New York Renovator

To those of you who read my blog regularly (you two know who you are, HA!) , you are aware of my, um, STINKIN’ LOUSY experiences with vacuum cleaners. The sad fact is that they die after only half a year or so of use. Yeah, yeah, I know they have warranties… so called, anyway. I really don’t want to spend $45 shipping a defective vacuum cleaner to a company who can’t make them work the first time! :S

We’ve gone through quite a few vacuums the past few years. The most recent one, a lightweight (in more ways than one) GE Upright has expired. This one lasted about 7 months, so that’s a plus… Well anyway, we’re in the market for a new vacuum cleaner and after hearing some of your input across my various blogs, we’re going to go with the Bissell. I’m not 100% sure which Bissell I will choose (and BTW, why are there so many different versions?! That’s confusing), but I saw this one at Buy.com and was wowed at the specs and the price:

It’s the “Bissell 3920 Pet Hair Eraser HEPA Bagless Upright Vacuum.” Long name. I saw hearts when I saw the words “Pet Hair Eraser.” Wowwwwww.

As you two devoted readers can attest, I have a kitty, named Livvy. She’s a Tabby Point Siamese, a beautiful off-white color. She never shedded as a kitten, and I stupidly thought she wasn’t going to be a “shedder.”

Boooooyyyyy. was I wrong! Oh my gosh, we could have created another cat by now, with all this hair! It also doesn’t help that her favorites places to cuddle are my BLACK cloth-covered desk chair and my beautiful reclining wing chair (BROWN colored). Is she playing some horrible, terrible joke, or is this some feline freak of nature?!

ANYWAY.
We need a vacuum cleaner. The Bissell looks GREAT, doesn’t it? It’s selling for about $200 at Buy.com. I check their Weekly Sale page religiously every week. I’m waiting for this baby to go on sale. But still, $200 for a Pet Hair Eraser isn’t bad, not bad at all. What do you think?

Buy.com is my new favorite store. They have really great prices, and lots of stuff qualifies for free shipping. They have a terrific electronics department, but also sell appliances, home and outdoor stuff, clothing, cleaning and appliances supplies, and etc. They have products from third-party stores, too, for even more selection and discounts. It’s definitely worth checking out. Give it a look!

In the meatime, I’ve got to make up my mind about a vac –pronto, before the cat hair takes over… I’ll let you know what we choose, and give *another* full-fledged review!

Another vacuum bites the dust. :-p

We got this machine in October, and have been trying to endure it since then. We’ve resisted the urge to throw it out the window… but have come pretty close a few times. I wish vacuum manufacturers would realize that we consumers don’t want a vacuum with the latest doo-dad, fancy accoutrement, microchip and hard drives that remember our last vacuum session, etc!!! I just want a vacuum that VACUUMS! Simple enough?! Gah!

I bought this particular GE vac because it is lightweight, has a powerful motor, and is bagless. The vacuum directions say to replace the little filter once a month ($10 per filter). But the filters on this thing are teeny-tiny– the size of an index card. And my old house is very dusty (we have a bird and the walls are the original plaster). So guess how frequently I have to replace the filter? ONCE A WEEK. Yes you read that right. ONCE a week. If I don’t, the vacuum will not pick anything up. I’ve had it! Forget it! No more of this.

Anyway, I think I’m going back to bagged vacuum cleaners. My experiments with the filter/bagless models have all failed, and the filters are costing me a fortune. It’s like printer ink– the printers are inexpensive cheapos, but the manufacturers getcha with the cost of the ink. Grrrr.