I have just got my very early Chrissie pressy! I have a Roomba 620 iRobot. It is better than a pet...
I struggle with my vacuum cleaners - I have a traditional UK upright and a cylinder type too. But as soon as I use one - my back immediately offers its resignation. The result is a rather dusty floor and lots of dust bunnies, Someone on one of the forums mentioned she'd got one so I did my homework and decided yes, I wanted one!!!
I bought it locally (if it goes wrong it is far easier) - I could have got it for less. But I put it on to play this afternoon. It is fascinating - it is a random pattern which means it doesn't clean everything perfectly on the first clean but I can see the difference on my wooden floors already. The trap was full of compacted fluff by the time the battery was down and it went back to charge. It went under most of my furniture - just 3 cupboards on feet where the space was too narrow. I can't see under them! It got stuck a couple of times - I don't think I'd leave it on its own (there is a programmable version) but it wasn't very noisy so sitting in the room doing the forums while it ran wasn't a trial.
PMR is a pain - in every sense. This is almost as good as a lady wot does - and over time will probably work out cheaper And my back (which is playing up) didn't suffer...
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I had the experience with one of those when I was staying at my daughter's house in Seattle.Once when I was alone in the house, the Thing had eaten my cell phone charger cable and had turned off under a bed..I couldn't find it anywhere..😂😂
I agree about vacuuming..it's really hard on my back..for now I haven't bought it for myself as I have relegated the vacuuming to my OH ...it's good occupational therapy for him😇
Oh, and just saying...be sure all pets are absolutely potty trained!! The Roomba will try to clean up everything, and I hear it can make an enormous mess too!!
Haven`t hoovered since having PMR (6 years) OH happy to do it with what I think is a heavy dyson!.....he takes it to pieces to clean it (was a mechanic) thinks it a tool rather than a cleaner!....bless.....
AND they spray bacteria like all air hand dryers...
Are you trying to make us jealous PMRpro (you have succeeded) it sounds great and I am sure your back appreciates it. I don't think I will get one though as my Flat has a large open plan sitting and dining area with a three seater settee and two matching chairs, plus coffee table, dining table with 6 chairs, plus other things I think it would be permanently in a tizwas! and give up. Good luck with it -Happy Days. D
You would be surprised how it copes with furniture. I have quite a lot ina small space - very small flat really and it was fine, drove in and reversed out again. Quite amusing when it got to little steps
Thank you for your informative Post about Domestic Hygiene and modern gadgets for keeping it under control. I'm sure that Mr James Dys*n OBE would be proud, not to mention the numerous shareholders in his now global company.
However, might I respectfully suggest that (q.) 'Dust is only God's Dandruff' after all - and that any attempt to eliminate dust from your home completely is ultimately a futile exercise? From experience, it will only return with a vengeance if provoked into submission, and the forces of Nature will prevail in the end.
That said, and in your case, if a Robot Machine is an effective substitute for a 'live' pet (that can hoover-up some household debris - but deposit equally nasty surprises at the same time), you have my blessings and I wish you well in your endeavours with your new fangled 'Dust-bot'.
For me: I continue to slavishly, and on my feeble PMR-ravaged hands and knees, wipe the numerous, marble-tiled kitchen and bathroom floors at Benjamin Mansions with a lightly-dampened copy of The Times in the possibly vain hope that I will at least satisfy my clearly innate desires to be a Domestic Masochist (I use the term advisedly..).
So, this daily physical ordeal, and my resulting bad back in the process, is a mere trifle compared with the Existential Guilt that I would suffer otherwise :-/.
That said: I spotted a really good, nearly new Bosch Vacuum cleaner in the local charity shop today. A Bargain, and who knows what forgotten domestic 'surprises' it might hoover up?!...
What a good idea! I’ve got a Dyson ( other makes are available) cylinder because the upright one was a nightmare, but current one is still bad on the back..so although it’s about 4 years old it’s virtually brand new through lack of use! I have a lady wot does once a fortnight, but I don’t think her heart’s in it somehow! Never mind, I don’t live in House Beautiful, or even Dowagers Mansion so who cares.
I have 2 of his - an upright and cylinder, thinking the cylinder would be better on hard floor. Nope...
I used to have a lady wot did once a month or so - until she lost her job with the neighbour so had to seek pastures new of the full-time variety. I can't be bothered to seek another - Violja didn't look down her nose at my distinct lack of domestic prowess.
OH decided it had to be called Muriel. Our satnav is Gladys and his mother's lady wot did was Muriel - a paragon of floor cleaning for whom David was a source of great distress...
I would say not, I have the Dyson 6 cordless and wouldn't be without it, I don't need to pay a cleaner as can reach places all by myself now - wot a treat!!!
Ooh I am jealous of your Roomba. I do love my little G-tech upright though- so lightweight but picks up everything on carpets or hard floors, much easier on the shoulders than my trusty dyson. Not quite so keen on the handheld G-tech but still good-think that one just requires more effort from me. Happy Hoovering 😊😊😊
I had to resort to a lady who does I’m afraid. However I also bought a Gtech. I can manage that in between times. My back is such a pain too. Must look into the robot though. My lady uses the ordinary hoover as it definitely does the best job.
Liz.
I am sooooo jealous..its my next household purchase. 😀
I went and got myself a flymo robot mower. Pushing a mower around isn’t too kind on the back either! Very relaxing sat with a cuppa tea watching it busying itself. Added bonus no grass clippings to deal with and the best looking lawn I’ve ever had. He’s hibernating now in the shed for winter but will be back out in the spring beavering away again.
Staying in B&B, admiring garden view from room was surprised by appearance from bushes of large hedgehog like wandering 'thing'! We became very attached to it during our stay as it meandered about on its diet of grass nibbling away. Does this robotic vacuum cleaner do carpets or just hard surfaces? Could be seriously tempted as that mid back pain is nasty.
Mine wanders back and forth over the hard floors and the single rug - I wasn't expecting it to do much of a job on the rug (the red Persian variety) but in fact it looks so much better than it did. I suspect that if you make sure the rug is well cleaned to start with the roomba will keep it looking that way - there is the incentive to do it daily. If they are fitted carpets it would do a better job probably - the little step from the wood onto the rug takes longer to get cleared. The videos show it doing carpet.
2 years ago, a spinologist told me that vacuuming was the worst thing for a person's back. I bought a Royal Senior, stick-type. I managed awhile, being so independent, but, eventually, succumbed, and have a lovely lady, once a fortnight, for my little bungalow. Housework....YUK!!! There used to be a lovely tv ad..uk.. with the children watching this'automatic' vacuum cleaner doing it's thing.
Trust You Lot to get excited about domestic appliances on a serious (allegedly) health community forum?! Then again, if it keeps you all engaged, who am I to judge?
As for it being a 'slow news week' (q. DL): all I can say is Watch this Space since my new Silly Book, 'Write Me Funny - Ramblings On the Lighter Side of PMR and GCA' is about to be inflicted on Polymalingerers and GCA Survivors in the next few days.
But, be warned: it's not for the feint-hearted and / or those of you who want serious stuff - just an antidote to the often tricky business of managing and coping with our illnesses.
Definitely sounds as if you are the stereotypical man who does know how to operate a vacuum cleaner Those of us who are left with the job all appreciate the benefit to our PMR-ravaged backs of not needing to lean forwards and shove one around ...
Another convert! I love my iLife robot vacuum! I've had mine for a few months now and I am grateful every time it runs! I had been hurting so badly for so long when vacuuming (and changing sheets) and it was depressing and hopeless feeling. Now my place is clean!
Whoever thought I'd have a little robot in my house? LOL
Thr best thing about my Roomba is that it does the work all by itself. I don't even have t be here. After a few weeks of using it, I can see the house is actually cleaner than it ever was before, because it vacuums every day. There's less dust on the tables and the shelves than before. I can only think that's because what winds up on the floor every day goes out the door every night when I empy the dust bn when I get home.
Robot vacs are great. My son has kept one in his house as a pet for years. His is called Robbie. Actually, I think he's on to Robbie II now. Fortunately for me, my hubby started doing all the vacuuming once PMR hit, even though my bad back has little if anything to do with PMR. 😘
Having a D#son and a He*nry and an OH who can’t work either, complained to him I couldn’t continue doing cleaning so his answer was to buy Me a cordless D#son which I must say is so much easier to use. Even better was using some of my pension for a cleaning company every 2 weeks to clean from top to bottom and I manage in between. A friend told me when I had my first child that dust will still be there when we are gone so why worry about it!!
I really am not houseproud and until now had worked on the concept that if I left it OH would eventually do something. But while he will clean his bathroom he will not vacuum anything but his study when someone is coming. Then whinges about the dust bunnies that form around my hair - just cos he can't be blamed! This will cure that complaint on his part...
My OH won’t even let the girls clean HIS room so I have to try and nip in when he’s at the golf and try and leave it as it was minus the rubbish and dust! We share the En-Suite but doesn’t know how to clean it either, think I failed miserable with my training over our 47 yrs together, bless him!
I sometimes watch those programs about remodelling homes or looking for great new properties and wonder why everyone seems enamored of open plan and with having as many bathrooms as there are bedrooms. Another puzzle is open kitchen shelves, no doors. Do these people not create dust and clutter? Or does the McMansion come with live in cleaning staff?
"does the McMansion come with live in cleaning staff?"
Oh I suspect so! And a cook. Or they never do more than pour a bowl of cornflakes themselves...
Mind you, while I'm less sure about every bedroom having a bathroom I DO agree that any house needs at least 2 toilets somewhere! And one on every level. I have a 3 room flat, one room is a living kitchen for want of a better word. We have 2 bathrooms - one an en-suite shower room and one separate entrance bathroom, both have a toilet. Wouldn't live any other way now!!!!
When we were designing the little house we never built, towards the end of the process I declared that we needed a powder room (euphemism for emergency toilet) and we found just the right fittings to create one in the tiny laundry room. I've kept all the plans for the house that isn't because we really had got everything so perfect. Too bad that I was ill with undiagnosed PMR and everything fell apart in the end.
Our Durham house had a single bathroom when we bought it - they had lived in it with 2 teenage daughters! They had knocked the separate toilet in with the bathroom (crackers) and the downstairs toilet out in the lean-to bit had been removed - we found the drains when we knocked it down to build one that wasn't falling down. Then we built on at the gable end - a bedroom, ensuite bathroom and walk-in wardrobe room/nursey if required. Then we moved - to a house with a single upstairs bathroom (also an old toilet in the scullery had been removed) just as PMR hit even harder! Bah!!!!!
I have a deaf white cat confined to a heated, air-conditioned basement with her bro & sister. I'd use the vaccum every week on their concrete floor & Tuffy cat would climb on the cannister sweeper & ride it while I cleaned. Being deaf, I supposed she loved the heat & rumble. An extremely curious cat due to being deaf, she destroys my valuables upstairs so I'd put a body cat harness on her & walk her over the farm 3x a week. Her siblings just came outside while I watched over them. We live on our horse farm but house is close to a hi-speed road so a deaf kitty cannot be let loose outside. I'm sure Tuffy wants a Roomba forXmas to ride! I'm a cleaning freak & being wheelchair bound for a yr makes cleaning hard & hubby of 51 yrs won't clean! Or walk Tuffy. Would a Rooma pick up cat litter on concrete? Or, upstairs, would it sweep a thick all wool room rug that has a heavy cave horse design on it? House is wood floors with thick wool rugs over 1" hi. I've been using a Black & Decker dustbuster to clean plus dusting cloths, Swffer sticks, etc. hard on my painful RA...
They are available from various companies and I found a review online about the Samsung powerbot that got 90% for pet hair etc. Roomba used to do a heavy duty one 10 years ago - I imagine perhaps the top of the range sort now has replaced that as far as they are concerned but, to judge by reviews, the punters don't agree!
I want a machine that works for my purpose - the bottom of the range roomba does for me, I don't have children, pets or concrete! My roomba climbs over a generous 1/2" obstacle on the base of some chairs but did occasionally get stuck because it tipped because of the shape of the furniture feet. I think it would transfer from hard floor onto 1" thick carpet though. But I don't understand what you mean about your rug - do you mean it isn't smooth?
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And my back (which is playing up) didn't suffer...
Then again, if it keeps you all engaged, who am I to judge? 
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