You may have noticed a little extra pep in your step yesterday. March 20, at least in the northern hemisphere, is the first official day of Spring.
And now that we’ve taken a day to appreciate the thawing temperatures and budding flora, it is time to get down to the serious business of this new season: spring cleaning.
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An unofficial American tradition, spring cleaning is an annual exercise in which homeowners perform a deep cleaning, and often times a purge, of their property as a release from the stuffy and hibernative confines of winter.
It is an exhausting, possibly anxiety-inducing action that ultimately is rewarding.
So how do you reap just rewards and avoid the more sinister Saturday-stealing side effects of spring cleaning? Through semi-sentient robots and other intelligent services, of course.
Below, some smart home products that will help mitigate the misery of spring cleaning by making cleanliness and organization a daily, pain-free, and often times automated process.
I, Roomba
So great is the debt humanity owes the iRobot family of products that when our Roombas become fully aware, mankind will accept our new automaton overlords with grace and minimal rioting.
iRobot’s has tackled some of the most time-consuming tasks for homeowners across multiple terrains through a suite of top-of-the-line technology: the Roomba (vacuuming; $375 to $900), the Braava (mopping; $200 to $300), the Looj (gutter cleaning; $300) and the Mirra (pool cleaning; $1000).
Each of these moderately sized mechs can be fully automated to perform their cleaning routines, but if you’re uncomfortable with even that level of sentience, iRobot offers the opportunity to control the devices via accompanying apps or remotes.
In either case you can be confident that the dutiful devices will perform their tasks quietly and competently, and along set schedules if you so desire.
Furthermore, iRobot has demonstrated a continuing commitment to improving the automated cleaner bot experience.
A recent app update for the elite-level Roomba (the 900 series) will now allow your Roomba to map your home and identify the dirtiest areas in your house. The Roomba will use that information and perform deeper cleans on the trouble spots—and you can use that information to shame the messiest family members..
An additional update coming this spring will allow users to control their Roomba with voice commands via Amazon’s Alexa.
A Super Bowl
Is there any aspect of home cleaning that is more dreadful that the bathroom? No. No, there is not.
The chemical-heavy process of purifying porcelain, and squeezing into small spaces to do so, takes its toll both physically and psychically.
More:How to Build an Intelligent Bathroom
And, of the many unglamorous tasks required of cleansing the bathroom, the toilet remains the top-tier—for reasons that are obvious and unspeakable here.
Fortunately, there is now a better way to beautify your bowl.
Buy a new bowl.
Introducing the American Standard ActiClean.
This smart, self-cleaning commode features a hidden control panel atop the tank that includes two-cleaning cycle actions, Quick and Deep Clean. With just the touch of a button, ActiClean owners can achieve a clean (and scented!) bowl without getting their hands dirty.
The ActiClean is available at retailers for $350.
A ‘Bedder’ Way to Wake Up
You’re unlikely to find a daily task that is as rewarding, and yet as universally avoided, as making your bed.
Sure, it is a simple chore, physically speaking, but for a sizable portion of the population, it represents a mental mountaintop, which either by exhaustion or expediency, they can not summit.
More:Rise and Shine Brighter With a Smart Bedroom
So how to make bed making an activity you will accomplish each day? Take yourself out of the equation.
The Smart Duvet is a self-inflating sheet solution that will ensure that every night you come home to a well-arranged resting spot.
Harnessing the power of air, iOS/Android app technology and "featherweight space age fabric," Smart Duvet users simply program the time they want their bed to make itself each day and the Smart Duvet, which is compatible with most duvet or comforter covers, does the rest—self-inflating via a network of air chambers at the scheduled time.
This small act of automated organization, imbued with accomplishment, will aid you as you attempt to bring equally satisfying order to other aspects of your life.
The Smart Duvet is available for pre-order fir $199 with delivery expected in May 2017.
Computerized Closet
Of course, spring cleaning isn’t solely about cleansing. There is also an important purging aspect to the process. But to purge with precision, you have to first pinpoint what you actually need/want to keep.
The GlamOutfit app (free to download) allows users to construct a digital dressing room that contains their entire wardrobe.
The log-in closet, which will require a little input from users upon start up, not only keeps you apprised of everything you own, but lets you schedule outfits for specific dates or occasions. Furthermore the app will offer attire advice, from a community of fashionistas, and construct outfits from items you own, or pieces you can purchase, based on input from the user on the occasion or look they are hoping to achieve.
Most importantly, GlamOutfit will help you keep track of what you wear—and what you don’t, which will make an annual clothing purge a painless process.