My wife and I work full time, we DIY most things, have not hired out much yet.
We have a cat; the hair gets everywhere; it drives my wife absolutely insane. In addition, I have some allergies, and without fully nailing it down, this may contribute to them.
We vacuum / clean every 1-2 weeks... seems we spend a large chunk of our limited free time there. By the next day after cleaning, the cat's 'tumbleweeds' have returned. I'm thinking maybe one of these devices would make my wife feel less like she has to be constantly cleaning.
We are well on our way to FIRE and have some cash to spare. I'm wondering if a roomba-like-thing is a good idea. We could set it to clean every couple of days, and presumably the cat hairs would be kept under control. Additional bonus is maybe it can help reach places that are hard to get with a conventional vacuum such as under beds, sofas... where large balls of fir/hair accumulate.
Comments? Personal experiences?
Which device is the the most mustachian? (not counting the human roomba - e.g. me).
Since this thread popped back up, I will give a minor update:
I just got a Deebot N79. It's one of the current top 'budget' robot vacuum options.
I'm trying this out to see if we find it useful, and will report back at some point (and if I forget and you want the info, bounce this thread back up).
There is a lot of detailed discussion on this thread trashing robot vacuums. We will put this cheap unit to the test. Knowing that vacuuming (manual) is not a huge hassle, and that upright vacuums are by far the more frugal vacuum, a lot of people here are wondering why anyone would bother. The problem, is that they are not taking into the full constraints of everyone's particular situation.
I am getting this thing because I have:
1. A cat that sheds a lot
2. A wife who is significantly bothered by build up of cat hair /dust / etc....
3. Allergies which I"m curious would be benefitted by frequent vacuuming.
4. not enough free time to handle every single little GD task that I could DIY.
To point number 2, recall the MMM post where he proposed that people not worry so much about keeping everying perfectly clean. Then, remember the follow up where his wife told him he was full of shit. The point is that for some people having a very clean house is very important, and that is ok.
To point number 4:
I think mustachians don't always have a firm grasp on the value of their free-time. I have gone out of my way on many different areas to DIY. Eventually you realize that the best way to do it is to only DIY things that you really like, things that are higher value, or some combination of the two. I don't mind vacuuming all that much, and hell, I even enjoy it on rare occasion (I'm a chemist and find vacuum pumps interesting), but to vacuum multiple times a week would make me hate it. Rather than hiring a nanny, I figured I'd give the robot vacuum a go.
With this in mind, the role of this robot vacuum is to help with upkeep. We are still going to vacuum (manual), probably every two weeks, but we are hoping the robot will help us stay on pop of the dust and cat tumbleweeds that pop up every day. We have no intention of fully replacing upright vacuums with the robot.