Eureka! Clean Floors!

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I have HAD IT with my little dust buster. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great for picking up little messes. But when I picked it out, I didn’t anticipate what I’d eventually wind up using it for.

I found that sweeping our laminate floors throughout the entire downstairs was a bit tricky. First of all, there’s a lot of it. It’s beautiful, it shines (when clean) and I couldn’t be more pleased when it gleams.  It smiles back at me.

But then, reality sinks in. The dog sheds… a lot. It has been raining, which means mud gets tracked in no matter how many welcome mats I put out. And then there’s all that random dirt and who-knows-what that seems to attract itself to my floors like that Swiffer commercial (am I the only one who hates that squishy sound she makes as she walks?).

Usually, the cleanup process is me, hunched over, sweeping things into small piles in each room. Then, because I don’t want to bend over again to scoop it into the trash, I vacuum it up with my little dust buster. It sucks up the hair, but I have to do this room after room. Not to mention, I feel cranky and old with that pinch in my back. So, it was time to call in for reinforcements. Specifically, a canister vac.

This one is called the “Mighty Mite” and is supposed to be the best cheap cannister vac out there. I went to Brandsmart (you all know my love and affection for that place as professed here and here) after reading many reviews. They pretty much all boiled down to the following:  cannister vacuums are supposed to work more efficiently on hard floors, and the long handle and hose are perfect for getting around room after room without having to switch outlets.

After giving it a test drive at the store, I was on my way home in about 20 minutes (the usual for a trip to Brandsmart – they get you in and out in a jiffy). I didn’t need instructions to put it together… until I realized that one end of the hookup was if you want to blow stuff around (possibly a yard application?) and the other is if you want it to vacuum. Oops. No, blowing dirt into the corners of the room is not the same thing as cleaning it, thankyouverymuch. A quick switch, and I was zipping around the room.

To say this thing does the trick is an understatement. It’s suction power is fantastic, it’s incredibly lightweight, and turns around corners as I move it. Love. The only thing that I thought was a little weird was a little piece on the handle. The handle has a square hole in it with a circular plastic piece around it. The plastic piece moves around the tube of the vacuum, which means it has the capability of covering the hole or not. You get much greater suction when the latch window mystery piece is covering the hole. Perhaps it’s meant to help clear clogs. All I know is I sucked up a couple of pennies and dog foot pellets and it didn’t faze the vac at all.

It did a quick enough cleaning job that I tried it out on the furniture (not using the other attachments that come with the box yet), and it was great for dusting all the crevices of my coffee and side tables. I even used it between the couch cushions.

I wasn’t paid to endorse this product (though you know Eureka, you could help a girl out if you wanted), but I highly recommend it if you’re having cleaning dilemmas like I did.