How long can you go with out vacuuming?

[chillipenguin]

Before it becomes a health hazard to have so much dust.

We don’t have a dining room so all meals have to be eaten in the living room. So there is usually mess to be hoovered after each meal, especially when toddlers are involved.

my son plays football everyday and despite removing shoes at the door there is usually either mud, sand or black rubber bits from the astroturf that end up everywhere.

Add a long haired black cat into the mix and the hoovering is never ending.

Don’t know about what’s healthy or ‘right’ but do what you think suits you, there’s no laws regarding hoovering nor, afaik, any threat to life from dust, altho it may be a bit manky.
Personally I feel I have to hoover every other day or so. I have a 10 month old son, a husband who is constantly covered in straw and corn dust, two dogs who live in the house and we live on a farm. It needs it everyday but who’s got the time? 😂

We have a manual carpet sweeper. It's not as good as the hoover but it's ok for a quick clean up.

Unless you already have one or can get one for free I doubt if it's worth the saving in electricity.

I think it would be many days before it was a health hazard. However I have to vacuum every day or alternate days because I have 2 dogs that shed a lot of hair and the floors look awful if I don’t (and it clogs the vacuum up if I leave it any longer).

I don't think there's a health hazard associated with dust OP (unless anyone in your family has allergies or you didn't hoover for literally years). So I think it's more about how things look and how you feel about that. Maybe play it by ear rather than deciding now.

My ex inlaws had one. ExFIL would go around every morning (that we stayed anyway) bashing it into the bedroom doors and that was his least obnoxious activity for the day.

good ones are GREAT & I'd be tempter (as my hoover is a Henry and he's corded & heavy), but Im happier without a daily reminder of the nasty wanker.

@chillipenguin I must admit, I hadn't even considered the hoover when thinking about electricity, I hoovered the main living areas yesterday, if I thought I'd have checked to see how many units it takes, I was going to hoover the bedrooms etc today, but you have a good point.

@lightand

tgeres a world of difference between brand and old/new ones

Wow this is an eye opener!

My DF went over a year (at least) with no hoovering. (Pattern carpets, no pets). It wasn't that bad! There wasn't a layer of dust or anything it just wasn't fresh.

I can't hoover due to disabilities. Now I have an eufy I put it on every day, but it obviously doesn't do corners etc. Previously I'd nag DP to do it but left to him it'd be once a month. He thought weekly was a very high standard to keep! This was an ongoing argument for years, hence the eufy!

@chillipenguin

unless anyone in your house is going to start licking the carpets (or has a real allergy) then it's going to be a VERY long time before it's a health hazard., we're talking years not months, certainly not A month.

if you're trying to cut back on energy, then just do it when it's starting to bother you. The only thing I'd add is that it's not good for the carpet, especially if it has any length to it. As the dirt, when the carpet is walked on, does wear away at the fibres at the base. But it take a very long time to be noticeable.

I rarely vacuum downstairs. It’s hard floors so I use a broom once or twice a day and use the mini vacuum just to vacuum the pile of crap I gather (though dustpan and brush would obviously work too). Stairs need vacuuming at least once a week here. Upstairs is probably okay for two weeks.

Cost - my 800w Shark vacuum cleaner will cost 20p for ten mins when the 50+p a kwh price rise comes in. I think a Eufy will cost about the same to run on a full charge if you leave it on standby all day and run once.

Healthwise, I don't suppose it's going to hurt unless you have a dust allergy, but I do know that when I vacuum our bedroom, the one room the cats aren't allowed in, once a week, I can see the dust filling the vacuum cleaner canister. There's much less in the winter when the window is open less.

I am definitely going to try not to use my tumble dryer and I'm going to cut back on my oven use and central heating. Vacuuming can stay.

Ok thank you. Yes I'll see how it goes. Just panicking a bit I think.

My mum thought like you. She doesn't know how bullied I got because of 'friends' telling everyone at school how dusty my house was when they visited. I still protect her from it 20 years later but don't visit her much because the dust just makes me feel ill and sad

After two weeks it looks a bit grubby here but can push it to at least 3 without it becoming a health hazard. No DC or pets here though and we don’t wear shoes indoors. So I usually do it every two weeks unless we’ve made a particular mess.

No more than a day - multicat household.

Depends entirely on lifestyle. If you can be clean and tidy and only eat in certain rooms, never wear shoes indoors and stuff like that you could probably string it out a fair while. Pets shoes and children will send that time plummeting.

Not sure about a health hazard, but I've cut down from twice a week to once. I've gone over a couple of rooms that are laminate with dustpan and brush.

Getting side tracked, I'm only ironing items that really need it and any tshirts are only getting one on the front. Also, trying to wear some clothes a bit more and string out changing the bedding/towels.

I have a cordless so a few times a day I spot clean. The whole house could manage once a week. Before I had the cordless a sweep was just as good.

I have a robotic hoover which goes out twice a day. With a dog and kids and wooden floors I can't cope with the mess that's created

If I only hoovered ever few days my house would look a tip.

Depends really on your standards and how messy your household is. I have got to be honest with tiled floors where we eat I have gone 6 weeks. Broken hoover. Wasnt great looking but I didn't feel it was dusty or dangerous. Just wouldn't have wanted any unexpected guests.

Upstairs I can sometimes leave a week or two if life gets hectic. With kids you can see the mess. They just emit little bits of paper etc.

Every other day I hoover the rugs. Upstairs is carpeted and that gets done twice a week. I do it once during the week, dh does it at the weekend when he’s off.

I sweep the kitchen everyday, it’s hardwood flooring and needs a sweep every day or it’s filled with crumbs & bits.

It only takes me 5 minutes to hoover so not exactly time consuming, same with sweeping.

Needs to be done every day due to cats using litter trays.

I live on my own with no pets but pale carpets. Pre-covid, I used to have a cleaner once a fortnight and I think it was noticeable that the carpets needed doing the last two or three days (not dirty but the odd dark thread etc) so I would say every 10 days. Obviously I hoovered up any spills / crumbs in between cleaner’s visits.

These days I WFH and just do them when they look like they need it - I don’t keep track. Probably once or twice a week or so for the roomba (which I didn’t have when I had a cleaner) and once a month around the skirting boards, moving furniture etc.

My house needs hoovering about 6 times a day because I shed hair like an entire pack of huskies.

But I do it maybe twice a week because our house is 4 stories and I can’t be arsed to drag our big ass hoover up and down all the stairs. My husband does it once a week on his day off because he likes to shake and vac.

Bloody hell! Why do people hoover so much?! I hoover once every 2 weeks. Kitchen and utility is hard floor so sweep that every other day. Our living room and bedroom are hardwood floors but even then I don't sweep them more than I hoover although I could if needed.