The Best Vacuum Cleaner Is Actually Two Vacuum Cleaners

There is nothing quite as gross as picking your bare foot off a wood floor and realizing that the bottom is covered in a cornucopia of food waste: onion peels, rice kernels, random spices. For too long, I subjected myself and my roommates to living like this. I would go through phases where this wasn’t the case, but every so often I’d realize it’d been two whole months since I had taken my vacuum out of its closet. And each time I did, even though I knew I was doing the right thing, I hated almost every part about that vacuum. I loved seeing my floors clean, but after the process of unraveling its cord, forcing its heavy body around, trying to hear myself think over the sound of its engine, re-raveling the cord, it didn’t feel worth it.

Reader, you don’t have to live like this. In fact, in order to be a Clean Person™, all that you might need is the best vacuum. But the best vacuum is not just one actually good vacuum. If you really want to keep your apartment clean, you need two actually good vacuums. Before you close this tab in disgust, hear me out. This is because the perfect vacuum does not exist. That kind of thing would quite literally clean your house for you. It’d be lightweight, quiet, extremely powerful and empty its canister on its own. There is no vacuum such as this. But there is, however, a combination of two vacuums that can achieve this. The best vacuum solution is owning two vacuums.

The first vacuum in your new setup should be a robot vacuum. I’ve been using the new Eufy 15C Max for the last few weeks in my apartment. Eufy makes a ton of very affordable, effective vacuums, each sold for around the same price but with a slew of different features. In independent testing by sites like Wired and Wirecutter, Eufy vacuums perform extraordinarily well. And for good reasons, these vacuums are all easy to set up and effective. It took me about 5 mins to get it set up on my Wi-Fi, so that I could activate it with my voice assistant or schedule cleanings to run while I’m at work.

Of course, while these bots are great for keeping the overall accumulation of dirt and debris down, they have limitations. They can’t get into the narrow nook in between my fridge and my wall. They can’t get the dust that accumulates in the moulding around our doors. They can’t always get untangled from cords and the fringes on a rug. Luckily, there exists a perfect companion for my robotic friend: another cordless cleaner.

The second vacuum you should get is a cordless stick vacuum. These vacuums are lightweight, easy to maneuver, and powerful. At GQ, our current favorite cordless stick vacuum is the Dyson Cyclone V10. I take it out anytime I notice something a little off in the room. When I see a stray kernel of Smartfood White Cheddar popcorn or a collection of lint hiding under my couch. I just pop my vacuum out of it’s charging station and push it over the problem area. It’s this easy.

There’s no unraveling of a cord, no lugging around a big canister, no alarmingly loud engine with the V10. That means that whenever I see a mess, something that my robot vacuum might have missed, I can get to it in less than 15 seconds. Once I’m there, I find myself just giving the whole room a once over. And then I’m spot cleaning the surfaces of my shelves. And then, I’m vacuuming the corners of my windows.

Since I’ve had both vacuums up and running, the amount of time I’ve spent worrying about my messiness has gone down drastically as the cleanliness of my apartment has gone up. The robot vacuum keeps things at a reasonable level of tidiness, while the cordless stick makes it almost effortless to do a deep clean when you get the chance. Now if only I could find a way to more easily return those pants.

Originally Appeared on GQ