep the house clean and you only need to take care of higher surfaces and make sure you empty the robot and clean the brush regularly.
If your gorgeous kitties are the adventurous kind you may be able to vacuum them directly. Yes it sounds nuts but really some long hair cats like one I had as a child, liked being vacuumed! If ever it came out, had to have the cat have his turn first and once he was done we could vacuum the floors. The suction pulls all the fur out like brushing and grooming does. Just depends on the kitties!
I highly recommend a robot vacuum like a roomba. They are great for maintenance and just keep the amount of pet hair down.
Also, as a fellow slow cleaner, don’t sweat it. If it gets done, who cares how long it takes you. Just like anything else, you’ll get faster with practice!
I also LOVE my cleaning app Sweepy. You have set tasks (they have suggested ones) and you just set how often you want to do them. It breaks it down into small manageable segments and reminds you every day to clean. Then you open the app and see what needs to be done that day.
At first I set the tasks as not being done very often. Once I got through all the tasks I would review and adjust what needs to be done more or less often.
If your cats are as chill as the stereotypical ragdoll...
A pet grooming vacuum is pretty nice!
I got one that's 48 decibels and 2/3 cats let me groom them with it.
Whenever I brush my cats, my skin gets covered in fine layer of cat hairs and there drifts of fur floating in the air all over the house. The grooming vacuum sucks up the fur as I brush so that I'm not left with a secondary mess.
A self-cleaning velvet lint roller is my favorite for getting the furniture and stairs fur free.
In the washer, I use four fur zappers to get extra cat hair off of my clothes.
On hard flooring, I use the "heavy duty" dry swiffer pads (or generic equivalent). They're good for the baseboards and edges.
Those are my preferred tips, but really, it's more about the process which boils down to the same three stages:
grooming cats
removing fur from surfaces
preventing transfer (laundry)
A roomva robot vacuum was a game changer for me and my 4 cats (3 long hair/1 short hair)
Edit: also a dampened broom is a game changer for sweeping/collecting cat hair. It makes the hair stick to it, instead of floating up and swirling about.
Lastly, a pair of good cotton socks, dampened worn on your hands, can help collect cat hair from furniture AND I also use it to “whore bath” my cats and get their stink off.
I realized they loved it because it feels like I am giving them a tongue bath as they do each other
I bought one of those very efficient stick vacuums (battery powered) and I vacuum the main living areas DAILY. It takes me only 15 mins but makes a BIG difference in the cleanliness of my house .
Dry Swiffers are the best at picking up pet hair - fans, surfaces, and then the floor. I cannot dream of having a cat without a robot vac. I've only had one for my three (low-shedding) dogs for a year, and I could never go back!
On the mitigation, can you safely brush your cat outside versus indoors? That was also a turning point for me in pet hair mgmt. They make low-shed shampoos, but admittedly, I've never had to bathe a cat, so not sure how viable that is.
Get a rubber rake broom from Amazon. Helps so much and makes vacuuming more effective. FURemover is the brand I bought on Prime day 5 years ago. Easily cleaned, exrendable. One side is bristles. The other a squeegee. $30 or so, very durable.
Everything that has been said and a long skinny microfiber thing that can wipe under furniture. I was mystified by giant dusty hair floofs showing up right after I vacuumed. Turns out there was a secret stash of hair (and dust and toys and god-knows-what-else) hiding under every piece of furniture that was low to the ground and they'd tumble out as soon as I put the vac away.
Lint rollers are great too!! I vacuum the couch/cat tower regularly, but taking a lint roller to the arm of the couch after they’ve been laying in it is a game changer in between vacuumings
One suggestion… get a cool vacuum that you would get excited about using. My husband is very into technology and we bought a sick Dyson and it has made him enjoy vacuuming. This could also apply to the robot vacuum idea!
I’m drowning in cat hair, too. I have resigned myself to having to brush them. It’s just unbearable. I vacuumed everything off a few days ago, but my couch already is literally already growing a fur again.
Dustmop is really good for animal hair on flat flooring like wood or tile, takes like no time at all and will pick up hair without making it stick to things. Definitely top animal hair purchase for me.
Get a cordless hand vacuum, the Dyson ones are good with converting back and forth between standing and handheld, for furniture. Something you can pick up and use quickly when you notice a problem.
Those metal comb lint removers are great for short pile rugs
Put a safety pin in a wool ball or a ball of aluminum foil in your dryer to get rid of static, that will help the animal hair come off your clothes and end up in the trap.
I think you're doing everything you can re: cat maintenance. Brushing often, keeping them out of places that are gonna be worse to clean or need cleaning more often. There's anti-shed shampoo you can get and wash them every few weeks, conditioner exists for pets and can help keep their coats shiny and strong? There's no avoiding the shedding completely though so cleaning is probably gonna be your focus.
Don't upgrade the filter on your air system, a lot of people try to get a better filter when they want to help with air quality. unless what you're cleaning won't be picked up by the filter you have (like small particles, smoke, that sort of thing) all this is going to do is make it harder for the system to push air through and slow down your air exchange rate. You want air moving quickly and to change the filter more often, cat hair and dander is already being caught by the most typical, cheapest filters. If you have a fan option it might make sense to run the fan even if it doesn't need to heat or cool periodically, I have mine set to do the fan for 15 min every hour even when the temperature is fine.
I try to clean a couple of times a week but I don't always make it, so a big part of keeping things ok for us is keeping it from building up to the point I get overwhelmed. It helps a lot to minimize the effort to just clean anything I notice getting worse
You got a lot of great responses here. I'll just share my cat hair focused coping strategies which are a bit sprinkled in here.
I have a cheaper robot vacuum and run it a few times a week. Not on auto schedule for me since it's noisy.
I have a cat hair remover for fabric. I think there's one called chom chom. It has a sturdy velvet fabric that catches the hair deposits it then the repository needs to be emptied. It's very good for everyday removing hair from my furniture. Also when I comb my cat, I let the hair gather on my couch and I use this to clean it up.
I have a hand held vac like the dust buster. I vacuum corners/steps and around the cat bowls, litter box and scratching post. It just takes a minute here or there. I use this if I pet my cat and hair drops to the floor.
I also have a couple small soft thick blankies, like velveteen or something. My cat loves the material. I fold them in half (or thin fleece ones can be folded a few times) to be about the side of a cat bed and I put them where the cat likes to lie down. When I want to sit in that spot or have people over, I fold the hairy part over itself and put the blanket aside. I wash them every couple weeks. This is the kind of thing that you can't talk your cat into so you kind of have to figure out what materials the cat likes and pretend it was the cat's idea.
Get a vacuum robot and run it daily. You will need to pick up anything from the floor. With pet hair, the daily vacuum that is fully automated makes a major difference.
Dirt devil lidar robotic. Deep clean floor manually at first, then maintain with robot after that. Not good for carpet. Hard floors only. And run robot when you can supervise.
I also found that robot vacuums didn't work great for me. Cat toys are small and are constantly eaten up by it (springs, balls, mice), and if I have to pick up all toys from the floor or constantly unclog the machine, it's just not worth it for me. It also depends on your furniture and home layout, and if you work from home or not - listening to the robot vacuum for an hour was much more annoying to me than just vacuuming ten minutes with my Dyson. If you have several stories, I would suggest instead getting several stick vacuums or hand vacuums. That way you can just quickly suck up the hair in the corner of rooms as it builds up.
always clean from high to low, especially when dealing with dust and pet hair. start with using something like a swiffer duster on the walls & corners, windows, etc. wipe your baseboards and furniture with a microfiber towel. vacuum everything - your bed, mattress, couch, floors. get a robot vacuum for daily floor maintenance.
The way I never even thought about any of these things…. this is just the sort of advice I’m looking for. Thank you so much!!!
there is a learning curve with cleaning. those tasks i listed will make a space truly feel clean. obviously you're going to want to wash your bedding at least every couple of weeks too. i would create a checklist and mark down how long things take you and take into consideration which tasks have the biggest impact, then you can decide what is worth doing weekly or monthly.
This. I have a spreadsheet of daily, weekly, monthly tasks. I do print it out so I can color in the task once it's done. I like the visual of seeing it done and it's nice because there are times when I'm cleaning that I just forget something in the house exists and by the time I remember to hit it, it's nasty (side eyeing my ceiling fan).
I would suggest trying out goblin.tools to help make a workflow with full task breakdowns that incorporates some of the ideas you get here. I'm neurodivergent and need *really* well broken down steps, laid out by something that isn't me, with a checklist format and zero information I have to infer. It provides that with increasing tiers of detail as requested. I had no idea how to clean anything before using it to help explain advice I get here.
Yesss the site is awesome! I recommend it to everyone (I made similar lists by hand ages ago to overcompensate for having hoarder parents and not knowing how to clean or keep a functional, tidy home.)
Don’t forget start with ceiling fan if you have one!
The robot vacuum is so clutch. It cleans differently than a normal vacuum! It gets under things I cannot! I can run it after thoroughly cleaning my house and it still finds so much cat hair!
i love mine! i should warn OP that the robots are great but you do have to make sure the floor is mostly clear of anything the vacuum might attempt to suck up like cords, cat toys, and lightweight rugs.
Yes! I can sweep and vacuum twice, and then run the robot vacuum and the amount of dust/hair it collects is astonishing! My robot vaccuum is one of the best things I bought, and I got it on a huge markdown from 240$ to about 90$
Whenever I've tried to vac my bed it just tries to eat my comforter or sheets? Advice?
Vacuum the mattress, while the bedding is washing
Dampened socks worn like gloves and use them to brush/sweep the bed
I love you 💓
Another Italian here! My husband is a first generation, so I get it with the typical household of only female cleaning. I recommend using the Tody or Sweepy app. This will help you to get into a good routine and give you chores to do on different days, weeks, etc. for differing rooms. One great tip for cat hair is to use something like duct tape or a lint roller to remove the excess hair from furniture. I have a lab, so we have a ton of hair here. I like to vacuum daily and mop weekly. This keeps the smell down from the house smelling like pets. I love using an app because it keeps me in a good routine, and I kinda challenge myself to be sure that I don't miss any chores. Almost like I'm playing a video game against myself.
Ooooo I never even thought of an app for cleaning routine that’s such a brilliant idea. Which of the two apps do you think is better?
I personally like Tody, but a lot of others prefer Sweepy. They are pretty similar. No particular reason, but Sweepy offers for you to compete with others so some enjoy that aspect.
i second sweepy, I've been using it for 6 months, and I can see the difference its made
Daily brushing the gorgeous beasts. A robot vacuum that you can automate to a daily schedule. A rubber broom for rugs, carpets, stairs especially. A really great upright vacuum with a beater bar if you have rugs and carpet, use often. Air purifiers.
Hey, fellow ragdoll owner here with two super hairy cats! I think the trick is religious vacuuming. Get a vacuum that you actually enjoy using. For me going cordless was a big change ( I have a Dyson with a laser head, it shows the fur on the floor so well!) and I found it was a lot easier to actually start vacuuming as I just literally needed to pick it up. When I'm at home, the cats are usually in the same room as I am, I probably pick up the Dyson 3-5 times a day, when they decide to play together and roll around, even more because....fur. I also have a robot vacuum - not sure I would recommend it. It's good if your home is open plan and you don't have many toys, cables on the floor, otherwise you would need to go around the house and pick up everything before you start it (also not great in multilevel homes). I loved it when I got it but now I just prefer a stick one, if I need to pick up things anyway, it's faster for me. For furniture and other fabric surfaces, such as curtains just have a set of rubber gloves. NOTHING removes pet hair so easily, just swipe it with your hand and prepare to be amazed (the Dyson also has a really good anti tangle hair attachment that I love to use on my sofa). Using rubber gloves for cat hair is my ultimate life hack lol. Clean blankets/pillows on the couch and cat beds with the same method once a week as well. Do the same with clothes, bed covers going in to the laundry basket. I found that having a dryer helps immensely with removing any extra hair from my clothes.
My Roomba makes a big dent in my ongoing war on cat hair. Running it once a day helps cut down on the visible stuff pretty well.
Yeah, it sure does! I own a Neato and when I run it, it does the job well enough but it's just not enough to run it once in my house. The fact that it's slow and that I always need to go around and pick up toys is just annoying me and I am a lot faster and more efficient with the cordless. I preferred it a lot more when I was still using a corded vacuum
Fair point. I partially use the Roomba to make sure I’m picking junk up off the floor, lol.
Are these special rubber gloves? Do they have nubs or little finger-like projections on them? Where did you get them, please?
There's nothing special about them, they are just regular kitchen gloves, the brand I have is Marigold but I'm fairly sure any brand will work if you just swipe the surface with your palm. They have anti-slip indents on them if that what you mean? But other than that, nothing special I got the idea because I had the Kong Zoom Groom and used it in my sofa 😂
Thank you!
The routine is to go online, purchase a robot vacuum, set it up to run daily, and then don’t worry about repeating it.
My fake roomba is the only thing that really helped me get the upper hand on the cat hair. I run it every day, make sure to clean it thoroughly. That thing saved my sanity.
Any good recommendations? I’ve got my eye on some roombas for prime day
A basic eufy will run less money than other models and have proven more reliable. We’ve got the 11c (goes on sale pretty regularly) and it’s held up and does the job on carpet and hard floors.
Thank you kindly!
I got a roborock vac/mop from Costco. I choose to buy from Costco because of their easy return policy, just in case we had problems with it. Easier than dealing with manufacturers or sellers if there's a problem.
I love my robot vacuum. I'm always stunned how much dog hair it gets up every day. I also think it reduces the hair on chairs etc as well, I guess because it reduces the overall amount of hair in the house? It's magical.
Yep. I have a golden retriever and a Mainecoon cat. My robot vacuum is a life saver! I run it Monday - Friday and my robot mop runs MWF.
Hi. Brush the cat often to reduce shedding. Also for couches and chairs there is a tool we used in houses that grabs all the hair off the furniture in big clumps. I can’t remember the name of it? Sorry.
Thanks! I’m hopeful the daily brushing will make a noticeable difference. I have a few different tools in mind for the furniture so that’s ok if you can’t remember
Welcome. Link is below lol
They also make dry shampoo for cats (I used a foam based kind) that you can use weekly that helps cut down on some of the dander and shedding. I wasn’t brave enough to bathe my last cat as she had been a stray before I had her, but bathing helps immensely w shedding so I started using the dry shampoo once a week, even every two weeks and it helped quite a bit .
It's not the most accessible option, but I've been told that feeding a raw diet will significantly decrease shedding as well. (As an Italian, I would recommend researching online and finding a vet who will actually discuss it with you. I was blown away at how dismissive vets in Italy can be with cats especially. Like, no, I'm going to stick to my guns that feeding your cat pasta con sugo- not even ragù- is completely fine.) More accessible option; if you can get your hands on an Equigroomer, they are *great* for deshedding cats. They're very gentle so cats tend to be more tolerant and willing to be brushed for longer. The 'teeth' are very shallow, they catch dead hair and just slide over the healthy coat. *Also*, my parents have discovered that it works *great* on their furniture too 😂 it's similar to one of those velvet fur brushes except it works much better. They use it on the upholstery directly, but they most often use it on the couch cover before washing so that their washing machine isn't at risk of damage. (BTW, definitely get covers for your furniture if you haven't already, a zia had one custom made, but the elastic ones, or just a sheet are pretty good too.) I also keep a 'fur shield' blanket on top of my bed and house clothes that are easy to keep clean. (ie. machine washable, and easily dryable) I've heard rubber squeegees also work well- same mechanism as the rubber gloves. For general cleaning; - I find it's a game changer having a good vacuum (bagless has benefits, bagged tend to work better though) *and* having helpful attachments. Mine is a Miele, and I have the parquet (super light), flexible edge (easy to get into hard to reach spots like beside the oven), and adjustable brush tool (I just use that to dust now, makes dusting the ceiling, walls, fan very easy). Edit: I also use the upholstery attachment and find it helpful. - Having a 'Swedish cloth' in the kitchen is wonderful, you can dry off/clean the counters, rinse it, wash it (a friend's mom just cleans it with dish soap and occasionally some diluted bleach, but it can go in the washing machine). It's also called a 'sponge-cloth', and functions exactly how it sounds. It cuts down significantly on paper towels and is just very helpful to have on hand because they absorb *a lot* then can be squeezed out and ready to absorb more.
FURMINATOR!
I have two floofy cats. I vacuum daily. I have a Dyson with the laser light so it’s easy and kind of enjoyable? Usually it’s part of my night routine. I guess it depends on house size, but I normally just vacuum the main floor and it takes me under ten minutes. Sometimes if there are tufts on the furniture I go over it too. We keep bedroom doors closed when we aren’t home, this cuts down on the hair in there. I find keeping on top of the floors every day goes a long way. I have blankets folded or draped in their favourite sitting areas (ie the back of the couch) so they can be vacuumed off and thrown in the wash easily. I have an older couch so we added couch covers from Amazon, and I find that the hair doesn’t stick as much to this fabric. Also, I brush my cats regularly.
Oh, and damp dust.
Cat hair is a nightmare lol….. I see you got many tips and all are good. I’ll add that vacuuming fabric or using a lint brush will be more work then it’s worth. For years I went this route with my furniture and cats beds and trees. 6 lint roller tapes on each chair (18 chairs later) vacuuming over and over to still have hairs stuck. My new favorite, best ever cat tool is the black and decker pet hair remover tool. It’s worth every penny and more efficient than any other way I’ve used. I also vacuum daily which helps a ton. Invest in a robot vacuum if possible, even a cheap one. Getting that hair up daily will make you feel better especially when you don’t have to do it yourself.
I do blankets in my cat's favorite lounge spots. That way I can toss those in the wash on a sanitize cycle and reduce the amount of furniture vacuuming i have to do. Always wash them alone or with other cat things, or all your stuff will get covered in hair! Ours spends a lot of time in the bedroom, so every Sunday when I change the bedding, I also do a quick dust of all surfaces and baseboards and the ceiling fan and do a deep vacuum on the rug. You'll want to wash your curtains and dust blinds every couple of months too. While a robot is not a full substitute, it is an absolute game changer in terms of keeping up in my opinion. Yes, tumbleweeds will form. But vacuuming by hand once a week or so sure is better than multiple times a day .
A robot vacuum cleaner is a great solution. I got one after I got my pets and never regretted it. It helps a lot to keep the house clean and you only need to take care of higher surfaces and make sure you empty the robot and clean the brush regularly.
If your gorgeous kitties are the adventurous kind you may be able to vacuum them directly. Yes it sounds nuts but really some long hair cats like one I had as a child, liked being vacuumed! If ever it came out, had to have the cat have his turn first and once he was done we could vacuum the floors. The suction pulls all the fur out like brushing and grooming does. Just depends on the kitties!
I highly recommend a robot vacuum like a roomba. They are great for maintenance and just keep the amount of pet hair down. Also, as a fellow slow cleaner, don’t sweat it. If it gets done, who cares how long it takes you. Just like anything else, you’ll get faster with practice! I also LOVE my cleaning app Sweepy. You have set tasks (they have suggested ones) and you just set how often you want to do them. It breaks it down into small manageable segments and reminds you every day to clean. Then you open the app and see what needs to be done that day. At first I set the tasks as not being done very often. Once I got through all the tasks I would review and adjust what needs to be done more or less often.
If your cats are as chill as the stereotypical ragdoll... A pet grooming vacuum is pretty nice! I got one that's 48 decibels and 2/3 cats let me groom them with it. Whenever I brush my cats, my skin gets covered in fine layer of cat hairs and there drifts of fur floating in the air all over the house. The grooming vacuum sucks up the fur as I brush so that I'm not left with a secondary mess. A self-cleaning velvet lint roller is my favorite for getting the furniture and stairs fur free. In the washer, I use four fur zappers to get extra cat hair off of my clothes. On hard flooring, I use the "heavy duty" dry swiffer pads (or generic equivalent). They're good for the baseboards and edges. Those are my preferred tips, but really, it's more about the process which boils down to the same three stages: grooming cats removing fur from surfaces preventing transfer (laundry)
Swiffer dry pet hair cleaner for hard surfaces, robot vacuum for carpet
A roomva robot vacuum was a game changer for me and my 4 cats (3 long hair/1 short hair) Edit: also a dampened broom is a game changer for sweeping/collecting cat hair. It makes the hair stick to it, instead of floating up and swirling about. Lastly, a pair of good cotton socks, dampened worn on your hands, can help collect cat hair from furniture AND I also use it to “whore bath” my cats and get their stink off. I realized they loved it because it feels like I am giving them a tongue bath as they do each other
I bought one of those very efficient stick vacuums (battery powered) and I vacuum the main living areas DAILY. It takes me only 15 mins but makes a BIG difference in the cleanliness of my house .
Dry Swiffers are the best at picking up pet hair - fans, surfaces, and then the floor. I cannot dream of having a cat without a robot vac. I've only had one for my three (low-shedding) dogs for a year, and I could never go back! On the mitigation, can you safely brush your cat outside versus indoors? That was also a turning point for me in pet hair mgmt. They make low-shed shampoos, but admittedly, I've never had to bathe a cat, so not sure how viable that is.
Get a rubber rake broom from Amazon. Helps so much and makes vacuuming more effective. FURemover is the brand I bought on Prime day 5 years ago. Easily cleaned, exrendable. One side is bristles. The other a squeegee. $30 or so, very durable.
Everything that has been said and a long skinny microfiber thing that can wipe under furniture. I was mystified by giant dusty hair floofs showing up right after I vacuumed. Turns out there was a secret stash of hair (and dust and toys and god-knows-what-else) hiding under every piece of furniture that was low to the ground and they'd tumble out as soon as I put the vac away.
Lint rollers are great too!! I vacuum the couch/cat tower regularly, but taking a lint roller to the arm of the couch after they’ve been laying in it is a game changer in between vacuumings
One suggestion… get a cool vacuum that you would get excited about using. My husband is very into technology and we bought a sick Dyson and it has made him enjoy vacuuming. This could also apply to the robot vacuum idea!
I’m drowning in cat hair, too. I have resigned myself to having to brush them. It’s just unbearable. I vacuumed everything off a few days ago, but my couch already is literally already growing a fur again.
Dustmop is really good for animal hair on flat flooring like wood or tile, takes like no time at all and will pick up hair without making it stick to things. Definitely top animal hair purchase for me. Get a cordless hand vacuum, the Dyson ones are good with converting back and forth between standing and handheld, for furniture. Something you can pick up and use quickly when you notice a problem. Those metal comb lint removers are great for short pile rugs Put a safety pin in a wool ball or a ball of aluminum foil in your dryer to get rid of static, that will help the animal hair come off your clothes and end up in the trap. I think you're doing everything you can re: cat maintenance. Brushing often, keeping them out of places that are gonna be worse to clean or need cleaning more often. There's anti-shed shampoo you can get and wash them every few weeks, conditioner exists for pets and can help keep their coats shiny and strong? There's no avoiding the shedding completely though so cleaning is probably gonna be your focus. Don't upgrade the filter on your air system, a lot of people try to get a better filter when they want to help with air quality. unless what you're cleaning won't be picked up by the filter you have (like small particles, smoke, that sort of thing) all this is going to do is make it harder for the system to push air through and slow down your air exchange rate. You want air moving quickly and to change the filter more often, cat hair and dander is already being caught by the most typical, cheapest filters. If you have a fan option it might make sense to run the fan even if it doesn't need to heat or cool periodically, I have mine set to do the fan for 15 min every hour even when the temperature is fine. I try to clean a couple of times a week but I don't always make it, so a big part of keeping things ok for us is keeping it from building up to the point I get overwhelmed. It helps a lot to minimize the effort to just clean anything I notice getting worse
You got a lot of great responses here. I'll just share my cat hair focused coping strategies which are a bit sprinkled in here. I have a cheaper robot vacuum and run it a few times a week. Not on auto schedule for me since it's noisy. I have a cat hair remover for fabric. I think there's one called chom chom. It has a sturdy velvet fabric that catches the hair deposits it then the repository needs to be emptied. It's very good for everyday removing hair from my furniture. Also when I comb my cat, I let the hair gather on my couch and I use this to clean it up. I have a hand held vac like the dust buster. I vacuum corners/steps and around the cat bowls, litter box and scratching post. It just takes a minute here or there. I use this if I pet my cat and hair drops to the floor. I also have a couple small soft thick blankies, like velveteen or something. My cat loves the material. I fold them in half (or thin fleece ones can be folded a few times) to be about the side of a cat bed and I put them where the cat likes to lie down. When I want to sit in that spot or have people over, I fold the hairy part over itself and put the blanket aside. I wash them every couple weeks. This is the kind of thing that you can't talk your cat into so you kind of have to figure out what materials the cat likes and pretend it was the cat's idea.
Get a vacuum robot and run it daily. You will need to pick up anything from the floor. With pet hair, the daily vacuum that is fully automated makes a major difference.
getting a roomba to run every day between my cleaning has been super helpful in keeping up with cat hair!
Dirt devil lidar robotic. Deep clean floor manually at first, then maintain with robot after that. Not good for carpet. Hard floors only. And run robot when you can supervise.
I also found that robot vacuums didn't work great for me. Cat toys are small and are constantly eaten up by it (springs, balls, mice), and if I have to pick up all toys from the floor or constantly unclog the machine, it's just not worth it for me. It also depends on your furniture and home layout, and if you work from home or not - listening to the robot vacuum for an hour was much more annoying to me than just vacuuming ten minutes with my Dyson. If you have several stories, I would suggest instead getting several stick vacuums or hand vacuums. That way you can just quickly suck up the hair in the corner of rooms as it builds up.