Cleaning Tools for a Tiny Apartment

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/realestate/cleaning-small-apartment.html

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I first laid eyes on a countertop dishwasher called Tetra at a consumer electronics convention in Las Vegas a few months ago. Just big enough to hold two place settings, it doesn’t require a faucet connection, unlike most other models.

I write about housekeeping, and I tend to be not overly impressed by new home appliances, but this was personal: As someone who lives in an exceedingly small, dishwasher-less Manhattan apartment, I want this appliance and I want it now. (Unfortunately, it won’t be available until later this year.)

Small apartment-dwellers — and their close relatives, the tiny house set — understand that maximizing space is crucial to living well in not-very-much square footage.

I know this, because I am one. I’m also a cleaning expert, which makes the reality of my 325-square-foot apartment — which is short on amenities, leaving dishes to be done by hand and dirty clothes to be lugged to laundromats — somewhat dispiriting. I live to do laundry! My kingdom for a washer/dryer!

But sulking will get me nowhere, and so in the nine years of living in what I’ve affectionately dubbed “The Lillypad” (named in a nod to both its size and my affection for Lilly Pulitzer prints), I’ve kept my eye out for tiny appliances and cleaning tools that will work in a dollhouse-sized apartment.

Smalls, the Vacuum

My life changed — and I do not say that with even a touch of hyperbole — when I got the Dyson DC44 Animal. I love this vacuum. In fact, I love this vacuum so much that I would marry it, in the event that any grammar school-aged children are reading this and are considering an attempt at nailing me with that old chestnut of a comeback. Amazon tells me that I purchased my Animal on Nov. 11, 2013 and, while I don’t use Smalls (that’s his name) every day, every day that do I use him, I feel happy. He makes my life better by being a part of it, truly.

When Smalls first came into my life, I had dark, Rapunzel-length hair that wanted nothing more than to free itself from my scalp and transmogrify into tumbleweed-like clumps that drifted all around my home. Post-Smalls, that hair no longer has the option of assembling militia-style, because I run my little vacuum as soon as I see a strand beginning its forward march.

And here’s where the beauty of this thing comes in: I can vacuum as much as I want, because Smalls makes it so easy for me to do so. He resides in a wall-mounted holster, which means I don’t have to dig him out of a closet. He’s cordless, which means I don’t have to fool with plugging him in. He’s super lightweight, so I can grab him, zip around my apartment picking up hair or stray Golden Grahams (late night cereal habits are no joke) and hang him back up without exerting any effort at all. I have gone Full Oprah — arms outstretched as I bellow to anyone who will listen, “I loooooove thiiiiiiis vacuuuuuuuuum!!!” — when talking about this machine, that is how strongly I feel about it.

Cleana Gershon the Mopping Robot

Vacuuming alone isn’t enough to keep my floors clean of New York City grime, and while my preferred method is to wash the floor on my hands and knees, which in my tiny kitchen only takes 7 minutes (I timed it!), the iRobot Braava jet Mopping Robot gets a lot of use — especially in the bathroom. Unlike the Roomba, iRobot’s popular robotic vacuum that is, frankly, far more vacuum than most small homes require, the Braava is tiny, measuring 7” by 3.3” and weighing 2.7 pounds. Her name is Cleana Gershon, and she is a love. (I’m a big Gina Gershon fan.) Here’s a neat feature: The machine can switch between wet, damp and dry cleaning, and can be fitted with disposable or launderable, reusable cleaning pads.

Other Pint-size Tools

Cleana Gershon the Braava resides in my bathroom, in the space that was freed up when I swapped a full-sized garment steamer and iron for the Reliable Dash Portable Garment Steamer, which features an ironing soleplate that can be used for pressing when steaming alone isn’t enough. Though I held onto my full-sized ironing board, which hangs out of the way from a wall-mounted iron caddy, portable ironing blankets are a good option for homes that are short on space.

It’s harder than it should be to find small trash cans, but after years of looking up, down and sideways for the perfect bin in which to stash a day or two’s worth of recycling, I finally found the perfect thing to fit in the tiny unused nook between my kitchen cabinets and front door. The Small Clear Rectangular Trash Can from The Container Store measures 6” x 9-1/4” x 11-3/4” and is deep enough to hold the stash of plastic grocery bags I use as liners to catch drips from bottles and cans, along with the bottles and cans themselves.

While all of my toys have made my life and my home better, there are two upgrades I still dream of making: I would love to create a hand crank washing machine and wall-mounted telescoping drying rack setup, so I can cut back on the number of trips I make to the laundromat each week. I’ve yet to identify the right spot for this fantasy laundry center.

But you can bet your bottom dollar that come fall, that Tetra will be mine. Now I just need to think of a name.