One of our best investments yet

When my husband and I were first married, we got a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner. It worked alright, but the engine quit a month after the warranty expired (two years). Considering it was somewhere in the $60 price range, that costed us $30 per year.

Then we "upgraded" to a Bissell bagless model that was closer to $90. We've had it for about six years now, but it quit picking anything up awhile ago. Dare I admit on my public blog that I haven't bothered to vacuum in months? Honestly, it never did any good, so it was a waste of time.

I had company overnight about two weeks ago, and I literally had to go over the dark green carpet in my guest room with a clothes lint brush (the kind with tape) in order to get it looking presentable. I used at least ten of the sticky sheets on that roll. I had already run the vacuum cleaner, and all the dirt and lint was still there when I was done. It hadn't picked up a thing. That's when I said, "No more!!" I didn't care how much we had to spend, we were going to get a good vacuum cleaner this time.

Two days later, an offer showed up in our mailbox from Oreck. My husband and I looked it over and decided to think about it. I looked up the reviews online and it looked pretty good, but $200 is still a lot of money to spend at once (at least for us). So we just held onto the paperwork, hoping for some kind of direction before the offer expired.

At our last ladies' meeting (three days before the offer expired), I noticed that our hostess had just gotten a new Oreck vacuum. Of course, I inquired about how she liked it. Everyone there sang the praises of Oreck vacuums, and several of the ladies have done housekeeping for a living. Needless to say, we felt like that was our answer. I went home and ordered the Oreck.

Wouldn't you know, it came today. Meet my new housecleaning best friend:



I can't tell you how impressed I am with this vacuum! There was just a tiny bit of assembly required before I could use it, but I figured it out after a few minutes of browsing through the multi-lingual instruction brochure and using a little common sense.

I couldn't wait to try it out, so I immediately vacuumed my dining room. I was thrilled to hear it picking up the dirt! Yes, I could actually hear it sucking up dirt particles. (Remember, I haven't had a vacuum cleaner that worked properly in well over a year.) Not only did it clean thoroughly, I was impressed by how easy it was to push and pull. It truly is lightweight!

Then I wondered what it might do to my kitchen rug that sits in front of my sink. It's a beautiful rug, but it catches every piece of dirt that floats by, as well as all the lint that ever touches it. I had thought it was ruined because I couldn't get all that junk off. Imagine my surprise to see a new-looking rug after two swipes with the Oreck! Too bad I didn't get a before and after picture. You really wouldn't have believed your eyes.

But I did think to get a before and after picture of the rug in my hallway. Here it is before I ran the Oreck over it:



See all that lint? I've vacuumed this countless times with my old vacuum, and it still looked like this when I was done.

After two passes with the Oreck, it looked like this:



All gone!! I didn't know I could get so excited about lint-free rugs and a vacuum cleaner, but I did. I vacuumed the whole house to see the transformation it made in each room. :)

It did wonders for our tired-looking carpet. It raised the nap again, and it even left marks to show where I had swept. (I'm sure there's a term for that, but I don't know what it is.)

Of course, I wasn't paid anything for this review. I just wanted to write it to help out anyone else who might be "on the fence" about shelling out the money for a good vacuum cleaner. Trust me - you need to do it! :)