There are a few positive things which have come out the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic. One is that my family has become closer both in constant proximity to each other and in common bonding. Another is my wife and I have become more resilient, having to deal with a new kind of day to day. Lastly, it pushed us to make a pretty big decision, one that impact an area our family life for the long-haul: finally going cordless with our vacuum!
Now this may sound like a very trivial thing to most people, but choosing the right vacuum is something any homeowner needs to take time to consider. For one, they are not cheap. Some vacuums retail for up to $500+ for brands like Dyson. They are also an appliance that can get both frequent use and is at risk of damage if not built durable and cared for properly (its purpose is to pick up your mess). You do not want to invest in something that is poor quality for your needs which you may just need to replace immediately down the line.
This article is not a specific detailed review of a product or a comprehensive check-box guide to how to choose a particular vacuum (although I will show you which we bought and the top reasons why). More importantly, I believe choosing the right vacuum for your family depends heavily on the situation and factors in your home.
Here is our situation
- We are two, busy work from home parents (result of COVID) home 24/7
- We have two young, needy, messy children (2 & 4 years old) who we sometimes have to leave semi-supervised to eat, play and watch TV while we work
- Our entire day from 8am-6pm is spent on the first floor of our home (about 1800 sq ft)
- We are all individually sprawled out around the first-floor from time to time (playrooms, living room, kitchen) so every corner of the house is used
- If we can clean up the kids’ messes during the day, it has to be quick
- We usually reserve 30 minutes between 7-8pm to tidy up, which also has to be quick (we want our quiet time too)
I hope the above begins to paint a picture of our current daily life as a family bound together by COVID. Time and energy are scarce so we do what we can to keep our home together. Don’t get me wrong, normally my advice to most young parents is “be comfortable in the mess” because it will never 100% go away until your kids are older. However, when it comes to food, snacks and crumbs it is essential for us to try to vacuum and tidy up so we don’t get any visits from unwanted pests (like our summer ant friends).
What was wrong with the corded vacuum
About a year ago I went through this process of choosing the right vacuum and we actually bought a Dyson Slim Ball for our entire home. It was corded but it had great suction power, good tools, had the confidence of Dyson brand production, and great reviews. At the time I was considering a cordless version, but I couldn’t get myself over the hump of battery life. Part of me did not want to deal with a potential situation of the vacuum dying mid-use.
It worked well too! It was smaller and it fit our home well because we have a lot of hardwood so there wasn’t a huge need for a larger vacuum cleaner (and we do lack closet space). The vacuum did its job and we were satisfied.
I learned some interesting things though as I more frequently used the Dyson. One thing I learned is I don’t ever vacuum at the duration I thought I would be. It takes me about 2-3 minutes to cover a small room and even less to cover the small area rugs under our dining room table and coffee tables. Tack on some spot cleaning in kitchen and around counter corners, and I’m probably using about 7-8 minutes of vacuum time. Based on my research the average battery life of a cordless vacuum is roughly 15-20 minutes, maybe 25-30 on variable low settings or low pile carpet. That means I would technically be no where near coming up on battery life with a cordless — something I wish I knew before I bought the corded Dyson.
What was the tipping point to buying a cordless vacuum
When COVID and quarantine changed the way our daly lives were lived our needs adjusted. As I outlined above, the kids were home all day, they were snacking more frequently, they made more of a mess in more areas of our home and we had to deal with it while we worked full-time corporate jobs. At this point when it came to spot cleaning these messes the most important things to us were speed and flexibility.
After some research and consideration (and the support of a few Amazon gift cards we were gifted during the holidays) we pulled the trigger on the MOOSOO K17 Cordless Vacuum
Why cordless is right for us now
The reason we love our new cordless vacuum boils down to a few simple qualities.
Smaller & light weight – Instead of having to lug a full sized vacuum out of storage we could now pick up a vacuum that is not much heavier than a broom and which we can store nicely in a corner or dedicated charging station in our laundry room.
Flexible & nimble – This comes with being small and light weight. The cordless vacuum has a smaller rotating brush head which is at the end of a long, skinny suction tube. It takes corners and crevices like a champ and can get under the kids’ eating table with ease. Not to mention deep under couches! By being detached from the larger motor of a traditional corded vacuum, you can really get this thing into tight spaces.
IT SAVES US TIME! – Probably the most valuable aspect of a cordless vacuum in our lives is it saves time! Remember, we work from 9-5 and want to relax after the kids go down. If I have to clean up crumbs I don’t have to lug out a huge vacuum, remove the child-proof plastic covers off our sockets, unwind and plug in a cord, clean, and then do it all again in reverse. That can take 5-10 minutes I don’t have. A cordless vacuum is like an electric broom, dustpan, and garbage in one. I am much more willing to spend 2-3 minutes to clean up a mess and get back to my day.
Decide what is right for you
As you can see our decision was made based on our specific situation and factors in our home. If you are thinking of going cordless with your vacuum or simply considering buy a new vacuum, make sure you take the time know how you will use it, where you will use it, and exactly what you want out of it.
If you were wondering what we did with the Dyson Slim Ball, we now keep it upstairs as our second floor vac where we have much more carpet but tend to vacuum less frequently than we do on our first floor. Different floor, different situation altogether, hence different vacuum.
Good luck! Believe in yourself, you can suck too (cordlessly).
You can read more about the MOOSOO brand on their site, but here is a quick snapshot of the product specs from the version we bought (MOOSOO K17 Cordless Vacuum
| Package Dimensions： | 17.4 x 11.6 x 7.1 inches |
| Item Weight： | 2.83pounds. |
| Power： | 200W |
| Product Model： | Upgraded K17 |
| Warranty： | 12 month warranty |
| Filter： | Washable HEPA |
| Suction： | 21/13KPa |
| Run Time： | 30 minutes |
| Dust Cup： | 500ML |
| Charging Time： | 4h |
| Surface Recommendation： | Hard floor, Carpet, Dual action |
| Included： | Main Motor. Upgraded LED Electric Floor Head. Charging Base(Wall mount). Crevice Nozzle. Cleaning Brush. Stretchable Hose. Lightweight Aluminum Alloy Tube. Cleaning Brush. |
