I have one and I agree, with the caveat that it takes 6kw of electric, which is rather more relevant than it used to be. (I’m not sure how that compares to the cost of cleaning or paying someone, though). Just thought it was worth mentioning.
We have a dark hour. Dinner is served, and the wifi goes off. (We do not have live TV). It does not go back on until shoes and bags are away, lunches are made, timetables are checked and bags packed for tomorrow, pets are taken care of, dirty laundry is in the basket, the table is cleared and the dishwasher unloaded (her job) and reloaded (mine). She wipes the surfaces down and I clean the sink. I will stand over her and hound her to do every single thing, properly, every time. Then she can have wifi back. No biggie for me, I can just read a book. Since I have been doing this, I note there is a lot more putting things away as you go along happening. Yay! It take about 20 minutes, usually, although it was a bit longer at first.
I’m wfh and self employed. Every morning, I bring down a load of laundry and put a wash on, put dishes in the dishwasher and start it, empty the bin and the recycling if they need it and clean up after the dogs. I start our old fashioned robot hoover in the kitchen or DDs room, move it the sitting room or my bedroom in my coffee break and the hall or landing when I go out with the dogs at lunchtime (because that’s the most annoying noise) takes about 15 mins after DD leaves for school at 8 and before I start work at 8.30 and just a minute to move the hoover and make sure there’s nothing for it eat. I also check my menu plan and make sure we have what I planned in, and get it out to defrost in my coffee break.
Once a week, DD’s job is to hoover the stairs while I mop the kitchen floor. Whenever I am on hold (often) I clean a bit of the bathrooms or go round with the duster. At the end of the day, I fold and put away yesterdays laundry off the airer and hang out todays. This gives me a handy excuse to pop in and out of DD’s room and check she is getting ready for bed and not getting distracted. I change the beds while she is in bath on Sundays and Thursdays for the same reason (swimming Tuesdays)
I decluttered pretty ruthlessly. It helps that DD is 12 and now out of the toy phases, Although I do need to have a last push to actually getting rid of the stuff in the spare room (which is rammed) and to be fair, my office could do with a bit of blitz, too. (I just need to finish putting up some shelves and get my bedroom decorated. We won’t mention the garage.) It also helps that we have kleptomaniac dogs that steal laundry, paper and cardboard, plastic and food and chew it, so she HAS to be tidy or they get told off or are at risk (this has helped enormously with DDs tidiness. She doesn’t care about me, but she hates her beloved dogs getting in trouble!)
Things like cleaning the windows or skirting boards just doesn’t happen. I’m hoping to get a cleaner to come in a do the weekly jobs soon, and they will do skirtings etc when we are on holiday. I know it sounds super-organised and probably a bit anal, but I get really overwhelmed and a little bit ansty when it gets bad and there’s only me, so blitzing a mess takes forever when you’re doing everything else as well. I find it works better to keep on top of it, and not get behind. It’s an adapted flylady method. No idea if she’s still going, and the whole hog wasn’t for me, but I’ve taken what works for my life.