Dirty toilets, grimy bathtubs, and mold creeping up bathroom walls are facts of life in Paralives. Ignore them long enough and your Parafolk will start feeling the effects, both emotionally and physically. The good news is that keeping a household clean is straightforward once you know the two methods available and when to use each one.
Why does cleanliness matter in Paralives?
A neglected home does more than look bad. When dirty areas pile up, Parafolk can develop the Disgusted emotion, which chips away at work performance and makes social interactions harder to maintain. Dust and mold buildup on walls can also attract viruses, leading to healthcare visits that drain your Paradimes budget. Friends visiting a messy house also affects relationships, so there is a real gameplay cost to skipping chores.
Neighborhood buildings like the museum and Town Hall & Library handle their own upkeep, so you never need to clean public spaces. Your privately owned household is a different story.
Paralives cleaning in action
How to clean your house yourself
The most direct approach costs nothing and works for any Parafolk from child to elder. Here is the step-by-step process:
- Find the dirty object. Common targets include the bathtub, toilet, sink, and mold-affected walls, particularly inside bathrooms.
- Click on the dirty spot.
- Select the "Clean" option from the interaction menu.
A short scrubbing animation plays, then the mess is gone. The real efficiency trick here is that multiple Parafolk can tackle different messes at the same time, so a household with two or more members can blitz through a dirty bathroom much faster than a single person working alone.
Assigning a dedicated family member to housekeeping duty is the most cost-effective long-term solution. Stay-at-home Parafolk are natural candidates since they complete cleaning tasks automatically once their other queued actions finish, meaning you rarely need to micromanage the chores.
Selecting Clean on a dirty toilet
How to hire a cleaning service
When you would rather spend Paradimes than time, the professional cleaning service is available through the computer or phone. Any Parafolk from child to elder can place the request, and the 100 Paradime fee comes out of the joint household income automatically.
Steps to hire a cleaner:
- Open your phone or click on a computer.
- Navigate to the Hire section.
- Select "Cleaning Service."
A cleaner arrives shortly after, moves through the home independently, and handles every dirty area without needing instructions or conversation. Once finished, if the cleaner does not leave on their own, click on them and select "Ask to Leave."
One important note on the computer: it must be properly set up inside your home to work. If your household does not have one yet, you can place the order from a computer at the workplace, museum, or Town Hall & Library while your Parafolk is nearby.
Hiring a cleaner via phone
Comparing your two cleaning options
What can actually be cleaned?
Not every object in the house triggers a cleaning interaction, but the most important ones do:
- Toilets
- Bathtubs
- Bathroom sinks
- Dirty dishes
- Mold-affected walls
- Certain household surfaces
Dirty dishes deserve a special mention. After meals, Parafolk can wash dishes manually by clicking on dirty plates and selecting the clean option. Parafolk with neater personality traits may handle some of this automatically, but do not rely on it entirely.
Removing mold from walls
What to do when cleaning interactions disappear
Early Access bugs can sometimes hide the clean option entirely. Before assuming the feature is broken, try these steps in order:
- Inspect the object for a broken status and repair it first
- Click directly on dirty dishes rather than fixtures to trigger the cleaning queue
- Queue a new task and wait for the interaction menu to refresh
- Reload the lot if none of the above work
Several players have confirmed that repairing an object or interacting with dirty dishes first causes the cleaning option to reappear on other fixtures in the same session.
For more on keeping your household running smoothly, check out our things you should do first in Paralives guide for early-game priorities, and our how to level up the Repair skill fast guide since keeping objects repaired directly prevents cleaning bugs from appearing in the first place. If you are still getting settled into your property, the how to move houses guide covers everything about relocating and managing lots.
For the full collection of Paralives walkthroughs covering every system in the game, browse the complete Paralives guides hub.