Spring Cleaning?

cat nap said:

 
"@San Tan, I was just wondering  how good your Roomba is at suctioning in cat fur or dog fur?.  And does it run for an hour or shorter on one charge?

Second question:  How do you maintain the areas where things have already been cleaned?  I mean, do you just avoid putting things in the wrong location?  Or are you constantly moving items back to  their proper places?"

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Cat Nap,

I purchased the Roomba 650, which is specifically for pet owners. It does a pretty good job, but should be cleaned and the bin emptied after each session. It is AMAZING how much stuff, particularly hair, gets deposited in the carpets in one day. The first time I used it, I had just vacuumed throughout the day before with the big, heavy Hoover upright and still had to empty the bin twice just in the living room. After that, it got less and less, but still picks up a fair amount each run.

You have to prepped the areas and should be home the first few times you run it to see where it is likely to hang up on something. Examples would be telephone cords or soft cat toys or the long trailing ones that will wrap around the brushes. It can also jam itself under low clearance furniture, like my dresser, as it tends to follow the line of the object. I just roll up a throw rug and shove it under the middle part as a barrier and it does fine. You can leave dining chairs down or put them up if you want a complete clean of the areas under the table, etc. I pretty much have it down to a routine now so it's about 5 minutes of prep and away it goes.

It has a timer you can set to run at the same times/days, etc. I've never used it since I am home most of the time anyway.  The cats aren't exactly afraid of it. More like suspicious. They follow it around and peer around the corners at it when it runs.

My house is approx. 1500 sq. feet. The Roomba will complete approx. 600 square feet before needing a recharge (it recharges quite quickly, btw), so I do one half the house one day and the other half the next and so on.

It does NOT do a great job with kitty litter or small bits (like kitty food crumbs) on hardwood, tile or linoleum that collect in the laundry/kitty box room or the kitchen. It tends to just bat them around and I end up hauling out the canister vac. Fortunately, they are small areas in my house.

As for maintaining the "cleaned" areas, it's probably easier for me as it's just me and the two kitties. Also it helps that I am not a stacker. When I change clothes, I make the decision right then whether it's the washer or the closet and either hang it up or stuff it in the tub to be sorted later. Mom was right. Procrastinating and letting it all pile up just makes twice as much work later on. Pretty soon I would have messes everywhere and get depressed, not knowing exactly where to begin setting it all right again, so now I'm a 'defensive" housekeeper. LOL!  Hope that helps.

SanTan said:

 

 Also it helps that I am not a stacker. When I change clothes, I make the decision right then whether it's the washer or the closet and either hang it up or stuff it in the tub to be sorted later. Mom was right. Procrastinating and letting it all pile up just makes twice as much work later on. Pretty soon I would have messes everywhere and get depressed, not knowing exactly where to begin setting it all right again, so now I'm a 'defensive" housekeeper. LOL!  Hope that helps.

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This totally helps! Thank you, for the detailed info on the Roomba. I always like it when I hear reviews from people who have actually used the product more than once. 

The second part describes me to a tee, but I am going to incorporate points that have been made on this thread, and just do it.

  No more procrastinating. 

Hurray for you! And more than welcome on the Roomba review.

SanTan said:

 
Hurray for you! And more than welcome on the Roomba review.

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Thanks, but now I am so tired. ..lol... and its only 9:30pm.....got half done.  Listened to music while hanging the clothes and will do a load of laundry now.

Do you have any junk drawers in your place, I mean drawers where you put stuff that doesn' t really belong anywhere?  How often do you clean out a drawer like that?

cat nap said:

 
lol.....what an absolutely smart guy.  He saw the problem and took care of it fast. lol    

But since you said that you can actually clean your house in 2 days, I am thinking he got his speed from you and not his dad.  I am pretty sure of it.

  lol

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When I start cleaning, I rip through. I try not to stop until it's pretty much done. Dear Richard, however, tends to get lost in the shuffle, so to speak. He'll start shredding papers, for example, and an hour later he's still shredding papers because he had to read every paper, every letter, every word. When he goes through the recycling, he finds articles in the newspapers and magazines that he hadn't read yet, so he'll flop down to read for a while. I like to get it all done....he likes to mosey his way through. So yeah, I'd say that our son tends to take after me more so than his dad in that respect.

(And our son was quite the character as he was growing up.  I used to tell him that when he had a little boy, I hoped his little boy was just like him. And our grandson acts just like our son did....and so does our granddaughter. I can't tell you how many times DS has called me to ask, "Mom, how did you ever make it through my childhood?" And I always reply that it wasn't easy!)

Winchester said:

 

When I start cleaning, I rip through. I try not to stop until it's pretty much done. Dear Richard, however, tends to get lost in the shuffle, so to speak. He'll start shredding papers, for example, and an hour later he's still shredding papers because he had to read every paper, every letter, every word. When he goes through the recycling, he finds articles in the newspapers and magazines that he hadn't read yet, so he'll flop down to read for a while. I like to get it all done....he likes to mosey his way through. So yeah, I'd say that our son tends to take after me more so than his dad in that respect.

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(And our son was quite the character as he was growing up.

 I used to tell him that when he had a little boy, I hoped his little boy was just like him. And our grandson acts just like our son did....and so does our granddaughter. I can't tell you how many times DS has called me to ask, "Mom, how did you ever make it through my childhood?" And I always reply that it wasn't easy!)

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Yes, that is why I never finish...I like to  "mosey (on) through" as well.     

I better get CAA to cancel sending me their magazines, since I hardly ever read them, and they just end up in a pile, plus I can probably read everything online anyhow.

It is nice that your son now realizes all the hard work you had to do back then.  It is like he is telling you "thanks mom, for all the stuff you did".   He sounds like he turned out to be a fine man (phones his mom).  (thanks TO his mom, and also dad ).

Not yet, still bit snow on ground, but after their winter coats are changed to summer coats, then it is time for Spring cleaning as it would be just pointless to do now, amount of fur from 5 of them is so much that it is just better to wait and have lot of fur everywhere until that coat change finishes.

I think there should be drive in brushing machines for cats, bow with walls made of brush so cat can walk trough and fur would get into brush walls, would help with ones too shy to be brushed.

JTbo said:

Not yet, still bit snow on ground, but after their winter coats are changed to summer coats, then it is time for Spring cleaning as it would be just pointless to do now, amount of fur from 5 of them is so much that it is just better to wait and have lot of fur everywhere until that coat change finishes.

I think there should be drive in brushing machines for cats, bow with walls made of brush so cat can walk trough and fur would get into brush walls, would help with ones too shy to be brushed.

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You know, this is a really good idea.  I have seen plastic archways for sale so the cat can self groom its fur by rubbing against it.

Do you think that you could design a part of lower wall, with some type of wooden branches that act like a brush, so that a cat could scratch or rub its fur against it.  Almost weave the branches for strength.

But what kind of wood branch would it have to be, to attach to wall, and be strong enough not to break when dry..?

cat nap said:

You know, this is a really good idea.  I have seen plastic archways for sale so the cat can self groom its fur by rubbing against it.

Do you think that you could design a part of lower wall, with some type of wooden branches that act like a brush, so that a cat could scratch or rub its fur against it.  Almost weave the branches for strength.

But what kind of wood branch would it have to be, to attach to wall, and be strong enough not to break when dry..?

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Bow should of been Box, odd typo.

Birch is strong wood, some make still brooms out from it, but I don't know if such would work, it would be lot of work to do brush from that, thousands of small sticks.

I just need to hold brush and more ad*****d of my cats come and do the brushing themselves, I have put some 'spike mat' to wall, but so far they have not figured out how they could use that for brushing. Those brushes with metal spikes seem to be something they like to use.

It would make spring cleaning easier if they all would brush themselves

Maybe I just get those cheap brushes and attach those to inside walls of boxes, that way they would learn quickly meaning of such step in 'tunnel'

JTbo said:

Bow should of been Box, odd typo.

Birch is strong wood, some make still brooms out from it, but I don't know if such would work, it would be lot of work to do brush from that, thousands of small sticks.

I just need to hold brush and more ad*****d of my cats come and do the brushing themselves, I have put some 'spike mat' to wall, but so far they have not figured out how they could use that for brushing. Those brushes with metal spikes seem to be something they like to use.
..........
Maybe I just get those cheap brushes and attach those to inside walls of boxes, that way they would learn quickly meaning of such step in 'tunnel'

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I am not sure my 14 yr old cat would want to walk through a box tunnel, but if I try to get those soft dollar store brushes, or that spike mat,maybe he would like it....lol.....It never hurts to try.

Did you ever consider to "Patent" some of those ideas, especially the "box with brushes" one, because I have seen archways, and tunnels but never a box.

See here:http://www.google.com/patents/US20120222627

But I do not know how all that patent stuff works and the costs involved or procedure.  

 It would make spring cleaning easier if they all would brush themselves 

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LOL....I totally agree with the above statement....why can't they brush themselves??  LOL

(the only good thing about brushing them, is I find it relaxing, and I can feel their bodies for any unusual lumps or cuts and stuff.)

I have two that run away when I pick up a brush, two that come and brush themselves and one who is quite bit of ignorant, but when attempting to brush him he turns into liquid and vanishes from the lap like being sand or liquid, I don't know how he does it, he does not seem to struggle, but all of sudden he fells to floor and runs to his stalking location near the door, however brushing him would be almost pointless as his fur never gets tangled actually his fur is always the same never any issue and never changes a bit.

Wish all of them would find brushing to be fun.

I don't think that I would really be able to all the bureaucracy needed for patenting something, I'm exhausted even with voting forms where you have only one place to write number in

If any of my ideas ever gets in use where people or cats will benefit from them, that is more than enough for me

BTW, just moment ago I found out that there are quite a large areas on my yard that have fur, all kind of bushes have fur hanging from them too, so does it mean I have to do spring cleaning not only inside but outside too, oeh noes I say =:-0

JTbo said:

I don't think that I would really be able to all the bureaucracy needed for patenting something, I'm exhausted even with voting forms where you have only one place to write number in

If any of my ideas ever gets in use where people or cats will benefit from them, that is more than enough for me

BTW, just moment ago I found out that there are quite a large areas on my yard that have fur, all kind of bushes have fur hanging from them too, so does it mean I have to do spring cleaning not only inside but outside too, oeh noes I say =:-0

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Yes, I hate paperwork, too.  Today, I was  looking for some papers for filling of income taxes....and just got too tired looking for the receipts.  If I were better organized, I should have left them all in a shoebox.  That would have been easier to find.

LOL....You don't have to do spring cleaning outside yet....Let Mother Nature and the Wind do it for you....lol.

It is good that your cats at least are using branches outside for brushing.  Maybe they come inside, and you want to brush them again,  and they have already combed their fur...lol....You would then just mess up their, "hairstyle"...."fur style".

 You have very smart cats.

If they could only do chores, then it would be good.