I'm in Love With a Vacuum... Again
My kitchen has a door that leads to the backyard. A backyard that is almost completely shaded by 30-40ft tall cedar trees. It’s lovely, and I’m so lucky to have a magical forest for a backyard (the below pic was taking from the back door, looking up slightly). BUT, the trees shed all kinds of tree stuff, which then gets tracked into the kitchen, and there’s just a constant collection of foliage on my little doormat and the surrounding area. it’s not a huge deal, but I like things neat, and it wasn’t easy to pull out my beloved Dyson throughout the day to keep things tidy.
First, a slight detour. Do you follow Mrs. Hinch on Instagram? She’s a woman from the UK who loves to clean, and she posts videos on her Instagram stories of her cleaning her house, often to like, R&B hits from the late 90s. It’s very much my kind of thing. I’d see her using a Shark Wandvac, which is essentially a very cool, streamlined dustbuster, and I immediately wanted one. Did I expressly need one? Not really! I have the Dyson! It has attachments! I can dustbust just fine! But I still thought it looked very cool and I was envious of Mrs. Hinch for having what looked like a magic wand, but for vacuuming.
But recently I came into some extra funds, and after I donated to causes I want to support, replaced my dying laptop, and squirreled away some savings, I started thinking about what I could buy that wasn’t essential, but would bring me a little joy. In an extremely on-brand move, one of those things was a vacuum.
I really didn’t think this was an essential purchase, and I mean, it’s not, but also I wish I had spent the $100 earlier, because this Shark Wandvac is wonderful. Mainly I use it throughout the day to keep the kitchen doormat clean, to scoop up any crumbs around Hero’s bowls, and to quickly tidy up any baking related messes.. But I also use the Wandvac to clean the couch (it’s easier to maneuver than the Dyson), to banish a cobweb that can’t possibly have been there for that long, could it?, and to reach tough spots that need a tiny, yet powerful vacuum.
As you can see above, the Wandvac comes with a little stand to hold it and charge it, and it even holds the attachments. The whole thing is low profile enough that I keep it on this small cabinet that’s at the far end of my kitchen, which makes it super easy to grab when I want to vacuum any small messes.
The Shark Wandvac weighs only 1.4lbs, but it has serious suction that would rival a Dyson. Because of it’s small size, the dustbin is also small, but I’ve vacuumed up an entire entryway’s worth of tree debris and I’ve never had to stop and empty it halfway through. It’s also long enough (According to Shark, 16.5” long) that you don’t have to crawl along the floor to use it properly. I have eroding joints and all kinds of aches and pains and it’s very easy to use this vacuum on my doormat, around dog bowls, and various other spots on the floor without discomfort.
There are only two buttons, the power button (which you just press once to turn on, no holding the button down to keep the vacuum running. A DREAM!) and the dust bin ejector (I have no idea what this is called) which you push forward and it truly blasts the bin open. You should only do this when the vacuum is basically IN the trash can, because it shoots out all the dirt with impressive force. This also means you don’t have to stick your hand in the dirty bin to clear everything out.
$100 seems like a lot to spend on what is basically an auxilary vacuum. I didn’t buy one until I had money to burn! But this thing is worth twice that. It is so lightweight, so useful, so powerful. It is the perfect support system to my precious Dyson Stick Vacuum. If you’re interested in getting a Shark Wandvac, I’d recommend hunting around for the best deal. Regularly this vacuum sells for around $100-$140, but I got mine on sale at Kohl’s and it ended up being about $100 after tax. Again, it’s worth the cost. I never thought I’d love another vacuum as much as my Dyson, but it turns out there’s room in this heart for two… vacuums.
