So, if you’ve hopped around my site, you already know I’m a huge fan of my cheap robot vacuum. I mean seriously. Now we have 3 dogs, 3 big people, 1 little people, and a cat. That adds up to lots of pet hair and fuzz in one house full of hardwood floors.
Not only do we have lots of fuzz-creating creatures, but somehow we landed in a 3,000 square foot house. I’m going to be honest here. I had a hard time keeping up in our 1200 square foot apartment back when we got married. Without a kid. Or 3 dogs.
A couple of years ago, I splurged and got us a cheap robot vacuum. It felt like such an optional luxury at the time, but that vacuum has grown to be an essential part of my “easy housekeeping gameplan.”
I didn’t realize how essential it was until we moved. Unfortunately, Jimmy (our old cheap robot vacuum) didn’t survive the move. I do still have him plugged up here at our new house, but I guess being in storage for so long must have done something to one of his terminals or something. (Or,
But the good news is my husband okayed me getting another one! Woo!
Rest in peace, Jimmy.
Ohmygoodness, y’all! Francesca is so much fancier she couldn’t even be called Jimmy 2.0.
Don’t get me wrong, Jimmy covered the basics and had some fancy tricks up his sleeve (like not falling off the stairs!), but Francesca is so much more advanced!
Here’s why I love her.
Cheap Robot Vacuum Review
The most monumental upgrade that Francesca has is that she knows where she’s been! That’s right! So, that means she turns on and starts vacuuming, then maps everywhere she goes (and shows me in my app) and then goes back to her base for charging!
Then, as if that wasn’t enough, after she gets all charged up, she’s ready to go back out and finish vacuuming the rest of the map.
It’s the most fun thing to watch and terribly satisfying. And if you’re wondering if those areas actually get clean, yes. They actually do! Occasionally, there will be a dirt or two along the edge of a rug, but usually, there is no dirt left in my floor at all. As in, I don’t even think dust mopping is necessary after when Francesca has been working.
Best Robot Vacuum Cleaner
The second biggest upgrade that our new robot vacuum has is that she can manuver around our house SO. MUCH. BETTER. I’m talking, thresholds and power cords and things on the floor are almost no match for her.
She just rumbles right over them and if she gets stuck, she is better able to get herself out of a sticky situation. Jimmy would just get stuck and stay there until we picked him up or he turned off.
We do have these computer tables she gets stuck on, but so far, that’s the only thing in my 3,000 square foot house she gets stuck on. (Except for those cords on blinds. I try to keep them off the floor anyway. Dangerous things.)
Roomba for Cheap
I briefly mentioned this earlier, but Francesca comes with an app. That means that Francesca maps our house and then sends that info to the cloud (so China can already have a map of our homes…) so she knows exactly where she’s been and hasn’t been.
That also means it’s easy to set a schedule and change it if needed. I also think you can schedule out zones for certain times. I haven’t had enough time to figure that part out yet, but I did read where it was possible on the reviews.
Our furniture has been moving around so often as we settle into our new house, that would never work for us, but it’s a seriously cool feature to have.
That’s so many cool features that are totally worth the price difference from Jimmy to Francesca. Somehow, Jimmy’s random cleaning patterns got the job done, but Francesca’s orderly pattern has been spit spot, and I’m so impressed.
In the interest of transparency, I will stop for a second and say that sometimes, Francesca has navigational challenges. Meaning, she gets lost and messes up her map. And even though she has Google Home and Alexa integration, I honestly don’t always trust it because she gets lost. So, at my house, she’s on the basic scheduled cleaning (and returning to charge and cleaning again) schedule.
The good news is that
Sometimes.
But other times it’s absolutely mesmerizing.
Best Robot Vacuum for Moms
Here’s the thing, I didn’t realize how helpful our robot vacuum was until we didn’t have one.
Cleaning the floors in my house takes about a day. First I have to sweep the dirt. Then I dustmop the dirt left over from the broom. Then I wet mop with Swiffer or Bona. And I vacuum the rugs.
Girl, that’s a lot of cleaning!
Just to get the floors clean! Not even counting dusting and cleaning other things.
So, now, I get to skip two of those steps (sweeping and dust mopping). And it takes me less than half a day to clean all the floors in my house.
Occasionally, we will forget to empty the dust bin and you wouldn’t believe the dirt that lands in the floor in that day or two that the vacuum is parked on its base.
So, if you’re on the fence or struggling to keep your house clean, here’s the deal. You need a robot vacuum.
If you’re on a really tight budget, I bet you could sell something on Facebook to get an extra $100 for a cheap robot vacuum under $200. And if you’re looking for a higher-end robot vacuum for a steal, you probably want a Francesca.
And seriously. There’s no reason to spend full price on a Roomba when a Francesca can do so much.
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If dust is your main problem, you might want to read this post on how I keep the dust down in my house.
I need this!! I recently had my carpets cleaned, and the technician pointed out that I should get a new robot vacuum because my current one was going sooo slow and leaving a lot of dust behind. The Francesca seems like a really good vacuum, and I love that it’s at a good price too!