Sunday, April 26, 2009

Sunday Shopping

Advertisement is a dangerous thing especially when it involves my wallet.

I bought my first Martha Stewart Living magazine yesterday. I needed raspberry preserve to make some choco raspberry cookies for yesterday's bbq. I saw the new Living mag and decided to go ahead and get it and boy was that an expensive decision.

Inside the magazine there was an advertisement for Hoover's stick vacuum and it really caught my eye. I love my Dyson vacuum and it does a great job. It's a heavy duty vacuum that can handle the whole house so I have no complaints about it. However, I hate getting it out of the coat closet for small jobs. K and I found ourselves constantly sweeping the linoleum in our washer/dryer room and kitchen. I sweep with a light weight indoor broom and then bend over to sweep it all into a dust pan with a floor brush. I would rather sweep the linoleum over and over again then constantly drag out the Dyson to vacuum such a small area.

I've never owned a stick vacuum before so I was pretty intrigued if this would be something to consider for our hard floors. I was so intrigued I decided to finally take a shower and actually leave the house.

I headed to Wal-Mart and didn't see the Hoover stick vac any where. I ran into K's aunt and she mentioned Lowe's sold vacuums too. I headed that way and looked around and still no success. I looked to see if there were any stick vacuums and noticed this very pretty green Electrolux stick vacuum:

There was a monitor available there to watch a video about this product. I also browsed through the Electrolux Ergorapido brochure. Did you know that Lowe's offers their vacuums on display charged up and ready to use? I picked up the stick vac and started to use it on Lowe's cement flooring and was impressed by how light it felt in my hand and how the head nicely swiveled around. The stick vacuum also has a detachable hand held vacuum too. I stuck it back into its charging unit. I stared at the vac again. I looked around to make sure no one was around because for some reason I was a bit embarrassed to pick up the vacuum again and was now looking around for dirt on the ground to suck up. I went over to the washers and dryers and found plenty of dirty gook behind the appliances and sucked it all up with the Ergorapido. I, um, found another area and vacuumed the dirt there too. If I kept this up I'm sure someone would have handed me a Lowe's vest to wear and hired me on the spot.

I'm an obsessed researcher when it comes to buying expensive products. Even though I could see for myself how the product worked in real time I still needed more information. I pulled out my cell phone and started looking up reviews on the vacuum on Amazon. Of course, I knew about the Hoover stick vac and was prepared to buy it when I found it. I didn't know anything about Electrolux products and had never heard of this brand.

I was satisfied by what others said about their experiences with the vacuum and decided to buy it. The Hoover would have cost me almost 200 bones. The Electrolux was around 100 which felt a lot better than 200 dollars.

So, when you think about buying that magazine that has such a great covershot think again. It might show you products that you never knew you wanted but all of a sudden needed. Granted, I did want an easier way to clean up my hard floors but, shit, sweeping was so much cheaper.

8 comments:

Chrissy said...

wow. i am really impressed with this! i love that you vacuumed lowe's and looked up reviews on amazon while you were in the store. this is 21st century stuff!

congrats on your new vacuum. it really is adorable. also, if you run out of things to clean, my house is always available. <3

KB said...

I love a good vacuum ... really!

amy said...

electrolux is the only brand of vacuum i have ever used. it's the only brand of vacuum anyone in my family has ever used. my grampa sold electrolux for like a thousand years. now that he's gone and my vacuum is about 10 years old, i did't know what i'd do! i know i can't afford to replace it - those suckers are expensive - but now i know exactly what to do. i will have YOU come vacuum my condo once a week, you vacuuming monster!

amy said...

PS -- i totally love that you vacuumed all over lowe's. that's awesome!

Zay said...

Amy it'll cost you more to fly me out to your condo once a week to vacuum than to go ahead and just buy a new vacuum. :)

B said...

friggin' awesome, dude. we were looking into getting a dyson... i think it's called animal or something. might check out the electrolux now. :) that would save us 300+$

Mary T-Allen said...

Don't give up on Dyson, B! I have one and that thing is a crazy work horse, though I totally get having a little baby stick vac for small jobs. (But seriously, the dyson is my most favorite appliance by a million times and I have some pretty nice appliances.) I am also totally amused by you vacuuming Lowe's, Sonnie, and your clever use of amazon reviewing in store. Very smart! Also, I love Martha Stewart Living!

Zay said...

Mary, I'm glad that you commented because I total forgot to reply back to B. Ha. :)

B, I looooove my Dyson. It has been a great vacuum for my carpeted house. My new stick vac is awesome for my linoleum floors but it would break in a day if I used it on my carpet. :) Also, the stick vac is not handy if you have all hard floors in the house because you'd probably have to empty the container like 10 tens. Not saying you have a dirty house but I have three animals so I only know my own vacuuming nightmares. :)

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