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.
. And let me tell you, I found one! I couldn’t be happier with my decision to look beyond Roomba for a robot vacuum cleaner.
(which is stinkin’ awesome (get it?) if you have a tiny car!!). It took Nathan and his dad about 5 hours to replace the toilet (they, of course, had some problems with the 120-year-old house plumbing). But then, I could let our toddler actually sit on the toilet without worrying about him touching the nasty hiding in there (even though it was cleaned!!). Plus, it looked way more beautiful!
You love Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. They’re amazing for cleaning everything around the house. You never know what a Magic Eraser can clean next, amiright? Plus, they’re chemical free, which means they’re safe even for a home full of kids and pets.
I actually love Magic Erasers. They have saved the day more times than I can count, and if you check out my Pinterest board for cleaning, you’ll see that I pin Magic Eraser pins all the time because they’re so helpful.
Uses for Magic Erasers
See even more uses for magic erasers here!
But have you seen how much those puppies cost? Around where I live you can get 4 Magic Erasers for about $6. And I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather spend my extra $6 at HomeGoods than the cleaning aisle.
And so, I get mine at Amazon. If you are a mom, Amazon Prime
is an absolute gift from Jesus. It’s worth every penny to know that I can just order what I need when I think of it. It doesn’t matter if I’m chilling on the couch with hubs, at the doctor’s office, or sitting at my desk. I just order it and it’s here in 2 days. Before I remember to look for it, it’s sitting on my doorstep. Love Amazon.
But here’s the thing, you can get way more options at Amazon than you could on your Target cleaning aisle. Plus, they have more specialty items, like a 50′ endoscope or pro-level bug spray or melamine foam.
And here is why you will never buy Magic Erasers again. Because you can buy the EXACT SAME THING for a fraction of the price of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers.
How to find cheap Magic Erasers
See, Magic Erasers are created out of melamine foam that’s been used as soundproofing and other more commercial uses for a while now. But, in the last “few” years, it has been marketed as a cleaning miracle. And, well, honestly, it pretty much is.
So, if you want to save a buck, you can stop buying the mass-marketed Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and buy melamine foam. In bulk. For cheap. Fo’ real.
You can buy 100 regular magic erasers
for $10 or 100 extra thick magic erasers for about $30
.
And why wouldn’t you? I mean, really?
Oh, and if you like the fancy Magic Erasers, like the ones with the blue stripe or the bumps/ridges in the middle, you can find those on Amazon, too
.
So, what are you waiting for? Go make some magic happen!
If you enjoyed this post, you’ll probably like this one about how I get it all done as a work at home mom working about 4000 hours a week. Ok, so, maybe not that many hours, but it sure feels like it!
And if you’re fighting a dirty house, this is how I finally won the war with pet hair! And how I cleaned a disgusting house we bought.