Is it worth it?

Why we won’t give up the dream of housekeeping shortcuts.

Photo by Onur Binay on Unsplash

“Is the Roomba worth the price?” a friend asked me, after catching a glimpse of my ancient robot vacuum peeking out from under our couch.

I didn’t have a neat and tidy answer for her. I told her that I’d gotten my Roomba¹ at a yard sale for $30 a decade ago, so it was certainly worth the price I’d paid for it–even after buying a replacement battery for $100 earlier this year. However, I might not be a good judge of whether or not it was “worth it.”

I had been using our robot vacuum for ten years, and I generally found it to be useful. My husband, however, complains that the Roomba doesn’t do a meticulous job, and he is not wrong about that. It’s never going to get every corner and nook that you could tackle with a broom or traditional vacuum. Nor will it replace your traditional vacuum, but I would argue that's not the point of a robot vacuum. What it is going to do is lengthen the time between deep floor cleanings and cut down the weekly maintenance you have to actively do yourself. 

If you run the Roomba once a week, it will keep your floors reasonably clean. It'll also handily tackle spots you would need to move furniture to reach, like the spaces under beds and sofas. I set the machine to work when I leave the house, since it’s noisy while it runs. When I get home, I’m always surprised at how much dirt the machine has managed to pick up in its travels. I’m also thrilled that it wasn’t me sweeping it up.

At first, I concluded that a robot vacuum might actually be worth probably the investment. The newer models are surely leagues better than our vintage model, and if you adjust for inflation, prices have actually come down, (the new model with all the bells and whistle cost $700 in 2013!). However, when my Roomba’s rechargeable battery reached the end of its life, I didn’t get around to buying the pricey replacement battery for two years — clearly it was not essential to my life. 

What I think my friend, a mom of two with a full-time job outside of the home, was really asking though was, “Will buying this thing make my life easier?” or “Will it make my housework more manageable?” The same questions we ask ourselves any time we buy a new cleaning product, organizing tool, or new gadget that promises to reduce our work. But there is no silver bullet: A house does not clean itself. Short of outsourcing the whole job to another human, there’s no technology that can do our housework for us. And the housework can feel never ending.

Sometimes I imagine tallying up all the minutes of the day that I spend cleaning, tidying, and doing laundry to find out how much of this one, wild precious life I am spending on maintaining domestic order. I probably do much more kitchen cleaning than many because I cook all our meals at home, but we have a small space with only one bathroom, the kitchen is tiny, and my spouse shares equally in the chores. Whatever it is, it feels like a lot. 

iRobot, the parent company of Roomba, has sold more than 50 million robots since 2002.

All that said, I like the Roomba for another less expected reason. Using a robot vacuum forces us to be tidy. To get the most out of a robot vacuum, you need to offer it a clear path. This is, of course, true of any vacuum, but a human can more selectively vacuum around piles of shoes or a scooter helmet left unceremoniously on the floor. To run a robot vacuum, you can’t have crap piled up and cords criss-crossing the room, and all of my son’s toys need to be put away. I also put all the chairs up on the dining table and desks, which in turn means that those surfaces must also be clear of clutter. See what I mean about it forcing tidiness? To have our apartment ready to be cleaned by a robot means our apartment must be in order.

So is a robot vacuum “worth it?” Probably not. But if you’re still intrigued by the idea, buy one used, which is cheaper and much more sustainable. There are hundreds for sale on eBay and replacement parts and YouTube videos to tune them up, if needed.

Related posts from the archive:

The myth of the perfect mudroom

Smells like clean? Fear it.

Last week’s most-clicked link was  10 organizing tools I swear by.

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3 More Things

Your garden is a wonderland

I got to interview Leslie Bennett of Pine House Edible Gardens about her new book Garden Wonderland for Gardenista. The book and Leslie are such a delight. The gardens featured in the book are gorgeous, immersive, and aspirational, but they also feel eminently approachable, like they could belong to your cool friend (not someone with a full-time gardener). I think you’ll like it too.

Also: If you’ve got 12 minutes to space, go watch horticulturist Rebecca McMackin’s TED Talk. She eloquently makes the case for more ecologically-minded gardening.

The best small space I saw last week

I know the New York Times’ Living Small franchise makes some people crazy because it often features such extravagant homes (a fair critique). The latest installment, a transforming home by Architecture Workshop Architect is a marvel of space-planning (🎁 link). I appreciate the fact that the NYT includes the costs of the renovations (so few publications do!), so that you can have a real idea of what it would take to do something like this: $280K is a lot of money, but it is also much less money than a two bedroom would have been. 

And the dreamiest home I saw

The Marin house by Commune Design in the current issue of Architectural Digest is not exactly tiny, but it is described as a two-bedroom, so I’m counting it as small-ish (see it here and here). I love the California-craft-meets-Scandi-textiles vibe. As always, I am so inspired by how Commune uses color and pattern, but also by the details: Those perfect roman shades, a delightful doormat, the leather log bin.

One last thing: The Garden.

1. I, in fact, own a Roomba brand robot vacuum, but I am also using the brand name to generally refer to the whole category, much like one might call a facial tissue a Kleenex