Best thing for carpets is a central vacuum system. Oversize the motor unit and you can get units that will suck up 2" rocks with zero problems. The noisy moto

Best thing for carpets is a central vacuum system. Oversize the motor unit and you can get units that will suck up 2" rocks with zero problems. The noisy motor can be located anywhere instead of in the room with you - I love to put it outside in the garage. And as someone with allergies, the biggest advantage of a central vac is it can be plumbed to fart the exhaust outdoors! And if you have hard surface floors there is nothing faster than pulling out a lightweight flexible hose with a floor brush and running the vac over it. Faster than sweeping and again doesn't stir up dust/dander/hair like sweeping does. I will never own a house without a central vac. And if you are really OCD about your carpet cleaning there are Wet/Dry central vac systems that have built in carpet cleaners. Will automatically discharge the waste water to the sewer. A bit pricy and exotic but I have a few friends who if they owned such a system would probably use them weekly (and mold the heck out of their carpets too!).