Housework circa World War II was a full-time job. Each day of the week, with the exception of Sunday, was spent focusing on a specific task, be it laundry, polishing silver, ironing or scrubbing floors.

These days, thanks to modern technology, an average-size home can be thoroughly cleaned in the span of a day.

New innovations in cleaning appliances and products focus on the fact that few people have the time to spend cleaning for hours. One such innovation gaining popularity is the Roomba, a robotic vacuum created by iRobot of Boston, Mass.

Roomba is sold in a number of outlets, but made its debut with Sharper Image.

“I learned [about the vacuum] while standing around Sharper Image, the cool gadget store, watching agog as the adorable and endearing robot vacuum Roomba bopped about the store’s floor like a mini-flying saucer a few inches off the ground,” said Margery Eagan in an interview with the Boston Herald. “It moved all by itself in bigger and bigger concentric circles until it’d sucked up every bit of lint, dust and wrapper in the joint.”

On the owner comments portion of the iRobot’s Web site, Roomba owners sing the bot’s praises:

“I bought my Roomba Red in October 2004 when I stumbled across it “recreational shopping,” wrote Christine of Louisiana. “Friends, neighbors and visiting relatives laughed, rolled their eyes, and soon bought their own. This unit is fantastic. It is excellent on pet hair, [and] great for picking up all the miscellaneous droppings the kiddies drop off their sneaks running in and out.”

For those who don’t trust robotics to get things clean , a number of new cleaning products are available, including disposable toilet brushes, “Magic Erasers,” lightweight and flexible static mops and dusters, and prepackaged, pretreated wipes for every room in the house. It’s enough to make even the biggest slob a little obsessive-compulsive when it comes to cleaning.

“Clutter is fine with me if it’s not in the kitchen or where I’m eating,” said Joyce Rose, administrator for Talking Leaves Job Corps. “I’m really crazy about cleaning [but] am not a clean freak at all.”

Rose was more stringent about tidiness in her “younger days,” but realized after two bouts with cancer there were more important things in life.

“If you’re sick and you lay there and can’t clean, you just think and life is too short to spend all your time cleaning,” said Rose. “There are some good new products out there. Febreeze [air purifiers and fabric refreshers] is great and doesn’t cover up odors and some sprays do. It makes the room smell fresh.”

Mr. Clean introduced it’s Magic Eraser a little over a year ago, to rave reviews. According to a study, albeit unscientific, conducted on Yahoo Ask, an overwhelming number of respondents listed it as their favorite cleaning product. Magic Eraser is a soft cleaning pad that acts just like an eraser. Its innovative cleaning material cleans tough dirt, lifting it away from surfaces all over the home.

Tahlequah resident Shelly Bailey made the mistake of initiating her Magic Eraser on a particularly bad spot on a high-traffic floor.

“This thing cleaned so good on the one spot, it made the rest of the floor look awful,” said Bailey. “I spent the rest of the evening finishing what I had started. It [Magic Eraser] is the bomb.”

Rose’s granddaughter enjoys the Magic Eraser, as well.