The best apps and gadgets for tidying your home

Cleaning is a never-ending chore – new dust and dirt lurking in the corners, ready to destroy your hard work. But even if you can’t get rid of the chores completely, you can organize your room faster with the right apps and devices. Here are nine products that can help you reduce cleaning time and give you more time to do other things.

1. Sortly

Before you start scrubbing, you need to organize your items scattered around your home. Once the debris is out of sight, the Sortly app (for Android and iOS, for free or $5 per month) will remind you where to put the items.

When you pack each item, take a photo and add a label or comment on its location. This will help organize your collections from vinyl records to children’s toys. You can also record the value of each item in case you decide to sell stored items later.

The app stores up to 100 items for free, but to unlock unlimited storage and the ability to access your inventory online, you will need to pay a $5 monthly subscription fee.

2. Neato Robotics D7

Instead of forcing yourself to get out your vacuum cleaner weekly or even daily, invest in a robot to do the job for you. This type of device picks up dust and dirt as it moves on carpets and hard surfaces and automatically returns to its base for charging.

Of the many products, we recommend the Neato Robotics D7 ($800 on Amazon). Its features include smart obstacle avoidance, coping with corners and gaps, and remote operation—you can control it with your phone or voice commands, such as the Amazon Echo or Google Home smart speaker. You just need to empty the bin occasionally.

3. TaskRabbit

You don't have to do everything yourself. TaskRabbit (for Android and iOS, free) connects you with people who are willing to help. These "task performers" will help you complete a variety of tasks, including cleaning and tidying.

The advantage of this app is its simplicity. You can see at a glance who can help you, how much they will charge, and what type of feedback they get from their previous employers (the company reviews these freelancers in advance to make sure they are qualified). The application handles every step of the process, from communication to booking to payment. It can even help you set up regular repeat access.

4. Welikera Dust Buster Cordless

Even if there are robot vacuums working around the clock, you will have some minor problems that are easier to deal with by hand. That's why you need a compact, rechargeable, lightweight mini vacuum cleaner – a dust collector. Since you don't have to deal with the weight of a large vacuum cleaner and dragged wires, this type of device will allow you to clean faster.

We like the relatively cheap Welikera Dust Buster Cordless ($61 on Amazon). It will be fully charged in less than four hours, and the fully charged battery provides 25 minutes of cleaning power. The vacuum cleaner comes with several accessories for different cleaning tasks, as well as a removable, washable stainless steel filter for enhanced suction. It even has an LED light to check for hidden dirt in dark corners.

5. Tody

Keep a tidy home requires dozens of small tasks, each with its own schedule. Tody (for iOS only, $7) will organize all these chores.

The app classifies cleaning work into simple categories and allows you to assign priority and frequency to each category. It then uses a clear-cut progress bar to track this information, telling you immediately what you need to do next. It also contains information about how many people are responsible for specific chores.

The only real drawback is that Tody cannot be used on Android devices. If you want a similar one-stop housekeeping app, try Chore Checklist (only for Android, $2).

6. Fellowes Powershred 99Ci

When you organize and store files, you will encounter unnecessary documents, brochures, flyers, and spam. You want to throw away the trash – but in your trash can, it’s very vulnerable to identity thieves and snooping neighbors. To destroy it correctly, you need to feed it into a shredder.

Fellowes Powershred 99Ci ($200 on Amazon) can cut 18 sheets of paper (including staples and paper clips) into cross-slices at a time. In fact, its "mouth" is powerful enough to handle CDs and credit cards. When the 9-gallon pull-out bin is full (which takes a while), the light will flash, reminding you to empty the trash.

In addition to removing garbage, paper shredders can also help you achieve paperlessness at home. First, scan your important files and back up these digital copies. Then destroy the paper version to protect your privacy.

7. Pocket Casts

Ah, there is no smartphone app that can really do your housework for you. But they can provide entertainment and allow housework time to pass by. Podcasts are a particularly good choice because it won’t force you to stare at a distracting screen, and you can listen through the speakers while doing quiet tasks and wear headphones to listen while doing noisy work like vacuuming.

There are a lot of podcast apps, but our favorite is Pocket Casts (for Android and iOS, $4). It has an intuitive interface, including convenient features such as variable speed control and automatic mute trimming in addition to standard podcast features. Pocket Casts is also great for beginners as it contains a vibrant discovery section that can help you find new listening content.

However, podcasts are not for everyone. If you prefer reading, listen to audiobooks using Audible ($15 per month for Android and iOS). Or play your favorite music with music playback apps like Spotify (for Android and iOS, free or $10 per month).

8. Amazon Echo

Apart from other features, smart speakers can help you with housework. Even if your hands are busy cleaning, these devices allow you to issue voice commands to make sure you spend the right amount of time on each chore (“Alexa, set a five-minute timer”) or control the aforementioned Neato robot Vacuum cleaners and other equipment.

As you organize your room, the Amazon Echo ($100 at Amazon) gives you hands-free access to weather conditions, news titles, calendar events and of course your podcasts, audiobooks and music collections. As developers continue to add “skills” to Echo speakers, you can use Alexa for more chore-related tasks, such as editing your shopping list and setting up to-do memos and reminders.

9. OurHome

While Tody is an excellent chore management app, OurHome (for Android and iOS, free) is a better choice if your family includes multiple people. It assigns tasks and responsibilities to roommates or family members, including children.

Like Tody, OurHome checks completed tasks and allows you to easily see what still needs to be completed and when. It also encourages task completion by paying assistants for child-friendly stickers and points. You can incorporate the latter into your own reward system by allowing kids to redeem points for pocket money rewards or having roommates compete for the highest score. Other team-friendly features include sharing shopping lists and calendars to organize your home routine.

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