Happiness... is a vacuum called Miele

I used to love shopping for designer handbags and pretty shoes, but these days I'd much rather invest in something to make the chores easier. Gone is my need for beautiful bags, hello obsession with luxury household gadgets!

My old vacuum cleaner was reliable and I had no complaints for 5 years. However 'post ragdolls' it just hasn't been able to cope. Most of my house is carpeted and the cat hair is very fluffy and fine, so the vacuum just doesn't pick it up. My carpets look okay until closer inspection, when it becomes apparent that the top layer of the carpet is actually cat hair! I have found that the only way to really get the hair up is to have the brush down whilst vacuuming the carpets, however this not only makes it incredibly hard work, but I also suspect that it's gradually wearing down the carpet pile. Plus all the fur ends up clogged in the brush rather than getting sucked into the bag so I spend ages defuzzing the defuzzer  - what a waste of time when I could be playing with the kitties.. or shopping!

All of the main vacuum brands now offer models designed espcially for pet owners. After extensive research online checking customer reviews, consumer website recommendations and forum discussions I decided on the Miele S5261 Cat & Dog. It's priced at the higher end of the market at £199 but this is still significantly less than it's nearest rival, the Dyson Animal. 

The Cat & Dog is a cylinder vacuum cleaner. I prefer these to uprights as I have a sprial staircase and need something light enough to carry and that is easy to manouever into the tight corners. This cleaner does the job well; the handle makes it easy to carry and I like that you can stand it up so it fits on the steps.

 It comes with all of the normal attachments you'd expect and these are all neatly stored in a compartment in the vacuum itself.

 But the real selling point for me is the turbo brush floorhead, designed to deep clean cut pile carpets with rotating air driven rollers and pick up all that fine fluffy pet hair.

 

Finally, it comes with 6 power settings ranging from 'min' for curtains to 'max' for a deep clean of your pile carpet. I of course went straight to the highest power setting to test it out! 

I am thrilled with it so far! On the first outing I happilly zipped around all rooms of the house in about 30 minutes and could immediately see the difference it was making. It picked up the cat fur with ease... I even got down on my hands and knees for a closer inspection as I couldn't believe that after a couple of goes back and forth it was all gone! It's also quiet considering it's 2200w. My cats don't agree and still run away from it though - you can't please everyone!

According to the t&c's on Miele's website I can only post a link to their homepage, not directly to the vacuum itself. So here it is:
http://www.miele.co.uk/


My husband has already moaned as I got the hoover out again yesterday...that's the second time in 3 days! (Much like cats he does not like the hoover, although to date I haven't seen him try to 'swat' it). I have always wanted to vacuum more often to help my allergies but usually only manage once a week because it's always been such a thankless task. Now I'm aiming to vacuum at least every other day if it needs it. 

Sorry husband, but as the saying goes: Happy Wife, Happy Life!