I’m talking about vacuum cleaners!

Right now, we have three…count ’em, three vacuum cleaners. Not a great idea. We have a huge black Hoover cannister: it weighs a ton, but has a great rug beater; it sounds like the Indy 500 (a result of its last repair), and it is awkward on hardwood floors. Next, we have an Electrolux. It must be 40 years old. I know, they DO last forever, and this one probably will.But it has no rug beater and not much “suck power” (what an awful term!). But it is also lightweight and well…it works. Last, we have a stick type vacuum. Lightweight, easy to get around but not a real workhorse. But, understand, our present house has three distinct levels, so each vacuum had a nice home on one of the levels.

Moving right along. Our new house has probably 50% hardwood/parquet floors. Then the stairs and all upstairs have fairly thick carpets. My office is the one room upstairs that already has a flat berber. We do plan to redo the remaining space with low pile berber, but not for a few years. So…we need a vacuum to do all kinds of floors.

I’ve been looking! Wow, it is overwhelming. Everyone has something to sell, and each store, each manufacturer, each website, each product review seems to make it even more confusing. I’ve been asking friends. Well, of course, as you would expect, everyone has their own likes and dislikes. Some like bags. Some love the bagless.

We’ve narrowed it down…..somewhat.

Electrolux. They’ve come a long way, baby.

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Simplicity.

Have you ever heard of them? It’s the same family run company that makes Simplicity patterns! From St. Louis. They are assembled in the U.S. with a minimum of foreign made parts. I like that. They are ONLY sold in small, independent sewing and vacuum stores. I like that too.

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Dyson

We all know about Dyson. But they’re bagless: I just don’t think I want that.

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Miele

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And the winner is…..drum roll…..the Miele Capri:

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Why? It weighs less than 9 lbs. while most of the above are about 14 lbs. Big difference. And yes, the Miele name carries some weight here (no pun intended..).

And the color. A light blue machine? I don’t think so. Burnt orange? No…..

It does all kinds of flooring, and even comes with a separate brush for parquet floors! I realize that to most of you this is a non-issue. But we have parquet in most of the downstairs, so it will be great.

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Added to all these considerations is the fact that I REFUSE to pay the price for some of these vacuums. No way will I pay $500.00. It just simply is NOT worth it. I have better things to spend my money on, thank you…

However, if anyone has a great new suggestion for me, please…let me know!

I’m open to any and all. Thank you!