Homeware shopping tips

Before you go off and get yourself a vacuum cleaner I suggest you equip yourself with nothing less than a 4year university degree in science or engineering... rocket science is preferable.

What ought to have been a simple excursion to Makro this weekend for a vacuum cleaner turned out to be an hour long session involving the dynamics of suction; the advantages of hepa* filters over water filtering systems; the virtues of canister or upright vacuum cleaner on deep-pile carpets; curtain and upholstery brushes and - within that - the mechanics of brush rotation... and so on and so on.

When did a vacuum cleaner become more than a vacuum cleaner??

I discovered the difference between a R500 vacuum cleaner (which merely rearranges the dust in a room by sucking it up in one corner and, through a poor filtration system, blowing it out to another part of the room) and a R3000 vacuum cleaner (that not only removes 99% of the dust in an entire household but if given the chance, could solve the world's problems because it's just that smart!)

So what did we get? [Himself] and I illustrated the textbook definition of compromise in a relationship. His thrifty self was violently opposed to spending R3000 on a vacuum cleaner shrewd self would not be taken in by the unnecessary gimmicks slapped onto a suction device and inflating its price (I mean why do I need a vacuum cleaner to play the stock market for me?); while my snobbish self was mortified at the thought of a vacuum cleaner that cost less than a cup of coffee pragmatic self warned against the likely non-durability of a cheap machine.

We settled on a respectably priced bad-body that looks like a robot (canister; though without changeable suction settings, it has hepa*-filters). While it may not sing classical music nor check my emails like its higher-priced counterpart, it will certainly do what a vacuum cleaner is supposed to do: clean.



*Whatever those are