Just before Fathers' Day this year my husband suggested that we get a robotic vacuum cleaner to keep our new floating floor dust free. It is amazing how much dust shows up every day when you convert your floors from carpet to hard. All that dust that you had never noticed before on a carpeted floor sits on a smooth hard floor catching the light and flaunting itself. It really does require a daily clean. Who has time to vacuum every day? I certainly don't, once a week is about as good as it gets, and maybe on a really good week, I'd get around to it twice. So basically, the floor spends most of its time dirty, with a very brief moment in time when it actually looks any good.
As head vacuum cleaner operator in our household, I jumped on my husband's suggestion of a robotic vacuum cleaner. I knew that they were a little expensive, so the chances of him buying me one were pretty remote. As he pretty much had all his vacuuming done free of charge and by someone else, there would be little motivation for him to fork out too much money in that department. Also, being close, but not quite a power tool, he would deem it of little value. The same amount of money spent on a power tool that lives in the depths of his shed and being lucky to see the light of day twice a year is a justifiable expense. I do recall him even telling me something along the lines of a power tool is a good investment, hence worth the expense.
Well after using our new robotic vacuum cleaner for 2 months, I can tell you it is definitely worth the expense. This is no fad purchase that sits in a dark dusty corner silently reminding you of a foolhardy purchase. I use it everyday, just push the button and off it goes. It sets off on a seemly random zig-zaggy path around the rooms, cleaning away relatively quietly. I was worried at first that it would be horribly noisy, but it isn't. It hums away merrily doing its thing, while leaving you to do your thing.
If you were paying someone by the hour to vacuum your house you'd definitely sack this little robotic machine. It takes a while to potter around, and seems to miss bits, but will eventually make its way back to clean them up. Although they are entertaining to watch, at first, you do find yourself pointing out bits it has missed. It happily ignores you and gets on with the job, trundling up over humps in the carpet and managing small lips between rooms with surprising ease. It works best on hard floors, though seems to suck an amazing amount of dust out of the carpeted areas too. It struggles to get the lint on my rugs, but then I struggle to clean them with a conventional vacuum cleaner too.
The bit I like the most is its ability to go underneath the furniture and into those places that rarely get a thorough clean. Now those areas are getting a daily clean, so those hidden dust harbouring nooks and crannies have had their day. It can't get right into the corner, but comes pretty close. So it is necessary to go over the house once in a while with your conventional vacuum cleaner, so don't throw it away yet. I guess I'll get around to getting it out again, but find time is the hard part. Today while my little robot was inside doing its thing I was outside enjoying the sunny spring weather and doing some gardening. Meanwhile, I could hear my neighbour labouring away with his ordinary vacuum cleaner inside his house. I know where I preferred to be.
Just like now, you wouldn't question your need to buy a washing machine as it beats hand washing by a country mile, so does having a robotic vacuum cleaner beat vacuuming by hand. Sure there are a few small bits where doing it by hand gives a better result, but the overall time saver of having a machine do the bulk of the work for you is well worth the investment. It's the next in our line of modern conveniences must haves that frees us up to enjoy other non cleaning aspects of our life. Buy your partner a robotic vacuum cleaner for Christmas, you'll both be so glad that you did.
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