Why I Decided to Buy an iRobot Roomba
Why I Decided to Buy an iRobot Roomba | Outfit Details
Top: Kohl's // Pants: H&M // Slippers: UGG // Jackie's Jammies: Target // Jackie's Dress: Hanna Andersson // Jackie's Leggings: Hanna Andersson // Roomba: Amazon
Why I Decided to Buy an iRobot Roomba | A Housekeeper or Cleaning Myself
Both The Husband and I are gone at work all day. This makes cleaning something that has to be done during the weekend and since we are busying working during the week, we like to spend the weekends as a family, not cleaning. We had talked about hiring someone to come in and clean our place a few times a month so we didn't have to worry about it. We had done this a few other times but it was always complicated. We live in a very secure building and if you haven't been before, parking can be confusing. So getting people into our building just to clean has been more of a hassle than I'd like to deal with several times a month.
My biggest hang up for cleaning is vacuuming. While Jackie now has a solid door on her room, she can still hear the vacuum running and it wakes her up if she is sleeping. If she is awake and I am cleaning, she tries to take the vacuum apart and gets mad if I don't let her take the canister off the vacuum. So The Husband would have to take Jackie out of the apartment so I could get the vacuuming done. This got old really fast. So cleaning became every more annoying than it already was.
Why I Decided to Buy an iRobot Roomba | Enter the Roomba
After going through a list of reasons why a housekeeper wouldn't work, I turned to a Roomba as an option. I did some research and decided that a robot vacuum was the route we needed to go. I told The Husband that I wanted one for my birthday (in August). He insisted that I would never get a vacuum for my birthday and to buy it NOW. I, of course, did not object. I did some more research and decided on the Roomba 690. We still don't have a lot of space and I didn't need something overly complicated. Our local Target had it in stock and on sale so I was able to pick it up the next day.
Why I Decided to Buy an iRobot Roomba | What I Think
The Husband has decided the Roomba is our dog (his favorite kind- doesn't shed, poop or chew on anything). You can name your Roomba and we named ours Waffles. Waffles connects to our wifi and I can control it from anywhere on my phone, including when I am not at home. I can schedule Waffles to run during certain times of the day. Considering Jackie has taken to turning Waffles on, chasing it around and then trying to sit on it, this is a big deal. I can run Waffles when we aren't home and come home to a clean house.
Waffles does a really good job. I do have to make sure doors are either open or closed, depending on if I want Waffles in that room. Sometimes Waffles gets stuck but can usually get out without assistance. I have noticed that Waffles does not have a very long battery life so I usually do one room, charge it and then do another room after we leave for the day.
Why I Decided to Buy an iRobot Roomba | How It Has Impacted Cleaning
I can now clean the house at any time of day. If I have time in the morning, I will do all of the other cleaning and then run Waffles after we have left for the day. I have schedule Waffles to run Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays every week. I love coming home to vacuumed floors that I didn't have do! Since Roombas are much quieter than regular vacuums, I can run Waffles while Jackie is asleep. I can't run it in her room while she is sleeping, but again, I can run it in there when we aren't home.
I did buy one of the more basic Roomba models. This Roomba still comes with a virtual wall feature that will keep the Roomba out of an area if the virtual wall device is set up. I haven't found the need to use this feature. There are other, more expensive Roombas that can be programed to recognize individual rooms and you can schedule it to clean just that room. While that would be nice, I didn't find the need to spend $100 more for that feature.