The Fight Against Fur

I am that parent…

…except that my kids are covered in fur.

So much fur. It’s literally everywhere. On my floor, on my clothes, on the couch, in the bathtub, on the counters, it even gets in my food (if that grosses you out, sorry, but you must not have pets).

Keeping the fur at bay is a daily battle, seriously. All the flooring in the downstairs of our house is hardwood (errr, laminate hardwood at least) and everyday I would sweep up a mountain of fur and fuzz. I could knit an ugly Christmas sweater for every member of my family out of all the fur (no worries guys, I haven’t learned to knit). Multiple times a week I wonder how the heck these animals have any fur left.

And the daily sweeping was only a temporary fix for the days I didn’t have time to really clean. Oh no, really cleaning these floors required much more extensive work.

First comes the sweeping. After sweeping, its time to drag out the vacuum cleaner to get up all the fuzzies that decided to go hang gliding during the sweeping process. And, while you’ve got the vacuum out, gotta drag it upstairs to tackle the carpets. If you’re feeling extra ambitious? Pull out that nozzle and try to suck up all the fur that’s embedded itself in the crease between the floor and the walls (or, if you’re too tired of dragging around the vacuum, just use your hand). But it’s not time to put up the vacuum cleaner yet. Nope, first you have to do the stairs. If you’re lucky and didn’t lose your vacuum cleaner attachments while moving homes, yay! Pull that bad boy out get to work (just be careful not to pull the hose too far and cause the vacuum to topple down the stairs). If you’re not lucky (guess who) then it’s time to practice a little balance moving that heavy vacuum down step-by-step while attempting to maneuver it on those narrow steps.

Think you’re done? Nope. Once the vacuum cleaners put away, it’s the brooms turn again. Because traditional vacuums tend to blow back dust, dirt, and, of course, fur. So now you have to sweep again to get up everything the vacuum missed.

Still not done. Because all that dust and fur that went hang gliding during the sweeping and vacuuming had found new places to settle down. Get out the Pledge and dust rag for all the tables, shelves, desks, consoles, and cabinets. And unless you like that whole fur-in-your-food thing, might want to grab the antibacterial spray and wipe down every single surface in your kitchen.

And then turn around and try not to cry when you see the dog’s (or cats if that’s your thing) have already shed more fur on your freshly cleaned floors. Possible threats of shaving may occur.

Sound exhausting? You’re not wrong.

Which is why I started researching cordless stick vacuums a couple of months ago. There had to be an easier way to fight the fur (shaving all three of them was starting to sound really good). I figured a cordless vacuum that could get in all the tight spaces and didn’t require me to drag a cord all over the house (or yell at the dogs not to chew on said cord) would streamline the whole process. I was specifically looking at models that came with attachments and converted into a handheld vacuum for the dreaded stairs (By the way, to whoever first thought of putting carpet on stairs? I really don’t like you).

The first thing I learned in my research? A decent cordless vacuum is expensive. I was willing to shell out a few bucks to make my life easier…I wasn’t willing to sell a kidney.

And then came a glorious phone call with my sister. While simultaneously venting about the hassle of cleaning up after the dirt demons in our homes (me=three dogs and a husband, her=four kids, a dog, and a husband), I mentioned my quest for a vacuum. She told me about how she bought a refurbished Dyson for a good deal several years ago (how do you know you’re really an adult? You have lengthy conversations about cleaning).

Light bulb!

As soon as I hung up the phone I was on Google searching for a cordless Dyson (definitely the highest rated option on the market). And bingo! I found a fully refurbished Dyson V6 Absolute Cordless for half off the retail price. It was on my doorstep three days later.

Y’all, I seriously love this vacuum. (Another way to tell you’re an adult? You get so excited about a new vacuum that you write a whole blog post about it!)

In five minutes, I can cover my entire first floor and get up twice the fur of a broom and dust pan. In another five I can vacuum the carpets and snap on the attachment to do the stairs. If I’m feeling ambitious, it even does a nice job on the upholstery and floor mats in my car.

My husband is less excited. He’s convinced I’m crazy for spending the equivalent of the monthly payment for a nice car on a vacuum (but he’s also the guy who thinks disinfectant wipes are the only cleaning material you ever need).

But I’m a lot less likely to threaten him with bodily harm for not picking up a broom, so there’s that.

And I only threatened to shave the dogs twice last week (it’s still not off the table).