My excuse is that the vacuum is usually on the wrong floor of the house. You may think this is a variation on “my vacuum is too heavy” but it is not. I could have a 1 pound vacuum sitting on another floor and it still a pain in the butt to go get it.
Never thought I’d ever complain about not being able to do housework but after 2 separate cervical fusions, vacuuming throws me into an instantaneous spasm which ultimately pisses me off. You know the drill, it’s completely different if you choose not to do something, another entity entirely if it’s outta your hands!
@Jolara I hear ya. I do vacuum regularly… but it takes a lortab and tylenol to accomplish it these days. Vacuuming/sweeping is about the worst household chore when your back isn’t great. It’s difficult not to be able to do all that one used to do.
I read once that a vacuum might create so much suction it can suck your entire house inside of it, but since it’s only like a foot across the matter will be extremely dense, so it may create a black hole and pull in our entire solar system, destroying humanity, and I can’t deal with that kind of guilt so that’s why I don’t vacuum. Better to be safe than sorry.
@pfarro1 You forgot: written by a “scientist” on their blog. They are also selling anti black hole machines on that blog too; to “save your house”. You can buy it with an optional bluetooth speaker. The testimonials are incredible.
This is dumb, but I hate vacuuming just because they’re so damn loud. I don’t really like the loud.
A couple years ago, I was renting a room in a house. I lived there for about eight months. Never once did I vacuum the floor. When I came back after having been gone a few weeks, I found the landlord had replaced the carpet. I like to think he would have replaced it no matter what.
Well if you carpet the carpet with clothing like my teen did in her room there is no opportunity for the dirt to each reach the carpet so it stays clean. Just saying’…
@compunaut That would work. I needed to have done that with my kid due to makeup, fingernail polish and acrylic paint she was getting all over the rug. Since it was a rental and I didn’t want to lose my deposit I bought a cheap area rug and put it over the landlord’s rug. Left that rug at the curb when I moved. It was totally spattered.
No excuses: I am a slob and there is too much shit in the way. Deal. With. It. Or don’t, because I don’t need anyone but the cat to put up with it, and even if I do get things off the floor and get around to vacuuming, he puts them all back (especially shredded cardboard and sisal from his scratching posts, which means I have to carpet sweep before vacuuming anyway) so he doesn’t care for a clean place, either.
excuse #1 no vacuum. Brooms do not work well on rugs. Especially with cats.
I bought that handheld meh sold not so long ago as the price was right, only it is a real PITA to vacuum 2 rooms with that - thus excuse #2. The handheld works fine, doing the rooms bent over and on my knees is a bigger problem than I had anticipated. I have the perfect person to give that to as a present at their next birthday as they want one. Good thing I saved the box.
So I finally bought the one today. Hopefully that will solve the problem and I won’t have an excuse #3.
The grandkids (3 and 5) come over every Friday. After they leave, the house needs vacuuming. That’s when it gets done. Otherwise, the two of us don’t make enough of a mess to bother. Oh, and we have only two rooms carpeted, the rest of the house is wood floored, that gets swiffered.
With a Great Dane, there is always vacuuming to be done. I have rugs and hardwood/tile floors, but no carpet. Roomba vacuums every day for me. Gotta love technology.
@PyxienTX Great Dane and hardwood floors here too. This one’s a huge shedder. What Roomba do you have and how often do you have to empty it? Does it get under tables and into nooks and crannies? I used to ponder all the Roombas over at Woot and talk myself out of them as they were just too pricey for something I suspected wouldn’t work.
I have the 870. It does get under tables, couches and is okay in crannies and nooks. It has a little brush extending on one side. Rogue is a huge shedder, too. I empty the bin 2 times when I am home, but I empty after I get home during the week. I have it set to vacuum while I am at work to entertain Rogue (He chases it and barks. It follows him ) It really should be emptied twice at least. It works relatively well for what it is, but if you are OCD, it will not keep up. My daughter vacuums the downstairs 2 times a week with the regular vacuum.
@PyxienTX Thanks. There’s a bunch of 650s on Ebay for under $200 shipped. I’m reading reviews to see if one might work. I’ll look for 870s now and see if there are any I could afford. My house is small, about 900 sq ft in the main living area (I have a dedicated game room on the lower floor that’s another 200 sq ft), so the vaccuum area isn’t huge.
@moondrake I tried a Roomba when they first came out, but hated it. I love the one I have now. It is a vast improvement. I am sure any of the newer ones will work, or even try the cheaper off brand ones on Amazon/Ebay that have good reviews. I got mine as a gift. I could not imagine spending that on a vacuum when I have 3 Kirbys and 2 Sharks that do a much better job in less time. I hate vacuuming, though, so it works and entertains.
@moondrake Hilarious is right. My eyes are still leaking. I might hesitate, too if I was in your situation. The 870 comes with virtual walls you can set up to enable a non-Roomba space that may work for your needs. I am sure the others do, as well, but have not done research on them. I don’t use them because I have a 2 story with a separated upstairs, so it isn’t needed at this point.
When Merlin became that way due to Wobblers, we taught him to go on pee pads. We had them all over the house so that he could make it somewhere. We didn’t want him distressed that he didn’t make it. We lucked out in that Merlin was not completely incontinent, just had a hard time getting around. We left stacks of clean pads and just grabbed the dirty one and replaced with clean and gave a treat. This idea may not work for Simba, but I thought it worth mentioning because they try so hard to please us and get so upset when they do something they perceive (or have been trained) as wrong.
@PyxienTX Wow, my dane before last was a blue named Merlin. I feel terrible that I forgot him on the name your pets thread, my poor boy. He lived to be 13.5, and it was arthritis pain and mobility problems that led me to let him go. If he’d not been in pain he’d surely have made it to 14 as he was in great physical health. So your Merlin would poop on pee pads? Or was Merlin’s problem urine? Simba’s okay in that department but he will get a disressed look on his face and run for the door dropping stink bombs all the way. And I do mean STINK bombs, his protein is salmon and whitefish.
@moondrake My Merlin was a Blue Merle. He only lived to 5 and 1/2, but he was diagnosed with Wobblers at 6 months and lived 5 very good years after everyone told me to put him down. He had issues with both actually. He did all his business on the pee pads at the end, but it started with the poop. It took very little prompting to train. Baby wipes came in handy for the pee, because he’d squat down to try the keep his pee on the pads and wasn’t always successful with that or keeping his foot out of it. The poop was much easier to deal with; just scoop up the pad, lay out another and trash the used (Diaper Genie is excellent for this). With Wobblers comes nerve damage if they live long enough and he dragged his rear legs. That led to being unable to always get outside on time, though he always tried.
@PyxienTX So sorry he had such a short life, glad it was a great one. I’ll keep that in mind about the pet pads. It may be a solution I need to try. Simba’s getting weak in the back end, he still gets up and walks okay, but his back end balance is poor and getting up is harder every day,. There’s a lift harness in our future.
@moondrake Talk to your vet about Adequin(sp?). It helped Merlin for a long time. He was on Tramadol for the pain, but the adequin really helped his joints and ability to get up. We tried steroids, but he was too aggressive on them (we couldn’t have him neutered because of the Wobblers)
He did have a wonderful life. He loved hiking and playing with his girl Bella (deaf and blind Chocolate Merle). He even liked riding in the wagon my husband got him so he could still go hiking with us at the end.
@PyxienTX I use a horse stripper. Works great, but the shedding is ongoing. Plus I am an indifferent housekeeper at best. I will look into the Adequin. I have heard of it before. I may have used it with Majik, she got shots at the vet to improve her mobility but this was at least 20 years ago.
Typically we vacuum once a month, but the house cleaner does it every other week. However we also spot vacuum with the stick vacuum, so I suppose weekly is the average with all factors combined. Although, majority of our living space is hardwood and we sweep those daily(ish).
But to answer your question, No I don’t need a vacuum, I own 3 already.
Want a vacuum that is nearly indestructible so long as it’s maintained, easy to repair yourself if needed (brushes and belts) and worth repairing by a specialist (motor) if it stops working?
No knock on today’s offer, or on the Dysons, and esp no knock on the robot vacuums, I want a robot vacuum.
Sanitaire is a brand sold thru janitorial supply stores. Another brand is ProTeam, about which I know nothing, except that if a janitorial supply store sells it, it’s prob pretty good. These are the vacuums people use when their income depends on the vacuum working being reliable, powerful, and lasting a long time.
Sanitaires are pretty simple. No attachments and special functions. They just vacuum and do it well. And last and last and last. And come with very very long cords to accommodate large commercial office areas and hallways, but these long cords also mean very little unplugging the cord to move it in a home. And supplies are readily available thru mail order.
I bought 2 sanitaires a few years ago, both from Craigslist, both for well under $100. One belonged to people who had tried the janitorial biz and given it up - the other belonged to a church that has replaced its carpet with hard floors.
If you search on Craigslist and are patient, they pop up reasonably often. If you want new, search for “janitorial supply”.
I was vacuuming everyday with a Roomba, but stopped a few months ago because the random wires and laundry on the floor was making it impossible. So the lack of vacuuming is more a symptom of a broader cleaning issue
The carpet in my bedroom is such disgusting old cheap mottled gray berber that I cannot visually tell how much it needs to be vacuumed at any given time. It has stains (I threw a rug over the biggest, grossest one), burn marks, and what appears to be wax melted into it. That’s what I get for renting a very cheap room. The exception is around my bird cage, because I can see the scattered seed hulls, but I tend to get those with a dust buster every few days. The worst part is that the hallway and the bedroom adjacent to mine have this cool old wide-plank pine flooring (house is from 1855, so it could be REALLY old for all I know), so I’m pretty sure that’s what’s hiding under this mess. Ugh.
The linoleum in the kitchen is a dark mottled gray/brown, so it also never looks like it needs to be mopped. That means it never has to, right…?
Living with an ocpd germaphobe means never having to vacuum
@simplersimon how awesome that guiltlessness must be!!!:)
Huh? Ask me next year.
My excuse is that the vacuum is usually on the wrong floor of the house. You may think this is a variation on “my vacuum is too heavy” but it is not. I could have a 1 pound vacuum sitting on another floor and it still a pain in the butt to go get it.
Never thought I’d ever complain about not being able to do housework but after 2 separate cervical fusions, vacuuming throws me into an instantaneous spasm which ultimately pisses me off. You know the drill, it’s completely different if you choose not to do something, another entity entirely if it’s outta your hands!
@Jolara I hear ya. I do vacuum regularly… but it takes a lortab and tylenol to accomplish it these days. Vacuuming/sweeping is about the worst household chore when your back isn’t great. It’s difficult not to be able to do all that one used to do.
Hardwood + swiffer
Have you ever looked under a carpet after vacuuming?
That’s why we got rid of the carpet.
Caution: wear a mask when you pull it up.
/giphy carpet mask
@2many2no
Or have carpet and ignore what’s in it and under it.
I have a real good excuse: primary progressive multiple sclerosis.
Roomba fever. Catch it.
I pay someone else to do it. Smartest money I spend.
I read once that a vacuum might create so much suction it can suck your entire house inside of it, but since it’s only like a foot across the matter will be extremely dense, so it may create a black hole and pull in our entire solar system, destroying humanity, and I can’t deal with that kind of guilt so that’s why I don’t vacuum. Better to be safe than sorry.
@awk clearly this was written on the internet. And therefore is entirely true.
@pfarro1 You forgot: written by a “scientist” on their blog. They are also selling anti black hole machines on that blog too; to “save your house”. You can buy it with an optional bluetooth speaker. The testimonials are incredible.
@Kidsandliz
What about shelling out for the scheduled upgrades and purchasing the subscriptions to continuous new technology and info?
If you take a two foot long 2X4 and rub it randomly back and forth on the carpet, people will think you did vacuum. You’re welcome.
This is dumb, but I hate vacuuming just because they’re so damn loud. I don’t really like the loud.
A couple years ago, I was renting a room in a house. I lived there for about eight months. Never once did I vacuum the floor. When I came back after having been gone a few weeks, I found the landlord had replaced the carpet. I like to think he would have replaced it no matter what.
Well if you carpet the carpet with clothing like my teen did in her room there is no opportunity for the dirt to each reach the carpet so it stays clean. Just saying’…
@Kidsandliz The carpet in my kids’ room got so gross that we tore it out & put down brown kraft paper
@compunaut That would work. I needed to have done that with my kid due to makeup, fingernail polish and acrylic paint she was getting all over the rug. Since it was a rental and I didn’t want to lose my deposit I bought a cheap area rug and put it over the landlord’s rug. Left that rug at the curb when I moved. It was totally spattered.
@Kidsandliz
@compunaut What did you do? Polyurethane the paper?
@Kidsandliz Yep. First glued it to the floor - sorta like decoupage. Then a few coats of poly for floors
/image Minwax floor polyurethane
my neato botvac does it.
The big shelf has too many things on it. The vacuum would be obstructed.
No excuses: I am a slob and there is too much shit in the way. Deal. With. It. Or don’t, because I don’t need anyone but the cat to put up with it, and even if I do get things off the floor and get around to vacuuming, he puts them all back (especially shredded cardboard and sisal from his scratching posts, which means I have to carpet sweep before vacuuming anyway) so he doesn’t care for a clean place, either.
excuse #1 no vacuum. Brooms do not work well on rugs. Especially with cats.
I bought that handheld meh sold not so long ago as the price was right, only it is a real PITA to vacuum 2 rooms with that - thus excuse #2. The handheld works fine, doing the rooms bent over and on my knees is a bigger problem than I had anticipated. I have the perfect person to give that to as a present at their next birthday as they want one. Good thing I saved the box.
So I finally bought the one today. Hopefully that will solve the problem and I won’t have an excuse #3.
The grandkids (3 and 5) come over every Friday. After they leave, the house needs vacuuming. That’s when it gets done. Otherwise, the two of us don’t make enough of a mess to bother. Oh, and we have only two rooms carpeted, the rest of the house is wood floored, that gets swiffered.
@olperfesser Cheerios everywhere?
@sammydog01 probably that and legos
@Kidsandliz Legos make the best noise going up the vacuum hose.
With a Great Dane, there is always vacuuming to be done. I have rugs and hardwood/tile floors, but no carpet. Roomba vacuums every day for me. Gotta love technology.
@PyxienTX Great Dane and hardwood floors here too. This one’s a huge shedder. What Roomba do you have and how often do you have to empty it? Does it get under tables and into nooks and crannies? I used to ponder all the Roombas over at Woot and talk myself out of them as they were just too pricey for something I suspected wouldn’t work.
I have the 870. It does get under tables, couches and is okay in crannies and nooks. It has a little brush extending on one side. Rogue is a huge shedder, too. I empty the bin 2 times when I am home, but I empty after I get home during the week. I have it set to vacuum while I am at work to entertain Rogue (He chases it and barks. It follows him
) It really should be emptied twice at least. It works relatively well for what it is, but if you are OCD, it will not keep up. My daughter vacuums the downstairs 2 times a week with the regular vacuum.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LKQBHVO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
@PyxienTX Thanks. There’s a bunch of 650s on Ebay for under $200 shipped. I’m reading reviews to see if one might work. I’ll look for 870s now and see if there are any I could afford. My house is small, about 900 sq ft in the main living area (I have a dedicated game room on the lower floor that’s another 200 sq ft), so the vaccuum area isn’t huge.
@moondrake I tried a Roomba when they first came out, but hated it. I love the one I have now. It is a vast improvement. I am sure any of the newer ones will work, or even try the cheaper off brand ones on Amazon/Ebay that have good reviews. I got mine as a gift. I could not imagine spending that on a vacuum when I have 3 Kirbys and 2 Sharks that do a much better job in less time. I hate vacuuming, though, so it works and entertains.
@PyxienTX You have got to read this hilarious review of the roomba 650
https://www.amazon.com/review/R1VJCO4TUKHNU7/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B008LX6OC6&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=1055398&store=home-garden
It’s also kind of scary as Simba’s having continence problems in his old age. Only one accident while I was away, but several times a week when he can’t get to the door fast enough.
@moondrake Hilarious is right. My eyes are still leaking. I might hesitate, too if I was in your situation. The 870 comes with virtual walls you can set up to enable a non-Roomba space that may work for your needs. I am sure the others do, as well, but have not done research on them. I don’t use them because I have a 2 story with a separated upstairs, so it isn’t needed at this point.
When Merlin became that way due to Wobblers, we taught him to go on pee pads. We had them all over the house so that he could make it somewhere. We didn’t want him distressed that he didn’t make it. We lucked out in that Merlin was not completely incontinent, just had a hard time getting around. We left stacks of clean pads and just grabbed the dirty one and replaced with clean and gave a treat. This idea may not work for Simba, but I thought it worth mentioning because they try so hard to please us and get so upset when they do something they perceive (or have been trained) as wrong.
@PyxienTX Wow, my dane before last was a blue named Merlin. I feel terrible that I forgot him on the name your pets thread, my poor boy. He lived to be 13.5, and it was arthritis pain and mobility problems that led me to let him go. If he’d not been in pain he’d surely have made it to 14 as he was in great physical health. So your Merlin would poop on pee pads? Or was Merlin’s problem urine? Simba’s okay in that department but he will get a disressed look on his face and run for the door dropping stink bombs all the way. And I do mean STINK bombs, his protein is salmon and whitefish.
@moondrake My Merlin was a Blue Merle. He only lived to 5 and 1/2, but he was diagnosed with Wobblers at 6 months and lived 5 very good years after everyone told me to put him down. He had issues with both actually. He did all his business on the pee pads at the end, but it started with the poop. It took very little prompting to train. Baby wipes came in handy for the pee, because he’d squat down to try the keep his pee on the pads and wasn’t always successful with that or keeping his foot out of it. The poop was much easier to deal with; just scoop up the pad, lay out another and trash the used (Diaper Genie is excellent for this). With Wobblers comes nerve damage if they live long enough and he dragged his rear legs. That led to being unable to always get outside on time, though he always tried.
@PyxienTX So sorry he had such a short life, glad it was a great one. I’ll keep that in mind about the pet pads. It may be a solution I need to try. Simba’s getting weak in the back end, he still gets up and walks okay, but his back end balance is poor and getting up is harder every day,. There’s a lift harness in our future.
@moondrake Talk to your vet about Adequin(sp?). It helped Merlin for a long time. He was on Tramadol for the pain, but the adequin really helped his joints and ability to get up. We tried steroids, but he was too aggressive on them (we couldn’t have him neutered because of the Wobblers)
He did have a wonderful life. He loved hiking and playing with his girl Bella (deaf and blind Chocolate Merle). He even liked riding in the wagon my husband got him so he could still go hiking with us at the end.
@moondrake Also, a King Komb can help tremendously with the shedding.
@PyxienTX I use a horse stripper. Works great, but the shedding is ongoing. Plus I am an indifferent housekeeper at best. I will look into the Adequin. I have heard of it before. I may have used it with Majik, she got shots at the vet to improve her mobility but this was at least 20 years ago.
I have a broken back.
I don’t own a vaccum. I have hardwood floors and a broom.
Typically we vacuum once a month, but the house cleaner does it every other week. However we also spot vacuum with the stick vacuum, so I suppose weekly is the average with all factors combined. Although, majority of our living space is hardwood and we sweep those daily(ish).
But to answer your question, No I don’t need a vacuum, I own 3 already.
My Vacuum is broken… it will only run for about 2-3 minutes before it turns off. After a 10 minute rest it can go another few minutes.
@greengalore Sounds like the overheating safety is kicking in. What type/brand/model?
Want a vacuum that is nearly indestructible so long as it’s maintained, easy to repair yourself if needed (brushes and belts) and worth repairing by a specialist (motor) if it stops working?
No knock on today’s offer, or on the Dysons, and esp no knock on the robot vacuums, I want a robot vacuum.
Sanitaire is a brand sold thru janitorial supply stores. Another brand is ProTeam, about which I know nothing, except that if a janitorial supply store sells it, it’s prob pretty good. These are the vacuums people use when their income depends on the vacuum working being reliable, powerful, and lasting a long time.
Sanitaires are pretty simple. No attachments and special functions. They just vacuum and do it well. And last and last and last. And come with very very long cords to accommodate large commercial office areas and hallways, but these long cords also mean very little unplugging the cord to move it in a home. And supplies are readily available thru mail order.
I bought 2 sanitaires a few years ago, both from Craigslist, both for well under $100. One belonged to people who had tried the janitorial biz and given it up - the other belonged to a church that has replaced its carpet with hard floors.
If you search on Craigslist and are patient, they pop up reasonably often. If you want new, search for “janitorial supply”.
@f00l The one issue on those is that the suction fan is located between the floor and the bag instead of after the bag. Errant debris can damage it.
They’re still built like tanks otherwise!
Cats.
@lisaviolet
/giphy cat mop
@narfcake Well, that’s all find and dandy until they climb under the sheets at night.
@lisaviolet
/giphy cat bath
/giphy cat dryer
I was vacuuming everyday with a Roomba, but stopped a few months ago because the random wires and laundry on the floor was making it impossible. So the lack of vacuuming is more a symptom of a broader cleaning issue
Is ‘because I’m a man’ a tolerable excuse? I’m not saying it’s mine, just curious that’s all.
@elimanningface
Nope.
“I don’t care and I’m lazy and I’m not letting anyone else do it for me without paying them cold hard cash” is a good excuse.
The kids will make a mess 10 minutes after I am down.
The carpet in my bedroom is such disgusting old cheap mottled gray berber that I cannot visually tell how much it needs to be vacuumed at any given time. It has stains (I threw a rug over the biggest, grossest one), burn marks, and what appears to be wax melted into it. That’s what I get for renting a very cheap room. The exception is around my bird cage, because I can see the scattered seed hulls, but I tend to get those with a dust buster every few days. The worst part is that the hallway and the bedroom adjacent to mine have this cool old wide-plank pine flooring (house is from 1855, so it could be REALLY old for all I know), so I’m pretty sure that’s what’s hiding under this mess. Ugh.
The linoleum in the kitchen is a dark mottled gray/brown, so it also never looks like it needs to be mopped. That means it never has to, right…?
Only vacuum carpet not hard wood
When I vacuumed, the kids used to ask if company was coming. That was usually the reason.
There is too much junk all over my floors.
I live in my Kenworth and it’s just easier to sweep…
I live in an apartment and don’t own a vacuum, plus I like keeping my stuff mostly piled on the floor like nests.