Depth-first vs breadth-first cleaning

I was doing some chores and tidying around the house today when I had a funny thought. Forgive a brief detour while I provide some context. When I was in school long ago, I took a data structures course where I learned about tree traversal. Two of the most common algorithms for traversing a tree are depth-first search (travel down the tree before visiting sibling nodes) and breadth-first search (travel to sibling nodes across the tree before descending). My little bit of humor today came when I realized that my partner and I have different approaches to cleaning that could accurately be described as depth-first vs breadth-first. My partner cleans depth-first. If the house is a mess, they will start by cleaning, sorting, and organizing drawers, cupboards, closets, and pantries before getting on with any basic tidying of the general living space. This means that all the contents of said containers are inevitably left strewn about before being replaced in a more efficient manner. I've…