Cleaning the Floors

In other shopping news, it appears that my nesting phase may have jump started with a drive to have clean floors--and a need to buy the perfect vacuum to get the job done... IMMEDIATELY! We own a vacuum, but I hate it. I literally don't have the strength to pull it backwards, and I'm afraid to use it on our hardwoods.

So, I started researching hardwood floor cleaning routines, because ours are always gross from the construction dust and the "we never water our yard so it's really dusty out there, thus in here" dust. And the idea of babies and nasty dirty floors just doesn't work for me. So yeah, I'm researching hardwood floor cleaning routines. 

The best info I found (don't ask me where), basically broke it down like this: 

1. Use a cordless stick vac to pick up chunky debris at least every other day. The vac will pick up the bigger stuff, which could scratch and dull your floor if left alone. And getting rid of the big stuff preps you for step 2. A cordless stick vac was recommended because it's lightweight and easy to pull out of the cupboard for quick, regular cleanup. 
2. Use a DRY microfiber mop to tackle the dust.
3. Put a fresh microfiber cloth on your mop. This time it should be very lightly damp. You can use water alone, or in combination with an approved cleaner. You'll want to wet mop less often, as water and wood aren't really  friends. Allow to dry before trekking across it, and use a dry cloth if it's overly wet anywhere. 

I then researched cordless stick vacs. The best I found was the Hoover Linx. It had 4-5 stars on Walmart, Target and Amazon websites. So, of course, I had to have one. Immediately. As in, last night I made Raf drive me to Wal-Mart when we only had 15 minutes to spare before meeting some friends for dinner.

Then, today was like Christmas morning--I woke up and all I could think about was trying out my new vacuum! (Yes, this is my life.) My thoughts? LOVE IT!

Pros

• It picks up like a champ, even doing a pretty good job (at least as good as our normal vac) on carpeting. Would be ideal for families with pets. 
• It's super lightweight and fits in small spaces.
• It's pretty fancy looking. :) 
• The fact that it's cordless makes it so much easier to use--no moving plugs twice in every room. 
• It makes cleaning reasonably painless. I've always hated vacuuming. I didn't mind sweeping. But sweeping in our house is so annoying because I feel like I'm just mixing the dust back into the air, without cleaning up nearly enough. And it takes forever because we have so much floor space (and so much dust). After using this baby, I can now say that I hate sweeping and love vacuuming!

Cons

• Battery life. The battery only lasts about 15-20 minutes and takes 2-3 hours to charge. Pretty lame. But not lame enough to outweigh the Pro list. Plus, I figure if you're actually using it every 1-2 days, it probably wouldn't really take very long to do a quick sweep of most of your house. And I lose energy and interest after more than 15 minutes, so at least I have a good excuse when it dies!
• No attachments. This is actually nice in some ways, but it'd be pretty awesome of the stick handle popped off as a hose tool so that you could also tackle cobwebs, vents, tiny spaces, etc.

All in all, I love it and am super happy I made Raf drive me to the store so I could have my immediate gratification! I re-charged and used it 3 times today and covered the whole house. It felt so nice to have somewhere clean to lay a blanket down to play with a baby. And it even made cleaning up after home haircuts a breeze!

Woo hoo for my progression as a Happy Homemaker!