How I Made My Home Fresh and Fur-Free… Even With Pets

00:00 – Introduction
Amy sets the stage: pet fur, smells, and the challenge of balancing pets with a clean, welcoming home.

01:33 – Meet Tracy Fosterling
Social media sensation, pet mom of 6, and foster mom to over 60 dogs shares why she talks openly about cleaning with pets.

02:23 – Building Realistic Routines
Tracy explains how she created daily cleaning systems to manage stress and maintain comfort.

03:44 – Balancing Pet Care and Human Life
Why boundaries matter, saying no to fostering when needed, and prioritizing self-care.

05:15 – Common Mistakes Pet Parents Make
Candles, plug-ins, rugs, and fabric choices that make homes smell worse (plus smarter alternatives).

09:28 – The Smell Test & Pet Bedding Woes
Why beds, blankets, and fabrics are often the real culprits — and when to toss instead of wash.

11:13 – Affordable & Practical Products
Dog beds, vacuums, and other budget-friendly solutions that actually work.

14:07 – Changing Habits that Don’t Work
From vacuuming once a week to once a day — and why cordless vacuums are game changers.

16:29 – Daily Routines that Save Sanity
Simple everyday cleaning rituals (like shaking out blankets and using protective throws).

19:19 – Cleaning Checklists & Deep Cleans
How to prioritize, build habits, and make routines second nature.

21:56 – Tackling Odor at the Source
Air purifiers, kennel odor eliminator (KOE), and layering strategies for fresh air.

26:08 – Overlooked Items to Clean
Collars, harnesses, bowls, enrichment toys, and Kong mishaps.

30:01 – Managing Pet Hair & Fabrics
Microfiber, bamboo sheets, and practical laundry hacks.

33:02 – Boundaries in the Home
Why Tracy keeps guest rooms pet-free and how to set guilt-free boundaries.

37:35 – Overcoming Overwhelm
Start small, focus on favorite rooms, use lists or timers, and keep perspective.

41:38 – Where to Find Tracy Online
Tracy’s TikTok and Instagram — plus what kind of real, unfiltered content she shares.

43:07 – Wrap-Up & Free Resources
Amy recaps key takeaways and offers two free downloads:

• Pet Parent Cleaning Schedule
• 101 Cleaning Hacks for Pet Parents

TRANSCRIPT

Amy Castro, Host (00:00)
If you're tired of fighting the fur tumble weeds and that pet smell that never goes away, this episode is for you. I'm talking with social media sensation, Pet Foster Mom, and Pet Mom to her own crew, Tracy Fosterling, about realistic cleaning routines that actually work when you've got pets.

You've reached the Pet Parent Hotline, your lifeline to practical solutions for your toughest pet parenting challenges. I'm your host Amy Castro, and I'm here to help you cut through the noise and turn expert advice into step-by-step strategies so you can stop chasing your tail and start enjoying life with pets again.

I I live on a rescue ranch with a house full of animals So if anyone gets how hard it is to keep a clean house with pets, it's definitely me. That's why I couldn't wait to talk with my guest today, Tracy Fosterling. I first found her through her animal welfare advocacy on social media.

where she has hundreds of thousands of followers. But what really stopped me was how clean her darn house always looked consistently. She's a big dog mom, she's got cats, she's a foster mom, and she works full time, yet her house still looks calm and cozy and ready for guests. And although she's made videos on her cleaning routine, I had to know more about her secrets for getting it all done without losing her mind. And today, she's sharing it all.

Tracy, thank you for being here today to talk about this dirty little secret that we have, or that at least I have.

Tracy Fosterling (01:33)
Thanks for having me. I totally understand the frustration that dog parents have, cat parents have, just pet parents in general. That's why I talk about it all the time because I get so many questions every day. get 10, 20, 30 questions and comments about how do I keep this from being disgusting? How do I do this? What do you use for this? And so it's something that a lot of people actually have questions about and really struggle with.

Amy Castro, Host (01:58)
Good, I'm glad it's not just me because I have a lot of friends that either don't have pets or they have a lot fewer pets. And when you're running a rescue, you have a lot of pets in your house. And I kind of use that as an excuse,

I but even when I don't have fosters in the house, I struggle with kind of keeping up with things. is this something that's new to you because you've got pets and you're fostering and you're like, Hey, I got to get a system or have you always been like this?

Tracy Fosterling (02:23)
say I didn't grow up with like a neat, I mean, my house was clean and neat, but it wasn't, you know, nothing laying out. It wasn't kind of how I am now. I think what really started my journey is when a I started having more animals like when I had one or two dogs, two cats, it wasn't hard to keep up with which for me, and that's different for everybody. Like I totally understand people with one dog might struggle people with two dogs might struggle a lot.

It wasn't like a light bulb moment, but just slowly over time as I got more dogs, I'm like, I need a solution that's really going to keep me comfortable and keep my dogs and my husband comfortable. Because I'm the type of person where if I'm trying to sit down and watch TV at the end of the day and something is not clean, I cannot relax. I will fixate on the couple of things that aren't done. And that was just not doable. So it's like by the end of the night, every day, my house is pretty clean for the most part. Maybe there's one or two things I have to do, but

I've built this routine where like, my house is pretty much good all the time now that I've got it down. I do like to tell people, I'm a little overboard. I get that. But, but it's what works for me. And I think that's what you have to remember, like

What is gonna work for you to keep your stress down, your mental health good, that you can relax? Like what do you have to do to get to that point? And it's different for everybody.

Amy Castro, Host (03:44)
Yeah. Everybody's going to have to kind of define, you know, what they want to do, but, but you've, know, you've made some good points. One of the reasons we rebranded this podcast was to really focus on the human too. There's a lot of pet podcasts and there's a lot of pet podcasts that really focus on the best for the pet. And I know you focus on that too. What I want to do too is balance out that your human life should not be diminished because of your pets. So if you want to socialize, mean, if you want to use your pets as an excuse to not have people over.

Great, just say, hey, I got too many dogs, you can't come over. That's fine. But if you're secretly thinking, gosh, I wish I could have a party, or I wish it was okay to not, because I'll tell you, there have been times where I'll see a neighbor pulling into my driveway and I'll run outside in the Texas heat and rather stand with my feet burning on the pavement than to have them say, you know, than to have to be like, would you like to come in? It's like, please say no. You know, and so it's finding a balance I think is important.

Tracy Fosterling (04:36)
Right.

lot of people really don't take care of themselves. And I have had to just in my personal life, I've had to draw a line and say, I can't foster another dog because I will not be able to handle it personally. Yes, I have the space. have the yard. have the resources, but that I would really struggle if I took on another one. And I think that's hard for a lot of people, which that's not bad, but like, it's something that people need to remember, take care of yourselves and be the best self.

and then you can be the best dog parent, cat parent for your animals.

Amy Castro, Host (05:15)
Yeah. And it's the same if you, you know, if you're maybe you're not a rescuer or a foster, but you know, you're trying to tell your kids and their mess and their stuff. And it's like, you know, you, you still deserve a clean home, quality of life, et cetera. I do want to talk about before we get into, you know, kind of learning from your secrets, so to speak, and they're not secret cause you've put them out on video, but they're. You share that's good. We appreciate that. But what, what are some of the mistakes that you see that people make? Like I'll see simple things like.

Tracy Fosterling (05:35)
be more. I share them.

Amy Castro, Host (05:45)
somebody's got a cat urine issue and people will be advising them to put ammonia on it. And I'm thinking, isn't that what cat pee already smells like? Do we want to add to that smell? you know, so, it's, and it goes beyond that. know I've, I've made some big mistakes just with the, the items that I have in my home, the furniture that I have, it's like, why did I buy that fabric or why did I buy that rug that can't be cleaned or whatever it might be? So what do you, what have you seen in your interactions with people?

Tracy Fosterling (06:12)
Yeah, and I wouldn't say any of these are mistakes by any means, like you do what you want to do and have what you want to have in your house. But you're going to complain about smell. And that's the biggest thing is most people who have pets complain about smell. It's not the hair that can be vacuumed up. That's not a big deal. It's the smell in your house. Yeah, I think people try to mask it versus try to eliminate it.

A lot of people, you know, I see they light a candle, they put wall plugins with these nice fragrance, which like, I love that. But that's just mixing in with the dog and the cat smell. That's one of the biggest mistakes quote unquote, I see is because when somebody who walks into your house, who doesn't live in your house day to day, they're going to be able to immediately smell like, there's dog but then there's like some floral scent that's trying to mix into it. I really

Don't use a lot of wall plugins. I mean, I have some in the rooms where like my animals really aren't allowed because I do have those rooms.

Amy Castro, Host (07:11)
Good. I want to talk about that too.

Tracy Fosterling (07:13)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think that is something to and also like the items you have in your house, things that are really going to hold smell. I got rid of every rug in my house. Do I love rugs? Do I think they add warmth to the room? Yes. And I love walking on rugs, but I have six dogs and that's not conducive to my house smelling good. All a rug does is hold smell. No matter how much you vacuum it, no matter how much you pour baking soda and vacuum it up, it's going to smell.

just over time. Your dogs don't necessarily have to pee on it. It's just their hair and their dandruff that's going to sink into it. And a lot of times with rugs, people don't realize that their dogs are peeing on it because maybe there's a smell on there. when we were moving into our new house, my one condition, was I don't want carpet in the main living areas.

That's a luxury. I totally understand that. But if, you're looking for a house or an apartment to rent, would say no carpet at all. Another thing is when we are buying a new couch, would love nothing in the world than to sink down in a nice comfy cloth couch. You know, those couches that just look like a cloud when you like lay in them. I would love that at my house.

It's not realistic. So we bought a microfiber couch, which is like super durable with animal fur. It comes right off. It vacuums up so easily. doesn't hold, there's no threads. So it's not like holding hair in between the threads, like a cloth couches. You can get any dandruff, dirt, anything vacuums right up. I've had the couch for five years and it looks brand new to this day.

So I always recommend that to people. So, and I think that's just a thing like mistakes people make, or maybe people just don't know is like, yes, you might not smell it in your house, but 10 times out of 10, somebody who doesn't live in your house is going to be able to tell that you have a dog or a cat. And that's just a reality. like never think that my house doesn't smell. Well, you have five dogs. So I'm sure it does smell and that's not smell in a bad way. Smell could just be dog smell.

It doesn't have to mean your house smells like dog poop or cat pee. It just smells like there's animals in it. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Amy Castro, Host (09:28)
And have you ever noticed how you notice that when you come back from being on a vacation, like to me, it's always a good thing when I come back and I've been gone for a while and the house doesn't smell that to me says somebody's been doing their job while I was gone. But if I walk in the door and I immediately smell dog smell, and I've got a very sensitive nose and I will, I will hunt it down. And I have one dog in particular, my bulldog just seems to be smellier. Like she doesn't even smell when you're like, if you put your face into her back.

You don't smell her, but you can, like her bed always reeks versus the other dog's beds. And there have been things that she has laid on. I don't know. And this would be one of my little tips about mistakes that we make is, you know, buying a really nice big bed for a stanky dog that you know is going to need to be washed frequently and then realize that it's really too big to get in the washer to wash effectively. Like we can jam it in. I've done that before where I've jammed things in and then I'm...

trying to cram the door shut and trying to get it to lock and it's not going to get clean like that. So you'd be better off getting, you know, a different bed, a smaller bed, one that breaks into components that you can wash independently. And then the other thing that I've learned too is a mistake is I've learned not to spend a of money on her stuff, particularly because there will come a time that no amount of washing is getting that smell out. Like it's just permanently embedded or I've had things where

you it's just the smell, matter how many times you've watched it, won't come out. And I just throw it away. It's easier to throw it away than to deal with the smell. And I don't want to have spent a thousand, not that I would spend a thousand dollars on a blanket, you know, like spend a lot of money on a blanket and then hesitate. It's like, well, I got to keep it now because even though it stinks, I spent a lot of money on it. It's like, Nope. In the garbage you go.

Tracy Fosterling (11:13)
do think that people in this day and age that we live in with social media is people think that you have to spend a ton of money on these dog beds, especially the orthopedic ones. One of my favorite orthopedic dog beds, which I always recommend to people is 40 bucks. My dog has arthritis. She has two metal knees. She loves that bed. I think there's such a misconception of like, the more money you spend, the better it is, which in some cases, yes, that is real.

But like when it comes to a lot of dog products, there's some really great ones. So like, yeah, don't go spend $300 on a bed. Go on Amazon, find an orthopedic bed. There's one from BedSure that I love. It's thick, it's nice, has a removable cover. Do not buy beds that don't have removable covers. Like never, ever, ever do that. Always look when you are buying a bed that it can remove the cover and don't buy beds that have the stuffing in it. Buy things that pull like

Amy Castro, Host (11:57)
Yes.

Tracy Fosterling (12:09)
something that pulls completely out because I have a bed that my foster pete on and it has all this fluff in it. I'm like, like, yes, the cover removes but there's still all the fluff and like, the things they shove in it. I can't wash that. I mean, I could but then I can't dry it.

also, like, everyone always asks me, isn't your washing machine full of hair, full of this? No, it's not. Because I haven't, I've posted about it. anytime I wash anything that is related to dogs, I take it outside and I shake it out for about a minute. Because you're just shoving stuff in a washing machine that has all their hair and dander and their dirt on it, you're going to clog up your washing machine,

I've had my washing machine for four years. I do dog laundry at least once or twice a day, one or two loads a day. And I've never had an issue.

Amy Castro, Host (12:54)
Yeah, and I think sometimes people are shocked as to how much, you know, especially depending upon the color of the bedding or the blanket or whatever it is, how much hair and other stuff is on there that a quick shakeout would certainly help. Any other things, any other specific products that you think people use that they're wasting their money and it's not accomplishing what they need.

Tracy Fosterling (13:14)
Yeah, I don't get me wrong. I love a Roomba. I think they have their time and their place, but they are not for people who have five dogs or four dogs or three dogs. You know, I have people that tell me what, what do I do to control the hair? I have my Roomba running and I'm like, a Roomba isn't, you need more than a Roomba. A Roomba, the amount of hair that's in my house, a Roomba gets clogged every two minutes. It's just not.

durable enough to do what you needed to do. It's not going to get in the corners. It's not going to get all the places that you need. You have to have an actual one that you are operating themselves.

Amy Castro, Host (13:52)
Yeah. Are there any things that you're, you know, with get kind of going down that path of mistakes, things that you used to do that you have changed drastically or maybe not drastically? Yeah. Things that you, know, that you, you did for a long time and realized this isn't working for me.

Tracy Fosterling (14:07)
Yeah, I used to vacuum once or twice a week and that did not work for me. That is, I vacuum once or twice a day, you know? Wow. And I know that sounds crazy to a lot of people. I have a nice vacuum. I'm very blessed, but you don't need an expensive vacuum. You just need a cordless vacuum. I used to have one where I have a cord where I would have to move it from room to room, replug it in. That would really just make me not want a vacuum. I'm lugging this thing around, get a nice.

cordless, can buy inexpensive ones. But I used to just do once or twice a week and I'm like, there's just tumbleweeds everywhere. Yeah, I had to change that pretty quickly, especially after I got Great Pyrenees. I'm like, yeah, that's not gonna cut it for me anymore.

Amy Castro, Host (14:50)
Yeah. And you know, the amount of time you have to do that, I think is in direct proportion to the type of animals that you have, how much they shed because Great Pyrenees has a lot, it's a huge dog with a lot of hair.

Tracy Fosterling (15:00)
And I do tell people to like you might have a dog that doesn't shed that dog still has dander that dog still has dirt in it Yeah, your dog might Not shed but they're still dirty and they're still bringing things in your house and on your couch and on your bed

So that's a common misconception where it's like, I have a doodle. Okay. Well, you still need to clean, you know.

Amy Castro, Host (15:24)
I know by the way, your pets like to use your stuff after they've eaten as a napkin too. So wiping on the beds, wiping the side of the sofa, things like that. So let's talk about what works. So I know that ⁓ in the video that caught my attention, which kind of honed me in on contacting you to be on this show was, you know, you were just kind of talking about, this is what I do every day. And the one example was definitely the taking the beds out, take the beds out on the front porch. You're shaking them out.

What would be some basic routines that you think people could start getting into? And I should have ran this by you first, but I created a 101 cleaning hacks based on what I've learned doing rescue and cleaning. I'll be honest. And I may not do them all on the schedule, but then I also created kind of a little schedule. Like you might try doing this every day, once a week, once a quarter, once a year kind of things. Cause it's, you know, even just having a professional cleaning service come in once a year, I have found can make a huge difference. Like let them do that big deep clean or if it needs to be done more often. But what would be some routine items that you do that you think people could benefit from doing?

Tracy Fosterling (16:29)
There's just like some small things that don't take a lot of time, which I post about a lot. And they might seem in the beginning to be a lot, but once you have it down, they're easy. Like you mentioned, every single morning, it doesn't matter if it's the weekend, the weekday, I make sure I take all my blankets off my bed because my dogs sleep in my bed and I shake them off outside. I don't let them sit in the room all day. I don't shake them off in the house.

they all go outside because if your dogs are sleeping in your bed, I don't care how clean they are, there's gonna be dirt and there's gonna be dander. Shake it off outside. That's one thing that truly refreshes the room every single morning. And then what I do after that is I bought this big fleece blanket from Costco during the day. It goes over the comforter so my dog's dirt and hair isn't sitting there all day. And right before I go to bed, I take that blanket off.

I go put it outside, I put it in the corner, I shake it off the next day, but my bed is nice and clean. There's no hair, there's no dirt, there's nothing on it. I want to get into a clean bed at night, but I want my dogs to be able to enjoy it. They like to lay on my bed all day when I'm working. And so that just one layer of a thick fleece blanket all day will really save your bedding, your comforter, your mattress. It won't get into the mattress.

So that's something that is like so small, but it makes such a big difference.

Amy Castro, Host (17:56)
So, let me make sure I'm understanding this. So basically whatever they've slept on with you at night, when you get up in the morning, you take it outside and shake it off, but then you kind of have like a giant throw that they can lay on during the day. So while the other stuff is kind of airing out, that's a great idea. Yeah.

Tracy Fosterling (18:13)
It'll air out or I'll just like hang it over the back of the couch. I'll just hang it over like the railing outside or sometimes I'll even put it back on the bed and I just put the big fleece blanket over it. Just something that's always protecting my bed during the day. And it's like, I was surprised when I started posting about that, that people were surprised about that. I'm like, yeah, this is like so easy. I don't know. I just, it came to mind one day and it has really saved me.

Amy Castro, Host (18:26)
Yeah

Tracy Fosterling (18:43)
When it comes to just like little things every day, I always tell people, you don't have to deep clean your whole house every day just because you have pets. I focus on the rooms that my dogs are in my office, our bedroom, our living room. Those are the three rooms that every day I make sure I wipe everything down. just take a cruelty free pet friendly spray, the end tables, coffee table, nightstands, my desk, and then I vacuum once a week.

I'll hit the walls and I'm good. I'm not deep cleaning every day. I just focus on the rooms. Yeah. They're in all the time.

Amy Castro, Host (19:19)
So do you have like, I mean, you probably don't need to write it down anymore, but in the beginning, when you kind of started with this routine, did you have the little checklist where you could be like, okay, every day I did this. And then once a week on Fridays, I do this, or do you just kind of do it as you spontaneously think about.

Tracy Fosterling (19:34)
I used to like put it, just open my notes app on my phone and put everything in there. I still do that when I deep clean my house. I put like a checklist of everything that needs to be done because the order in which you do things matters. Never vacuum first. Always wipe everything down. Do the walls, do that. Vacuum and mopping always comes last because it's counterproductive if you're doing it first, which I know like that's the first thing everybody wants to clean is their floor. But when I'm cleaning or I'm deep cleaning, I'm on my hands and knees and I'm scrubbing, there's stuff all over the floor. And I'm like, I just have to deal with it. I'll shower later, you know? And so when my deep clean, I have a checklist that I follow pretty strictly because like I said, order matters and the way you do things when it comes to cleaning. But now my routine is just like so ingrained, which it's easy to me now because I've done it for so long, which is what I tell people. Like, it seems like a lot, when you watch me do it, but when you have a routine down, just like your morning routine before going to work, it comes second nature to you. You don't even have to think about it. And that's how it is with when you're cleaning and you have that routine, that's 20, 30 minutes. It's just like, okay, this is next. And it gets really easy.

Amy Castro, Host (20:46)
Yeah. And I would think too, just limiting it. mean, that, that to me has always been a, a mental help when, cause it can be overwhelming to say, I've got to do the entire place. And so for people who are listening, even it might be overwhelming to you that I'm going to do the bedroom and the family room and the, whatever at the same day, pick one, you know, pick the one where the animals spend the most time and start with doing that every day and make that a habit and then kind of build on it from there. It becomes a little bit less overwhelming to think about, just need to focus on the living room, or I just need to focus on my bedroom, because they've been here all day.

Tracy Fosterling (21:23)
And once you start doing that, you will not be able to stop. You're going to be like, oh my gosh, it's so clean. Like I can't not do it now because it's just a way of life. And yeah, start small, make a couple checklist items and your notes on your phone, which I do every single day and check it off. If you start out and all you do is vacuum the house that day, great. If all you do is wipe down the tables or the nightstands, great. You're starting at least somewhere and you will just naturally build on that because it's going to feel so good to have this like clean house and clean environment that you're gonna wanna keep going.

Amy Castro, Host (21:56)
Yeah. And we talked about pet bedding. To me, the odor is a huge thing. The fur can be annoying. I used to love the fact that I had tile on the floor, but even when I would be working and I'm putting on a pair of black dress pants, it's like I would blow hard on the floor because I didn't want to be that person that shows up with the ass covered in white cat hair kind of thing at the conference or whatever it might be. So there are other pet stuff that you have that is for stink and smell.

Tracy Fosterling (22:23)
Yes, an air purifier in every single one of my main rooms. I tell people that like, if you want to just save your sanity, the sun hits, I'm watching TV, the sun hits just the right moment. I'm like, my gosh, all this stuff in the air. I tell people like, if you want one thing that's going to really, really be helpful is an air purifier. I have one in my office, our bedroom, the living room, the cat room, which is upstairs, and then my husband's office because that's where the animals are. The difference in the air quality, people are gonna notice too. When they come in a room and there's an air purifier, it's just gonna help the dander and the hair and just like the quality of the breathing in your room is really gonna help. And you don't have to go buy a $500 air purifier. My favorite one, I don't get sponsored. They've never paid me, but I've probably sold 200 of these for them. It's 99 bucks on Amazon. It's called the Germ Guardian. It is the best air purifier.

Amy Castro, Host (23:20)
I have that one too.

Tracy Fosterling (23:23)
It's the best one you will find. A lot of times it's on sale for $79. That thing works. And I've had these ones in my house for over two years and they still, they are working it and they never shut off. They're on 24 hours a day and it saves. It saves me. like, I highly recommend like, I clean it every week and I'm like, Oh my gosh, like this is what was in my air, but that's just how great the product works. One thing I truly believe in.

Another thing which a lot of people talk about is it's called KOE. It's a deodorizer and shelters use it, rescues use it.

Amy Castro, Host (24:01)
I'll use that too. I haven't used it in my house though. I kind of just discovered it. But boy, makes a huge difference in the kennel building.

Tracy Fosterling (24:07)
Yeah, it's so good. I use it on everything. I have a spray bottle where I take a couple ounces, fill the rest with water. I spray my couch, wipe it down. I spray the crates that my fosters are in, wipe it down. I will spray it on their dog beds, let it dry outside, bring them back inside. I will put it in my mop bucket and I will mop the floors with it. You can use it for almost anything. It's such a good, like I said, it doesn't mask it, it like gets rid of the odor.

Yeah, that offices use it shelter. So and it's a 25 bucks for a bottle. But you dilute it so it lasts. I've had my bottle for over a year and a half.

Amy Castro, Host (24:46)
Yeah, you use just such a tiny amount. And the K.O.E. stands for Kettle Odor Eliminator. So yeah, we know you're not running a kennel, but you might as well be if you have a...

Tracy Fosterling (24:55)
It depends on who you ask.

Amy Castro, Host (24:58)
Yeah.

A lot of these things are layering. You know what I mean? It's cause when you were talking about the germ guardian and the those filters, are not necessarily cheap. Sometimes you can get away with kind of cleaning them and reusing them and

But the bottom line is the filters aren't cheap. so, it's a layering issue of do your due diligence with the dusting and the vacuuming, and then you you're not using that air purifier as your vacuum is what I'm kind of what I'm trying to say.

Tracy Fosterling (25:25)
Yeah. Yeah. If you're, if you're cleaning and vacuuming, you get longevity out of those air purifiers and you don't have to replace the filters as often.

Amy Castro, Host (25:34)
Yeah, exactly. Any other products that you are big on?

Tracy Fosterling (25:38)
A handheld vacuum. This little, discovered this little black and decker 39.99 greatest thing ever. It was like my vacuum can get places, but like you look under stuff, your windows sales, just get a handheld vacuum. It's $39. A lot of times it's on sale. It really helps you with your couch too. You can get in all those little spaces where tumbleweeds hide and dander and dirt build up. And you're like, how did that pile of dirt get there? A handheld vacuum. Highly recommend. It'll save you too.

Amy Castro, Host (26:08)
And those are great for getting the furniture too, or even just doing a you know, quick cleanup on a dog bed. What about other things of our pets, you know, other than their bedding that puts off smell? Like one of the things that comes to mind, obviously we need to be clean in our pets too, and bathing our pets. But I have that stinky dog that I was telling you about Gunny, her collar gets really stinky. So I ended up switching her to, I don't even know what it's made out of. It's, it's almost like a rubber kind of collar, but it's a, you know, it doesn't.

Absorb the odor the way that a webbing, you know, regular collar would. But collars need to be cleaned, leashes need to be cleaned. What else?

Tracy Fosterling (26:46)
Harnesses, harnesses need to be cleaned. Anything that like if your dogs are wearing sweaters or anything, like I know people don't clean those as often as they should, but like it's just like human clothes. If your dogs are wearing a shirt, it should be changed out like every day. I mean, because dogs are, no matter what anyone says, dogs are probably more dirty than humans. I don't know. I'm still on the fence about that one, honestly. But yeah, I think just anything your dog touches.

Blankets your couch covers just because it's covering your couch doesn't mean it's not getting dirty every single day This sheet back here is over my white couch because for some reason I decided to get white couches This was before I had six dogs They're protecting your couch, but they're still getting dirty just as dirty. So make sure yeah anything your dog touches really like

Amy Castro, Host (27:34)
Yes. The other thing I would tell people too, is that I think people don't clean and this is kind of tied. It's beyond a cleaning thing because it becomes a vicious cycle too. People don't clean their bowls enough, their water bowls and their food bowls, you know, especially people who feed dry food. I think they think, well, if my dog eats, like I don't really need to clean that as often, but it still gets bacteria. Then the bacteria gets onto your dog's chin. Then your kid, your dog's chin skin gets kind of infected. know,

And then they start to smell and then that smell spreads to everything. And you're wondering, where's that smell as well? It's the yeast infection that your dog has all over their chin or whatever it might on their ears sometimes. So all of that stuff needs to be clean daily. mean, I've gotten into the habit and I didn't always do this, but I've gotten into the habit of when they're done eating, all the bowls get picked up right away, not leaving them till the next day when I'm like, is this clean enough? Kind of looking at it. No, it all gets picked up right away and put in the sink and clean.

And that helps. It's all the little things that kind of add up to the big things, I think, along the way.

Tracy Fosterling (28:37)
Yeah, especially those slow feeders. Those things are just building bacterial all the time. Make sure if you don't want to do it, make sure you get ones that can be put in the dishwasher. I do that with mine. Like just throw them on the bottom top rack, run them through super easy. I just have duplicates for all I have two for each dog. So I just switch them out. Makes it super easy and your Kong's and your enrichment toys, please clean those.

Amy Castro, Host (29:02)
Yeah. yeah. Cause you wonder, you know, there's one thing to put peanut butter, know, usually rotten peanut butter doesn't smell too terrible. And I know this sadly because I know this, but, ⁓ I one time couldn't figure out where a smell was coming from. And it was because I had gotten this brilliant idea and it worked really well. My Doberman would get a little bit of anxiety if there was bad weather. And so I had a bunch of frozen Kongs with, you know, was packed with all kinds of stuff. had some.

canned dog food and then dry kibble and all this other, and then I'd freeze it to keep him busy. And somehow one of those Kongs ended up under a piece of furniture and it was like rotting meat dog food. it's like, why is there that funk coming from the corner of the dining room that we haven't eaten in for the longest time? And I finally figured out what it was. So.

All these things kind of add up. It's might be just a small Kong, but the small Kong and the dirty bed and the dog's chin and the cover on your bed that you never wash. And then you wonder why your house smells like funk.

Tracy Fosterling (30:00)
Yep, exactly.

Amy Castro, Host (30:01)
So on the issue of hair, know you said hair is not a huge issue. And then I want to move on to what you had said as far as, you know, rooms not being accessible to dogs, but any magic tricks for like trying to keep yourself clean when you have pets or trying to keep your, said the microfiber was, was huge. Cause I've, definitely have struggled with that where I vacuumed and vacuumed the sofa and it's because of the fabric that the hair just gets caught and trying to pull one hair off at a time. It's ridiculous. any, any other tips or tricks?

Tracy Fosterling (30:30)
Yeah, if your dog sleep in your bed, get bamboo sheets. You don't have to get super expensive ones. I have them in our master bedroom because all of our dogs sleep on our bed. Bamboo sheets are like kind of like silk where everything slides off and the hair does not get in between the threads like with normal cotton sheets or something. Those are just gonna like suck in that hair. And even if you wash them, the hair is still gonna be in there.

I highly recommend bamboo sheets. Again, you can go on Amazon and get inexpensive ones and they're also cooling too.

Amy Castro, Host (31:02)
Any laundry hacks I have been notorious for doing this is don't overstuff your washing machine, I pulled something out of the wash the other day and I knew I had overstuffed it and And it was that one thing in the middle that the water didn't really get to, and it was just as dirty. And so

If you're running that same load two times or three times, or those couple of items a couple of times because they didn't get clean, you're not saving anything by over stuffing your washing machine. Right. So that would be my one tip, but do you have any little additives or any particular detergents that you like that keep things super clean?

Tracy Fosterling (31:35)
I highly recommend just putting some white vinegar in your fabric softener drawer. That's a really great deodorizer for laundry. I do it with my clothes. I do it with the dogs. I bought a big one, a great value one. I think it was like six bucks. And you only do like a tablespoon, a tablespoon or two in the fabric softener dispenser. And you can still put everything, your detergent, your OxyClean. Do not mix white vinegar with bleach. Please do not do that, but I still use my fabric softener, my normal detergent, my Oxyclean, and then I just add a little bit of the white vinegar, and that really helps. My clothes do not smell like dog, and my sheets don't either because I'm really diligent about, A, yeah, not overloading it and doing all that stuff separately, but yeah, using that little white vinegar really, really helps.

Amy Castro, Host (32:26)
So when I moved into this house, like you, was super thrilled that there was no carpet in most of the house. But in my previous house, I didn't have carpet in the bedroom and I kind of missed it. So from the time that we moved into this house until fairly recently, my bedroom was off limits to all pets.

And it was kind of like that from the beginning. They're used to being in their crates. They're used to being other places. They're used to being closed out. So it wasn't a huge deal. But I think a lot of times people struggle. I can understand why it's hard to keep them out, but what do you tell yourself that makes it okay to say, I'm not going to allow dogs in these certain areas to not feel guilty?

Tracy Fosterling (33:02)
The main place that dogs are not allowed in my house is the guest rooms There are no animals allowed in those rooms because I don't believe that just because somebody comes over, they should have to sleep in an area where five dogs, two cats are. I think it's always important to like make your guests feel comfortable. like guest rooms, off limits, no dogs, doors are closed, cats are not allowed. Even the bathroom that is connected, animals are not allowed. That's a hard boundary that like I'm just not willing to cross because I don't think it's fair that people come over. Not everyone signs up to have six dogs in their face all the time. So that's one boundary. 

And then we do let all of our dogs sleep in our bed. But we do have boundaries where if I'm uncomfortable to the point where I can't sleep because a dog is laying on on top of me is laying diagonal. I love my dogs. But if I'm not able to sleep, and I'm going to have back problems and I can't stretch my legs out, then I have to lure them off. I know some people are like, my dog sleeps on my head. I can't do that. 

My dogs are not sleeping on my pillows. They're not, you know, if they want to lay their head on their pillow with me for a couple of minutes, great. But like, if you're interrupting my sleep and like waking me up constantly because you're pushing your paw into my back, that's where I have to the line because I need my sleep to take care of them to do all my morning routines to do their walks. I'm like, yes, they sleep in our bed, but like they're up and down all night. And I have to kick them off at some point if it's just like, same with my husband. They love to lay on top of him, but no, no, I have to kind of like draw the line there. And so it's just whatever you're comfortable with. Like if you like your dog sleeping on your head, okay, then do what you want to do.

Amy Castro, Host (34:39)
I was gonna say you kick him off the bed too?

Yeah, but I think it's, you know, it's okay to, know, regardless of what your friends, your family members, whatever they do to not feel guilted, you know, your dogs and your cats will get used to whatever routine you create for them. And so if you, yeah, they're, and they're resilient. And so, you know,

If my dog has never been allowed in the bedrooms, they're going to respect that they don't, you know, they're not even going to follow me back to the bedroom because they've not been allowed there. It's where you get into trouble is sometimes you let them in. Sometimes you don't, sometimes you let them in. Sometimes you don't. It's like, that's kind of can cause confusion. And then yeah, your dog's going to be whining outside the door or your cat's going to be scratching at the door or whatever the case may be. kind of we, we, you know, we've done a couple of episodes where we've talked about: decide early on how you want to live. If it's no dogs in the bedrooms, if it's no dogs in the office or the guest room or no dogs upstairs, no dogs in your children's room or cats or animals or anything, then establish that from the beginning and don't waver from that. And it's okay to do that. It's okay for them to have their own space and their own place along the way. So I think definitely people shouldn't feel guilty about that.

Tracy Fosterling (35:57)
Yeah, boundaries are super important. I love my dogs, but you have to have boundaries for yourself. And you have to have time for yourself sometimes too. You can't, you can't always have, I can't always have six dogs in my face. I just not something I can handle. So I have to, like you said, dogs are very resilient and they will understand their boundaries, but you have to be the one to put the boundaries up. A dog is not just going to not go in your room because

No, like, and that's a hard part about a lot of dog parents is it's not, you're not disciplining. You're not punishing your dog. It's a boundary. You're teaching them. You're teaching them to have respect. You're training them. It's not punishment. And I think a lot of people like struggle with like the punishment versus training, but training your dog, especially crate training is one of the most important things you can do for yourself, for their safety, for everybody in the house. I think a lot of people struggle with that.

Amy Castro, Host (36:53)
For sure. Well, yeah, it's like, especially if it's a first time pet and you don't know what the rules are and you don't have necessarily, you know, necessarily examples that you can follow. So what's, what's the right thing? So if somebody is listening to this now, just to kind of bring all this together a little bit, and they're just kind of feeling overwhelmed, what advice would you give them as far as getting started? 

And like I said, we're going to we're going to provide a whole schedule of cleaning and you, you you talked a little bit about what you do every day, what you do, you know, once a week, deep cleaning, things like that, but we're going to give you more like step-by-step along the way. But what, yeah, what would you say to somebody that wanted to get started, but was feeling overwhelmed?

Tracy Fosterling (37:35)
A, feeling overwhelmed is not a bad thing. It happens to everybody. I get overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed this morning. Like don't ever feel bad about being overwhelmed because like having animals is a lot, whether it's one, two, everyone's always like, my gosh, I only have three dogs. You have six. Three dogs is a lot of dogs. Anything above one is a lot. It's okay to feel overwhelmed because like everybody is there. My suggestion is just start small. Like what?

areas of your house do you truly cherish and you truly value? For me, that is our bedroom and my office because I spend the most time there. Those are the two spots in my house that I want to be clean. I want to be comfortable from, you know, when I'm in. So like start small. Maybe if it's just like your bedroom and every morning, yeah, you shake out the bedding or you make it your goal. If you're not sleeping in your bed to wash your sheets every three days instead of every six or

once a week, maybe just try to like put small tasks on your checklist in the rooms that matter to you the most. Start small. And I think you'll eventually work up to wanting to add more to that list.

Amy Castro, Host (38:46)
Yeah. And I think I would add to that too, just from my own, you know, work and trying to manage my time better is in the beginning when it's not a habit to actually schedule it on your calendar or put it on your to-do list, even if it's something, something simple. So you do get used to do it and, know, make that commitment and, and do it even if it's two days a week kind of thing.

Tracy Fosterling (39:10)
And every like this morning I woke up and I made a list of and I don't recommend living your life by a list, but this just personally helps me. I made a list of, all right, after I feed the dogs, I'm going to put in a load of laundry. Then I'm going to start vacuuming or then I'm going to wipe everything down. Then I'm going to vacuum three easy things.

Amy Castro, Host (39:30)
Three things. Yeah, it seems simple, right?

Tracy Fosterling (39:32)
And then I can enjoy my day. Like I have to get that stuff done. Then I can relax and I can do what I want to do. But like people love the satisfaction of checking things off a list. Like if you're that type of person, do that. Super helpful. I love when I'm like, Ooh, I checked all these five things off my list and my notepad. This is amazing. I feel so much better about myself. A lot of times people are, they need that visual gratification or they need that instant gratification where it's like, great, checked off. So if that helps you, then great. 

You know, it's just one thing I do like to tell people to like, if you are not prepared to clean all the time, don't have six dogs. People are always like, I want a house full of animals and I want to rescue hundreds of dogs. I'm like, you have to be prepared for everything that comes with it. Not just yet the feeding the vet bills. But like, if you don't like to clean and don't get a bunch of animals, because that's what comes along with it.

Amy Castro, Host (40:31)
You know, the other thing when you were talking about the checklist and I love a good checklist. But if you're not a checklist person, another thing that can get you motivated is to pick a time limit. Like tell yourself, I'm going to start taking 15 minutes on Monday mornings and I'm gonna do as much laundry, I'm gonna vacuum until the timer goes off or whatever it might be, That's something that can make it seem manageable. And once the timer goes off, give yourself permission to go on with your life. And I think this also works really well with children. I used to do this all the time.

And I still do it now, my daughter's 32. It's like, let's do a 10 minute pickup. Let's just do a 10 minute pickup. It is amazing when you're like, only 10 minutes, how much you can get accomplished. And if you have multiple children and you say, let's see who can pick up as many dog toys and put them in the washing machine or whatever it might be in the next 10 minutes, get them involved in the process, but put a time limit to it, they'll be running to do it. But if you say we have to clean the whole house and clean all the dog stuff today and give all the dogs baths and do all the vacuuming and nobody's going to want to play that game with you.

Tracy Fosterling (41:35)
I don't even want to do that.

Amy Castro, Host (41:38)
So if people want to, like I said, I found you on TikTok with your great videos. Where can people follow you? I know you're on TikTok. I know you're on Instagram. What's the best way to find you? Yeah.

Tracy Fosterling (41:49)
TikTok and Instagram are my two biggest platforms. If you have a question or something, I always suggest to DM me on Instagram. I respond to my DMs on Instagram way more than I do on TikTok because there's so many fake ones there. So I like to have conversations with people. I like to help where I can. I have some YouTube, but YouTube is a whole nother ball game that just...

Amy Castro, Host (42:11)
Yeah. And what kind of content, you know, I know, I, like I said, I found the cleaning. know you talk about rescue, but what would people expect if they start following you on social?

Tracy Fosterling (42:19)
A lot of I like to be a transparent person. I like to talk about the good, the bad, the messy parts of having dogs, being in rescue. I'm not the type of person that's gonna say everything in rescue is great all the time. No, here are some things to watch out for. There's bad rescues, there's bad people in rescues. There are bad parts about having dogs like here is the reality of it like

Last thing I want somebody to do is to be inspired from me to get into fostering and they get into a bad situation with a bad rescue.

Amy Castro, Host (42:55)
Tracy, thank you so much for being here with us today and for sharing your experiences and your tips. That's been super helpful. And I just really appreciate you taking the time because I know you're a busy lady.

Tracy Fosterling (43:07)
Well, thank you for having me. This was great. hope I can help where I can and give some tips. And if you have any questions, feel free to just DM me on Instagram and I'll help where I can.

Amy Castro, Host (43:17)
Yeah, and we'll put links to your TikTok and your Instagram so people can follow you and reach out if they need to. And for everybody that's listening, you know, if this episode helps you feel a little bit more in control or gives you a couple of tips that can help you get started so that you are living a much more balanced life and creating a happy and healthy environment for you and for your pets, then I think we've accomplished our goal for today. We thank you so much for listening. You've already got enough to clean, manage and hold together.

So if today's episode gave you even one way to lighten that load, don't stop there. Grab your two free resources, the Pet Parent Cleaning Schedule and 101 Cleaning Hacks for Pet Parents to help you stay ahead of the mess, hitch the overwhelm and create a home that smells great, feels calm and actually works for you. Download them both at petparenthotline.com/cleanup. 

And hey, please be sure to share this episode with a friend who stopped inviting you over after they got pets. They really need this, and you deserve to see their couch and them again. 

And finally, always remember that your pet's best life starts with you living yours.