The Best Cleaning Tools For Tackling Every Type of Mess!

1. Dyson Cordless Vacuum

Do you have a cordless vacuum? It’s a house cleaning game changer! After using one for the first time a few years back, I knew that I would never go back to corded! Not having to plug and unplug the vacuum as you move around your house is a huge time saver and I love how lightweight and maneuverable cordless vacuums are.

Two of the biggest players in the cordless vacuum game are Dyson and Shark. Both brands make excellent cordless vacuums. Which one is best for you depends on your budget and the features that you’re looking for.

My post on Shark vs. Dyson cordless vacuums has a complete breakdown of the pros and cons of these two brands:

Here’s the quick breakdown of my favorite picks:

My overall pick for best cordless vacuum: Dyson v15 Detect

The Dyson v15 Detect is an AMAZING vacuum! It has excellent suction, long run time, an LED display of remaining battery life, and tons of useful attachments. And the laser feature that shows hidden dirt and dust and hardwoods is pretty unbelievable:

It’s sold directly from Dyson {here} and on Amazon {here}.

My pick for best mid-priced cordless vacuum: Dyson v11

The Dyson v11 that you can find {here} is quite a bit less expensive than the v15 but is still an excellent vacuum so that would be my current pick if you’re looking for Dyson that has excellent performance at a mid-range price. It has most of the features of the Dyson v15 Detect except for the fluffy cleaner head with laser. My post on Shark vs. Dyson cordless vacuums has more details on the features on the Dyson v11 versus other models.

I don’t recommend the older Dyson v7 and v8 models because they are significantly less powerful. If you chose not to buy a Dyson v11 or v15 because of the price, in my opinion it’s better to go with one of the newer Sharks.

The best budget-friendly cordless vacuum: Shark Vertex

“Budget-friendly” is a relative term when you’re talking about cordless vacuums because they’re pricier than their corded counterparts. But the best bang for the buck in cordless vacuums is, in my opinion, the Shark Vertex including {this recent model}. Two of my favorite features are the multi-flex feature that makes it easy to vacuum under furniture and the battery that can be charged in a separate location from the rest of the vacuum.

2. Power Scrubber

It’s a small but mighty cleaning tool! I LOVE {this rotating spin brush} that’s gets in all of the tight spots that a toothbrush does but does the work for you with a battery-operated brush spinner. The scrubbing head that it comes with is awesome for everything from deep cleaning around the base of toilets to cleaning the track of sliding shower doors and the crevices around bathroom faucets:

It’s also amazing for cleaning grout when you swap out the regular head for the grout head:

Of course it helps to know what grout cleaners to use too! Check out my post on how to clean floor tile grout where I share the best grout cleaners (along with the ones that don’t work so well…).

3. Carpet Cleaner

What about the best cleaning tools for carpet? If you have the storage space for it, we have {this upright carpet cleaner} that I’ve been really happy with!

I used it to clean several of our rugs before we rolled them up to move to our new home and even though there were no visible stains, the amount of dirt it sucked out was pretty crazy!

If you’re looking for more of a spot cleaner or simply don’t have the room to store an upright carpet cleaner, {this Bissell spot cleaner} is a great choice:

It does a much better job of suctioning the water out of the carpet than portable carpet cleaners I’ve had in the past. What’s probably my favorite feature is that it has a hydrorinse self cleaning tool that cleans the hose (my old portable carpet cleaners definitely got smelly due to dirty hoses over time!):

4. Deep Clean Brush Set

There are some things I like about having a front loading washing machine (like how much more you can wash in one load) and others that I don’t, including how gross the seal can get. I love {this mini deep clean brush set} for an occasional washing machine deep clean! The small brush is perfect for scrubbing the crevices of the seal with diluted bleach:

And the other end of the brush works perfectly for cleaning any built-up gunk out of the holes in the seal:

Get the full step by step tutorial in my post on how to clean your washing machine.

5. Dryer Vent Cleaner

Your dryer’s even more important to keep clean since trapped lint is such a fire hazard. Along with cleaning out the lint trap with every load, the lint trapped further in your dryer should be cleaned out occasionally too. I deep clean mine using {this flexible vacuum hose attachment} hooked up to my cordless vacuum:

It’s also important to occasionally clean out the full length of your dryer exhaust vent – if you have a fairly short length of venting you may be able to simply vacuum it out from outside but if you have a longer run, consider a cleaner such as {this dryer vent cleaning brush} that cleans up to 30 feet of dryer vent or hire a duct/vent cleaning professional.

6. Handheld Vacuum

I love having a handheld vacuum that’s lightweight and easy to grab for cleaning up small messes. A few years ago a friend (thanks Kelly!) recommended {this Shark Wandvac} (also found {here}) and it’s been a winner! It has great suction, is super slim & takes up hardly any countertop space, and has a holder for the two attachments in its charging base:

One attachment is a duster crevice tool that’s great for cleaning junk out of slider door tracks and getting into other tight locations including the cracks of your sofa. The other attachment is a multi-surface pet tool that works great for vacuuming Cricket hair off of our sectional:

I also loves that the dust bin empties with a single push of a button. They just came out with a new model of the WandVac that has an even longer runtime so check that out too {here}.

7. Spray Mop

For wet cleaning our hardwood floors, I think the best cleaning tool is {this O-Cedar spray mop} which has machine washable microfiber mop heads. I love that the heads are double sided so once one side begins to get dirty I can flip it over and use the other.

I also love that you can fill the bottle with your favorite hardwood floor cleaning solution or just wanter. You dispense the solution while mopping with a simple pull of the trigger near the handle.

Another option is {this O-Cedar spin mop & bucket} if you prefer a more traditional mop and bucket set-up. See my post on how to clean hardwood floors for more tips on getting your hardwoods sparkling clean.

8. Glass Spray Bottles & Microfiber Cloths

I have and love these glass spray bottles for my most commonly used cleaners including one filled with white vinegar, another with my countertop spray that comes in a concentrated refill, and a third filled with laundry pre-treating solution:

I’ve had my spray bottles for years so the bottom of the bottle just has a simple silicone sleeve but the current version has a sleeve with a window that shows a label of what’s inside the bottle. I got my bottles directly from Grove Collaborative {here} but you can now also find them at Target {here} and Amazon {here}.

I also have {this set of microfiber cloths} that I use with my sprayers for cleaning countertops, windows, and more. They clean so much better than paper towels and are machine washable and reusable so are better for the environment too.

9. Kitchen Appliance Cleaning Set

Another cleaning tool I frequently use is {this kitchen appliance cleaning set} that’s awesome for cleaning hard-to-reach spaces all over the kitchen (not just appliances).

The angled scraper head on one of the brushes is great for cleaning the hard to reach spots of my waffle iron, vases, soap pump tray,

and more. I use the flat paddle scraper to clean the crevices around our cooktop and kitchen sink:

and the small loop brush for cleaning hard to reach areas such as those around my blender blade:

10. Dyson Omni-Glide

In our previous house I was spoiled by having a toe kick vacuum in our island that I swept everything on our kitchen floor into – it was so quick and easy! I was missing having that easy option in our new kitchen so bought {this Dyson Omni-Glide} to do the job and it’s the best!

It has two fluffy rollerheads that are made specifically for cleaning hard surfaces (hardwoods, tile, etc.). The Omni-Glide picks up even the smallest crumbs and debris, is cordless and super maneuverable, and works well on my low pile rugs too.

It comes with several attachments that turn it into a lightweight handheld with great reach (which is awesome for sucking up cobwebs!):

11. Shower Squeegee

The key to keeping your glass shower doors clean is a shower squeegee! Taking two minutes to squeegee off the glass after the last person uses the shower in the morning prevents water spots and makes cleaning a breeze. I recommend {this 10″ squeegee} that we keep on the shelf of {this bench} in our shower:

You can see more of our bathroom in our bathroom remodel before and after reveal!

12. Extendable Duster

Coming from Connecticut, we didn’t have a single ceiling fan in our home but we’ve got a bunch of them in our new home in NC. After replacing one of the dated ceiling fans with {this acrylic blade fan}, I knew I’d need an easy solution for occasionally cleaning the blades.

I bought {this extendable duster} and it’s awesome! The microfiber cover is removable and machine washable and you can bend the head in the perfect shape to clean your fan blades:

Room Sources:  Queen beadboard bed (weathered white)  |  Blue & white quilted shams (similar) |  Navy embroidered lumbar pillow cover ( with {this} pillow insert) |  Navy border duvet cover  |   USB Lamp (similar) |  Round mirror

or to grab dust behind furniture:

or even clean your baseboards (without bending over!):

Definitely a worthwhile buy!

And with that, I’d LOVE to hear about any of your favorite deep cleaning house tools that weren’t on my list! Thanks as always for stopping by the blog!