I LOVE Vacuuming!

SHSHSHSHSH!!! Don’t tell my mom but I DO like vacuuming! (and washing dishes by hand – but there are caveats and working under duress and last-minute orders takes away all love  hehe).

I have NEVER owned a new vacuum. Most of my vacuums have been well over 30 years old when I got them – I have used them until they died and are irreparable or have passed them on to others in more need than me; the newest of the variety was a gift from a dear friend (now a priest) and lasted 8 years until a part broke on it – a part that they won’t sell me online or in the repair shop but I can get the part for the OTHER side of the motor (similar but doesn’t fit) on Ebay for $10 – but they will happily charge me almost $90 to to fix it. Seriously. Sell me the piece for $10 – I have the screws it needs (still in the machine) and a screwdriver and the whole 60 second it would take to fix it.

But that was a year ago and I have gotten exactly nowhere. I have a smaller vacuum with no attachments (doesn’t do corners and crevices) that has been our back-up (it is a child-size vacuum, but works). That vacuum was/is bagless – and I’ve really been spoiled by that particular feature – no remembering to purchase bags and which size (when you’ve had and used as many vacuums as I have, with all the housecleaning I’ve done… they all blend together – and you learn to retrofit bags with ease). —
About every other month I go through the corners with my fingers, paper towels and vinegar (and those who know me well, know that I ordinarily go through ONE roll of paper towel approximately every 5 years). Yeah, it’s not been satisfactory around here, but I thought things were clean enough. 

Until I got my new toy. I know I could have gone far cheaper, but I used the model one step below this one at a friend’s house when doing some housecleaning – and fell in LOVE. This thing got up so much out of allegedly clean carpeting, has great attachments, neat little features like consistent suction (even when almost full!), and allergen filters….. And it works.
Well, I can’t find that model locally. I kept starting to order it online and backing off (there are 4 other high-price items I was budgeting for too – we can only get one at a time, about 2 months in between… then I got a bit of a break and I could afford THREE items – and then the computer needed replacement. So the money is finally there again – and I just did it. I bit the bullet. I bought the next model up – it has a lift-away feature so I can even more easily get stairs (I don’t have stairs in my apartment, but I’m thinking the car….) and furniture and upper corners, it tilts to get around objects – I am so in love!
It cost more than the repair on the old vacuum, but with so many other features, the fact I’ve never purchased or paid for a vacuum (only replacement parts – I can replace almost anything on a vacuum at this point – as long as I can obtain the materials: cords, motors, belts, rollers, plastic covers).
I started vacuuming today and it actually left marks in the carpet (you know – brushroll marks – I’ve not seen those in months and months!) —- and when I moved a chair (that left footprints in the floor), the brushroll actually pulled up the pile on the carpet so there are NO marks!
Did I mention it is bagless, but empties so much easier than any other bagless I have ever used….

And it cleaned my allegedly clean floor!

This was 3 square feet of allegedly clean carpet. Hm.
Anyway, I REALLY love vacuuming now!