Wedding Blog
A Roomba sale came up on Gilt Groupe while I was in New York, and admittedly, while I was in the shopping mecca of the country… I did some online shopping. I actually found a better deal on the Roomba on HSN, so I headed over there to buy my own robotic maid.
The Roomba is pretty neat. You can program it to run up to 7 times a week, and it cleans your floor in 45 minute increments, and then parks itself back in its charger when it’s finished. I had a hard time believing this hocus pocus would actually work, but Mrs. Lemon, mistress of gadgets, has had one for quite some time and has always said hers worked splendidly. I wouldn’t ordinarily order an extravagant SECOND vacuum, but our house is impossible to keep clean. Our skylights open, which means that when we have them open, dirt rains from the sky. Sure, we could close the skylights. But we don’t. So there. We keep all our windows and doors open at all times, because we don’t have air conditioning, and it’s just a dusty horrid mess around here.
It came in a couple weeks ago and I was hesitant to try it out right then and there, as Mr. Pengy had decided, since we were expecting company that weekend and all, that he wanted to turn our house into a disaster zone and slightly upgrade our shelving system from our cheapy wire racks, to slightly less cheap… wire racks. Hmm. So the house looked like this, not exactly robot vacuum friendly:
But the Roomba worked its magic, going around the billion obstacles in our house with ease, and finding its way back to its charger after 45 minutes.
The Roomba even climbs over rugs and floor mats with ease. Ah-mazing.
They actually have a model that mops, not just vacuums, but I actually enjoy mopping. Because I am sick. (Also, the model we need is way out of my price range.)
Now I need a robot maid who picks up my dirty dishes and puts them in the dishwasher. No, the dishwasher isn’t robotic enough. I need something that detects dirty dishes around the house and carries them to the washer, because I am incapable, and Mr. Peng doesn’t get home to do it for me until like 7PM.
I can’t stress enough how much this machine has transformed my life. Every morning at 11 the Roomba does its thang as I drink my coffee and work on Weddingbee. The amount of dirt the thing picks up every day is epic. Epicly gross. It’s also 45 minutes of entertainment (or torture) for your pets.
If you’ve got an Amazon.com registry, or can find a retailer that carries the Roomba that you’d like to register at, I’d consider it ASAP!!!
Would you consider a robotic vacuum? You should. It’s pretty neat.
What other gadgets out there do you know of that have transformed your cleaning routine?
|
Share this post: Housework is for Chumps
dude, way back in fifth grade my friends and i came up with a remote control vacuum as a project for class. we had to make an invention. so when i first saw roomba, that was the first thing i thought of. lol.
does anyone know how it works on carpet? does it clean as well as a traditional vacuum?
Interesting….I always figured that couldn’t possibly work that well…but it’s nice to hear a positive review of it! I can only imagine what my dogs would do if I brought something like that home.
So it works on wood floors? I always thought that it was just for carpet. Our dog’s fur collects in clumps all over our wood floors. not fun.
@tea: We have a combo of hardwood and rugs. I hear it does hardwood better than carpets, (from Mrs. Lemon) but tackles everyday light cleaning of carpets nicely. I think if you have heavy soiling on carpet it’s still good to bust out the normal vacuum. But as for hardwood and our rugs, it’s amazing. It works great in corners and along edges too, which was annoying to clean because you usually have to break out the hose attachment on your vacuum to do those.
@missvintage: It goes from rugs to hardwood with no problems and self adjusts depending on what it’s rolling over. I find it hard to believe too, and yet… it works!
The big question: how does it do with hair? My long hair is falling out all over the place all the time and if it can get hair without getting all kinds of plugged up, I am buying it NOW, not waiting for the wedding!
I looooove our Roomba. It works on carpet, tile and wood floors. My fiance is super techy and we are both lazy, so he had to have the Scooba (mopping robot) too. The Roomba works surprisingly well. It goes in between chair legs and under most couches and beds. And it knows not to go down stairs too b/c it has little gate robots to put next to the stairs.
The Scooba doesn’t work quite as well on tile as it does on linoleum and wood. The tile takes a little more time to dry. It still doesn’t get the really tough stuff but probably 90%, which is 90% that I don’t have to do.
Ooohhhhh…me likey! I totally want one of those bad boys!!
O.M.G. you make it sound so incredible … I suddenly am lusting for one. Every morning? Wow!
Do they have one that cleans the bathroom? Than I could fire fiances cleaning lady that I don’t like! =) haha
I totally want one! I hate vacuuming with a passion. Our living area is all laminate flooring, so we use a Swiffer vacuum on it daily (or so) to get rid of cat hair and leaves. Then we only have to do a big mop every now and then.
OMG I am registering now. I am also hoping for the pot tower thing from C&B that you recommended awhile back.
I have Roomba and Scooba and I love them! With 2 dogs, a cat and a messy fiance I need all the help I can get. I usually turn Roomba on when I leave for work and when I get home the floors are nice and clean. I usually end up mopping instead of using scoomba as its quicker especially when there’s wet snow outside and my dogs are digging and want to come in with muddy feet 
I want a Roomba!! I’ve been eyeing them for ages now. I’d love to mopping one too.
omg i want a roomba so bad. I have a corgi and he just sheds like its his JOB. someday it will be in the budget 
That sounds awesome. I want one now! Too bad it’s after the wedding–I could have asked for one on our registry.
@Mrs. Penguin: thanks pengy!
@marigold: that’s what i’m wondering about too. i have long hair so i shed a lot. anyone know how it does with hair?
I have definitely registered for the Roomba and have dropped hints about how it is one of the things I really, really want!
I am feeling a preliminary wave of poorness as I need both the Roomba as well as a Nikkon camera!
this makes me NEED a roomba. the cats would be entertained too.
@tea: It works great with hair, mine has never clogged up. It gets all my hair plus all the cat and dog hair.
I’m glad to know you like your Roomba. I tried to get FI to register for one before, but he figured it probably wouldn’t work that great, so wouldn’t go for it. I can’t wait to show his this!
It def. gets all the hair. I shed A LOT. it doesnt suck it up though, it spins it up into the brush, and then you clean out the brush with the brush cleaning tool (included, and super easy to use) a couple times a week. hair is a huge problem at my house, especially where I blow dry. Sad cause I dont have much to spare!
i just added it to our registry because i HATE sweeping. we always leave our doors open too (right by the beach, it’s a sin not to have the sun shining on us) but that means dirt is always on the floor. and i like to be clean, but i do not have the energy to do it every day. now i won’t have to! can’t wait. maybe i can have my BMs move up the shower?
As soon as I register, this is going on the list! I’ve been wondering how well this would work. Thank you all for the reviews!
I love my roomba when it works. The battery sucks in them. We’ve had to replace it about every 9 months.
OMG! I just added this and the Scooba to my registry! Thank you so much for writing this! I am so excited…(:
I totally want one! haha. I should have thought of that! We just got a new vaccum a few days ago.
What kind of Roomba is it? I didn’t realize there were so many different kinds of vacuum ones until I just looked online!
ditto Pengy’s comment on the hair needing to be cleaned out but we love, love, love our roomba. It keeps the dust bunnies off our hardwood floors.
We were going to register for a Dyson, but now I’m thinking a Roomba might be in order…
I LOVE my Roomba! I bought it for myself a few years ago as a housewarming present to myself. I have hardwood and fluffy carpet that it can’t get over the lip, so I would put it in a room, let it run, empty the bucket after a while, then let it run until the battery died. The next day I would do another room. That was easier to do than trying to schedule it (plus mine didn’t come with the scheduler, although it tries to find home base). I’m sad that I can’t use it right now though. Mr Engineer moved in with me and he has BIG furniture (he moved from a BIG house) that has to fit in my teeny tiny house so, there isn’t much room for Roomba. He still hangs on the wall and I’ll pull him out.
For people with pets, they have a pet hair modification - the brushes are a little different but the cleaner thing is a cylinder that you run the brush through. It works good.
The thing you have to remember is that it’s VERY RANDOM! Don’t sit there and watch it, because you’ll question how it works. Just put it in the room and leave it be. If it’s an average size bedroom, it will actually hit the same spot at least 5 times as it goes. And the point is that you put it down and let it go so you don’t have to do the work. I say this because I told co-workers about it, and they bought one, and then they sat and watched it work!
Wow that sounds so fantastic… I just added it to our registry!!
gosh i wanted one on our registry but my husband’s like, “whaaaaaat! it’s gimicky!”
omg!!!! i want this sooo badly right now! but it will probably make me lazier that I already am
Oooooooooh! I want one so badly! I aways forget they exist whenever someone asks me what I want for Christmas! ( I know, I’m a huge nerd for wanting something like this for Christmas but it’s SO NEAT!)
Added to amazon registry. It’s now the priciest thing on there, but from what you’ve described above it’s worth it!
I always wondered if Roomba’s worked! Thanks for the review!
One of my friends has the mopping-version, and loves it!
your crib is awesome. ditch the roomba and opt for a cleaning lady, yo. so worth it.
Hey, I’m interested in this - which one do you all have ? Seems there are entry level ones and expensive ones…. I could probably just afford one of the basic ones - am I wasting my time or should I wait (and save) for a better one??
Thanks bees!
Ktg
I love your house! Love “loft” spaces!
We recently purchased a Shark Steam Vacuum…awesome. It’s mainly for our mutt aka dog because she’s allergic to dust mites. Sigh.
I like what EngineerBride said about not watching it. It is addicting to watch, but yet it drives me nuts sometimes because it will go right past a string or something several times before it will FINALLY pick it up, I’ve even talked to it and said “don’t you see that RIGHT there!” I guess it saves me time though and that’s all that matters.
The only problem we’ve had with it is that since it sits on the charger so much the battery life sucks. If you can, only charge it when it needs it and leave it off when it doesn’t.
heyyyy i just got notification from Amazon.com that for today (Oct 7) it goes for 55% off at $179!!
just FYI, ladies!
Ok Pengy. I know what I want now! The roomba and the floor mopper version for Christmas! Yea, maybe not a romantical type of gift, but that is what I need!!!
Btw, if that’s as messy as is gets around there you two are quite the neat-niks!!! Very very nice pad you two lovebirds have btw! I love the look of lots of hardwoods btw.
I swear..between my 11 yo son and my dogs, the carpets don’t stand a chance. I sure wish they’d create a robot carpet cleaner.
I just need a robot everything!!! Especially a robot to do laundry and the bathrooms.
Oooh thanks Ms. Spaetz! I will hint around at that w/T today!
My mom’s is amazing. She got hers several years ago for Christmas and wasn’t too sure about it. But with 3 girls and two Golden Retreivers, it sure does the trick with the hair! We didn’t get it from our wedding registry, but we might need to break down and purchase it ourselves!
I’m with Miss French Fries - we’ve (okay, I’ve) been considering a Dyson … FI figures a vacuum’s a vacuum. But now … I may just have to go Roomba instead …
We love our Roomba so much, when they came up on woot.com a few weeks ago, we seriously considered getting more.
Now we’re working on setting up the Lawnbott to mow our giant new lawn.
Plus…they’re just so cute!
I need a pet owner review! I have a Cavalier and she tends to shed… A LOT, hehe… Love her to death but if I could stop with all the vacuuming I might just be in heaven… lol
glad to hear you’re having a better experience — i got a roomba like 3 years ago and for whatever reason my model hated me. it would stop in the middle of the floor and start beeping like it was stuck; it would find its way under the couch and get stuck, etc. my mom has had 2 models over the past 7 years and never had these kind of problems — i probably should have taken it in. but i just stopped using it. the whole model must have been wackadoo because earlier this year for mother’s day, we were looking on roomba.com and i could get an “upgrade credit” because i owned that model — we put it towards a nice new one for mom; wound up getting her a brand new one at a great price.
Pet-owner review: I have 2 large, short-haired dogs who shed a lot. I got the roomba for my birthday and it works pretty well. It’s kinda loud and my dogs like to try to attack it, so I have to put them outside when it’s running. It goes underneath the couch and table which is nice. The problem with the roomba is that you can’t stare at it or else you will be like “hey it missed a spot!” You have to just ignore it and let it do it’s thing and hope it comes back to that spot. It also doesn’t do well around a lot of furniture or in tight spots. It fills up pretty fast and needs to be emptied. It does get stuck from time to time. I like that it can be programmed to go off at a certain time each day, but beware if your pet is sick. One of my dogs had a stomach bug and the roomba went off as programmed, right over an accident on the floor. It has never been the same since
I love the green!
I NEED one of these if it works on pet hair. I’m so tired of cleaning up the pet hair on the hard wood.
Just the idea of it not being as bad is enough to make me spend almost ANYTHING… as long as I wouldn’t have to do it!
MAJORLY IMPORTANT TIP!
Be good to your Roomba and maintenance it at least once a week- especially since you have long hair (like I do). I didn’t clean the thing (its wheels and brush etc) for like 2 weeks once and it kind of pooped out on me and needed severe tlc before working again. So maintenance that thing, you want to make it last!
That is all
@rhodeygirl: Agree! Follow the instructions to the tee for removing the parts and cleaning out the hair. I’ve done it once a week so far and notice the machine is always happier after it’s been cleaned out. The machine is designed to have all the parts that you need to clean pop out pretty easily, so it’s not like you’ll have to bust out a screwdriver, but it’s still dirty work that takes 10 mins or so once a week.
Its a cool device, but not such a fan of the Roomba-it didn’t last long for some reason. I suspect my dog killed it while I wasn’t home!
I definitely need the mopping one!! Besides toilets, it’s my least favorite task. blah.
haha they’re pretty cool. all your talk about household gadgets reminds me that my mom always said that my dad could get a sit-down lawn mower when she got a sit down vacuum.
| Visit our sister sites | Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Fertile Thoughts Infertility Support |
Mrs. Penguin, Northern California
Age and Occupation: 27, Weddingbee Editor in Chief
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Doctor of Physical Therapy
Engagement Date: January 29, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: September 14, 2007
Venue: Winery in the Gold Country
About Me: I love the Spice Girls, dogs with underbites, bean burritos, making messes, high fives, avoiding showers, crossword puzzles, blogs, weddings, and blogs about weddings!
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 |
Latest Gallery Pics