I have enlisted the best helpers I can afford, which is not much but better than nothing: a smallish Dyson vacuum, one of those handheld little vacuums and since last week a B&D 2in1 steam cleaner. I had no idea how dirty my floors were until I saw what comes off using this thing, the best buy ever. Plus a lot of brushes and rags
Fortunately I have a passion for gadgets and everything with a power cord so I am quite happy to spend all I can on those. And even with appliances I am barely able to stay on top of things... but I don't mind, never been the clean freak type
