Happiness is a Roomba.

Two weeks ago we added a new member to our family, albeit a robotic one. As spring approached, a desire for a new and improved home cleaning regimen was blooming. One that yielded better results, and, if possible, with less work.

We don't want much do we?

For some time, I'd contemplated a Roomba. I noted that reports from Roomba users that were 5+ years old were markedly different than those from more recent Roomba owners. While in initially deterred multiple times, a gonzo sale plus a gift certificate at Amazon pushed me over the edge to ordering a Roomba 650. Reviews touted it as the right mix of performance for pet owners, without all the additional features you might not care about.

Features? Roam around and suck junk up off my floor, that's about the only feature I want! :)

After two weeks of using the Roomba, I'm kicking myself for not doing this sooner. Our house is a 50's ranch with a circular floor plan and all hard floors (mostly hardwood minus the kitchen). It's complicated by baby gates at our bedroom, and on either door to the laundry room to create a contained doggie entryway that we refer to as the "The Hairlock". So for us, the only complications have been having to manually pop it into the bedroom every now and then, and having to use a virtual wall to keep it out of the kitchen as it does get wedged under the front of the fridge. But, we'll remove that second complication by getting a new front vent cover for the fridge.

I've found it super easy to clean. Just pick it up every day, empty the bin, tap out the filter, marvel at how much shit it picked up just that day, and replace. Pop out the rollers (push two tabs, pop one roller up) and pull off any hair or threads. Replace. It takes about 2 minutes, tops. For a floor that I can walk across barefoot every day and have that, "Ahhh.... just swept clean," feel? Well worth it. (And it can go for 2-3 days, but you can tell it's FULL at that point.)

Programming it was super easy; it runs at 8am daily. The dogs adjusted quickly; Jackson of course lost his mind over it, but quickly calmed down. Greta just looked at it as it bumped into her leg. It has a very soft contact, so there's no worries about anyone getting hurt. Now they know it's habits and just stay away from it and ignore it.

Yea Roomba!