Okay, can I be clear that I never thought I would be writing about something as mundane as the Best Vacuum for Families. However, as I look around my house, wistfully thinking about my little ILife that died a few months back and how I really need to get a new one, it occurs to me that maintaining our households is an inevitable part of life. And I do so love to work smarter and not harder, especially in the first year when junior is your focus. So I have exactly 2 vacuums to suggest and I swear by them both.
I love automatic vacuums. This little ILife has changed my life. It runs every single day. It maintains a base clean so that I don’t have to. I don’t have to sweep every day. I think I now sweep my house maybe once a month, just to get the corners. Also great for anyone with pets that I swear track in just as much dirt as my children do!
The ILife drives around happily and blindly. It has a sensor so it doesn’t go down stairs and if it runs into things it will turn around. It collects dirt, dust, and food into a little compartment that you take out and dump easily into the trash.
Now I want to talk about the Rumba, since the ILife is essentially an off brand of it. I specifically and intentionally chose recommending the ILife over the Rumba. I have friend who has a Rumba and it was so loud we could barely hear each other talking across the table. I don’t do loud, so that was a deal breaker. Yes, you can hear the ILife, but it it much quieter in my opinion.
Maintaining the ILife was really easy. I cleaned out the brushes frequently (lots of women with long hair in my house) and dumped it out daily. But time spent doing that was still far less than it would take me to sweep my whole house.
The ILife works on all types of floor. Wood, carpet, linoleum. You program it with a remote and as long as it doesn’t get stuck anywhere, it’ll park itself back on its charger when the battery runs low. It doesn’t trace the room or anything, just runs randomly. So letting it run a little everyday is the best way to go.
Pros
- Queiter
- Easy to clean
- I can take it apart pretty easily without breaking it, which was nice so I could really deep clean it.
- Runs on lots of different floors
- Adorable with googly eyes
- Relatively affordable (at least compared to brand names)
- Replaceable brushes if they break.
Cons
- As with all automatic vacuums, you need to make sure to pick up your house. No cords laying around, or socks, or strings.
- I feel like it didn’t last a super long time, although I supposed running every day for a few years is pretty solid.
- If it doesn’t catch dirt and crumbs, it flings them across the house instead, which isn’t awesome.
- Because there is no tracking system, it may not clean everything everyday.
My second suggestion is the Bissel Bagless Vacuum. Despite the effectiveness of the ILife, and the simplicity of it, there is no actual suction to it. The Bissel is what I would consider a real vacuum. It’s going to pull dirt and fur out of your carpets and leave that freshly vacuumed smell behind (okay, I don’t know if that’s actually a thing…).
I like this vacuum in particular for a few reasons. The first and foremost is that it is bagless. I like to consider myself thrifty (or cheap, whatever) and I don’t want to have to keep buying pieces for a vacuum, even if it’s just a bag. So being bag free is a must. You easily take it out of it’s compartment, press a button while standing over your trashcan, and the bottom drops out, dumping the entire contents into your trash bag.
This vacuum is also great for homes with pets. Now I don’t know if you have pets or not, but I find that my cat and my kids both shed and make messes. So the more oomph a vacuum can offer me the better.
Another (nerdy) feature I love is the cord retract technology. Yeah, I understand in the scope of things this won’t absolutely make or break some people’s buying decisions, but as an individual who grew up with having to wrap the cord every time, I’m going to enjoy those little perks.
Pros
- Solid suction power
- Comes with some nice attachments that I can really appreciate, even if I rarely use them!
- Bagless
- Can be used on wood floor
Cons
- We have a lot of long hair that gets wrapped in the brushes that I have to clean out pretty frequently.
- I’ve seen a lot of negative reviews, and while I don’t personally have problems, it may be worth looking at if you do have lots of pets and don’t also have the ILife running for you everyday.
