So a short backstory real quick. When I bought my house, the carpet was in a word, Horrific! My house had been a rental for years and I don’t want to ask what went down to make them as stained and NASTY as were. I’m getting grossed out all over again recalling it. Rugs were put down to cover up the stains, it was that bad. Well being the carpets were not salvageable, I found nice cheap light colored, pretty much white with a hint of blue, bamboo flooring to replace the floors. Super cheap too. (One more gross recollection regarding those carpets, as they were being pulled up plumes of mystery dust particles filled the air. Thank goodness for masks.) So, now skip ahead in time. Nice bamboo floors were now installed which now needed be kept clean and forgo the nightmarish horror stories of what had became of those nasty carpets.
Having been on a budget, since this house basically needed every known kitchen appliance on the planet replaced, (At some point I have to write about that fiasco.) I had to deal with using a “good” old broom and dust pan for the time being. That sucked. (Although, literally unable to.) Any who, it definitely lit a fire under my butt to figure out what I needed to clean the new floors and keep them looking new. Being light in color fur, dirt, and dust were going to show.
Thankfully, I had washing the floors already covered with two different steam cleaners I bought for cleaning the floors at a condo I had previously rented prior to purchasing the house. See below real quick. I still have both of these, years later, they’re that good. My neighbor’s always borrowing one to clean her grout too.
The one that is Great for grout is this one below. Bought it in 2017.*
It has 18 different attachments, including the ones for grout. My neighbor has it more often than I do to use the grout tools for her floors. Having bought while renting, I left that condo with cleaner floors then when I had first moved in. That’s kind of excellent cleaning power this has.
This* is the one I use most of the time because it is easy to use on the bamboo floors.
Why I like to use this one more often is simply, for me, more practical with bamboo floors. 3 different steam settings and it has nice smelling disks * you can insert into the cloths which make everything smell nice as well. I have two dogs, just saying. Almost forgot. In my living room, I do have a rug for decorative purposes to make the area with the couch, loveseat, table, and ottoman, look distinctively separate, from my desk area sharing the same room. This steam cleaner also has a really neat attachment which can be used to “freshen” up rugs. Once again two dogs. My house does not smell like dog. lol
Now I’ve seemingly shown you things in backwards order. Who mops before vacuuming, really? I needed something to vacuum my floors because I HATE sweeping. To me, sweeping is purely ineffective. If anything, as you sweep it kicks up dust particles that were on the dirty floor and the nasty dust ends up on surfaces you do not want them on like kitchen countertops where food is prepared. Eww.
Having gone from 0 dogs to 2. I needed major vacuuming help. :Looks around for help to find no one around: That’s when I went robot vacuuming shopping for myself. Full out, what brands, what features, what warranties, what reviews. The whole 9 yards research. If I was about to spend some $$ I was gonna make (shouldn’t say the word I was about to say) well sure it was completely worth it. Guess what, I found it. It is.
Let me introduce you to “Clean Machine“*. Yes, named my vacuum and chant “Clean Machine, Clean Machine” on occasion. Some of you may have caught the movie reference in there. That’s what vacuuming floors feels like to me.
I bought this in 2019 and with 2 dogs to contend with, it’s still going strong! Why I LOVE it, I can tell Alexa, “Tell Clean Machine to vacuum.” when I need it to. It’s also on a schedule to clean the floors in the morning BEFORE we wake up. So clean floors downstairs when we wake up is NICE! Plus, it keeps the other occupants of my house mindful of picking up after themselves before bed. They do not want to have to hear it from me about leaving stuff on the floor that should/could of been picked up. I mean, did they have to vacuum, no. Least they can do is pick up after themselves to spare themselves of having to vacuum. Look one less chore that needs to be done. It’s also easy to clean and maintain. Occasionally, I’ll have to buy replacement parts*. No big deal considering the time it saves me. Earmark, “Time is Money” quote. An additional feature it has is, after it “maps” your floor plan, on the app you can zoom in and draw barriers of where you do NOT want it to go. I have 2 for under my couch since I did notice it likes to get lost under that one. Problem solved with those digital barriers. If I need it to clean certain areas, for example the kitchen when someone has made a mess, it has zones you can draw and will go clean up that area only. I LOVE CLEAN MACHINE!
Update: I’ve finally upgraded to a D10*. Love this brand of vacuums!
So having mentioned my couch, which probably had dust bunnies the size of my 50+ lbs dogs, Clean Machine was not liking it down there and didn’t seem to want return from mega dust bunny land that had developed there, I needed an actual vacuum. Meh. Being that space is at a premium living here, I did not want a big bulky vacuum. Plus, the vacuum I needed was only going to be used in very few areas anyways like the steps for one example. Once again put my proverbial thinking cap back on and started looking for a high rated stick vacuum that had extra features should I wind up needing them. Trying to get the most out of my money for cheap I came across one.
Since I have 2 large dogs the vacuum needed to be able to handle dog fur, especially with seasonal shedding. Super shedding is actually what did it for me to buy this one. I found this cordless vacuum* and it picks up where Clean Machine left off. (One day I’ll have a robot vacuum for the stairs. Hopefully sooner than later.)
Why this fit the bill? When I had bought it, it was on sale. It was able to clean the rug and bamboo floors very very well. Not to mention the enormous dog hair dust bunnies that had previously resided under my couch, GONE. Perfect for the stairs. Could even use it vacuum the couches. Like Clean Machine easy to clean and maintain. It’s also tucked away out of sight, hung up to free floor space. I’d bookmark this page for when it does does go back on sale. It’s well worth it. A LOT better than a broom too!
Lastly, if you hadn’t already noticed, I hyperlinked some of the other things I was mentioning. If you need those replacement parts or those disks after taking my advice and purchasing these vacuums and/or steamer cleaner. Bookmark this page so can come back to use the links for where I bought my parts from. Thank you! May you never have to never have experience dust bunnies that equated to the size of my big dogs!
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.