New Vacuum Cleaner

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We recently purchased a new vacuum cleaner to replace the one we’ve had since moving into our current home nearly sixteen years ago.

I looked online at different models, and really liked the tools/features Bissell offered at an affordable price ($110 from Amazon). It also didn’t hurt that it’s my favorite color. :)

Bissell Cleanview Swivel Rewind Pet Upright Bagless Vacuum Cleaner

The day after it was delivered, I vacuumed the house and there was so much dust (which looks like sand in the canister) and dust bunnies it was unbelievable! Granted, it had been two weeks since we last vacuumed (we usually do it weekly), but I was still shocked.

I vacuumed again four days later and while the accumulation wasn’t as much as before, there was still a decent amount of dirt in the canister. Since we don’t wear shoes inside, we wipe Wookie’s paws after every walk, and she doesn’t shed, it’s amazing to me that so much stuff had accumulated so quickly. I can see and feel a difference in the carpet – its fluffier and literally looks cleaner. I guess that old vacuum just wasn’t doing its job.

I initially had mixed feelings about the new vacuum, and while I like it more after using it a few more times, it’s still not perfect by any means.

Pros

Powerful suction – lets me clean the bare floors without needing the attachments.

Lightweight – makes it easy to push and carry upstairs.

Convenient storage – the cord is stored in the machine and rewinds with the push of a button and all the attachments clip securely to the unit.

No bags or filters that need to be replaced.

Dislikes

I don’t like how dusty the machine gets when emptying the canister and there’s no HEPA filter (apparently Bissell doesn’t use HEPA in ANY of their vacuums for some reason).

It tips over easily when using the hose (even if I have it right next to me) so I’ve been hit in the head multiple times already.

It’s loud (88 decibels), so I need to use ear protection.

It sucks up small throw rugs (like ones by our doors or in the bathrooms) because you can’t reduce the suction power, so vacuuming those has become a two-person job – Joe holds them down while I vacuum one end, then flips it around to do the other side.

I might be expecting too much for the price of the vacuum. Plus how would I even return it during this time, or find one that doesn’t do the same thing without spending 3-4x more? It probably isn’t worth the hassle. I’m sure I’ll adjust to all its quirks in due time. Plus it does in fact clean very well which is the whole reason we bought it.

Weekend Recap

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Couldn’t sleep past 5 am today so the day has seemed endless, but in a good way since the weather was so nice. I made breakfast tacos, and then baked a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. We took Wookie with us on drive around the neighborhood and accidentally made her excited driving through the parking lot of Northside Park. Apparently she recognized it and thought we were going for a walk but there were too many people out so we left. We grabbed Culvers (our second take home meal since this whole lockdown started; the first being Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza last night). After lunch we took Wookie for a walk and then I cleaned the windows while Joe put out the Malibu lights.

Spring Cleaning

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I’ve been on a cleaning/organizing frenzy lately. Partly out of boredom, but also because I actually enjoy doing it, and thankfully now that the brain fog and fatigue have lifted, I have the energy and mental clarity to do so.

At this point if my ear issues went away I would feel about 85% back to normal. I can only hope they too resolve or at least lessen over time. I’m not even sure why I’m feeling better, although I have some ideas, but I’ll write about that in a separate post at some point.

I wanted to document in detail what we’ve been doing around the house.

Master bedroom closet – Got rid of some old bras I had been hanging onto for some reason. As if I don’t have a drawer in my dresser overflowing with them! The irony is I rarely even wear bras these days, but that will change once life gets back to normal.

My nightstand and dresser – I moved my leggings from the closet to my dresser, bras I use infrequently from the dresser to the closet, and just straightened up all my lounge wear. I haven’t purchased any new clothes other than a pair of jeans and two packs of underwear (went down multiple sizes when I lost weight and am still at the lowest I’ve ever been) in nearly a year. I miss going to Savers, but I’m still getting rid of clothes so clearly I don’t need any.

Master bathroom cabinets – Just rearranged things in there since it got messy and I had placed an online order with Target to replenish some personal care items that were getting low.

Since this lockdown we haven’t left the house other than to take Wookie on a walk around the neighborhood. We did go on a drive one day in my car (Joe drove) but stayed close to home. We drove past my old employer and there were lots of cars in the parking lot. I’m so glad I no longer work there!

Hall closet – I just rearranged it a bit as it wasn’t cluttered.

Kitchen cabinets – We have too many glasses thanks to gifts we’ve received. I stacked them so they take up less space, and rearranged our lesser used kitchen appliances. We bought new dinnerware/plates (whatever you want to call it) in February to replace these after I read how most plates have lead in them. I was tired of all the mismatched bowls and plates anyway. We got Corelle white glass dinnerware which I’m really liking. We bought a set from Amazon and then purchased additional cereal and pasta bowls from Walmart. They are lighter and stack nicely in the cabinets and dishwasher.

Refrigerator shelves – Wiped them down. I had done a full cleaning of the inside a month and a half ago so it wasn’t looking too bad.

Medical paperwork and entire desk area – I was dreading working on this but it had to be done, and now I feel better. Plus my desk is is so clean and streamlined which makes me happy.

Pantry – I’m always rearranging our pantry, but Joe organized our second pantry in the workout room a few days ago since we’ve stocked up on more food than we usually do. We would just rather not have to go out every week for supplies to reduce our chances of catching anything.

Under the kitchen sink – I just finished rearranging this area yesterday, in fact. I gave it a huge overhaul in February of last year so I just moved things around to make it more convenient to grab the most frequently used items. Plus I switched from using a bucket to a caddy when cleaning around the house. It was harder to see stuff in the bucket because it would get buried. I’m really not sure why I switched from the caddy to the bucket in the first place.

Other things I organized this morning – under the bed in the master bedroom and the buffet table by the front door. I also got out all the rechargeable batteries and recharged them in anticipation of getting this battery case from Amazon soon:

Battery Case

Battery Case

Right now they’re stored in a cheap plastic box and there’s no way to keep them from falling over or rolling around which is super annoying.

Weird Dreams & Health Update

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The entire time I’ve been sick I haven’t really dreamed about what has been going on, that I can remember anyway. However, in the past week I’ve had two dreams about COVID-19, both involving me having to go out in public and people not respecting social distancing.

The first dream also had me visiting my grandmother, who passed away in 2003, right after being out in public which was disturbing because I can’t remember having dreamt of her much, if at all, over the years as much as I would have liked and then the one time I do I’m risking her health in the dream? Talk about cruel! The second dream involved me going to Michael’s craft store during this pandemic which for all sorts of reasons doesn’t make sense. Then when I left the store my car was gone because someone stole it. Apparently I had a way to track it via GPS built into the key fob, though. Dreams are so strange!

In other news, I wanted to document that there are certain things that have gotten better. Namely, the pain in my arms at night isn’t as intense or radiating all down my arms and up my head like before. Also, I am not super fatigued or suffering from brain fog. My main issues now are jaw and ear related. My jaw just feels tight, sometimes slightly sore, and my bite is weird. Wearing any of my mouth guards doesn’t really help, though, and seems to encourage me to clench more at night. The main tinnitus sound is less bothersome but the weird siren-like sound can be really annoying when playing off other sounds, or when I’m trying to sleep. Plus the inside of my ears keep fluttering to certain stimuli which is extremely uncomfortable. I have to speak softly to avoid triggering the right ear and the left one is still being set off by certain noises, particularly if they originate from my right. If I turn my head toward the sound, or get close to it, the ear doesn’t vibrate. I don’t understand ANY of it, but I hope it goes away as I start taking herbs for Lyme disease. I had a more sensitive test done and it came up “negative” but with two positive bands which means my body recognizes it. Since I have no other explanation for all this craziness I’m pursing Lyme now.

Instacart Review

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Joe and I have never used Instacart before, but decided to try it out since between my current health issues and his asthma we’re considered “at risk” (I realize we all are to varying degrees) with this whole Coronavirus debacle (or Covid-19 if you prefer).

The order was placed last week to be delivered this past Tuesday. I like how you can keep adding items to the order until it is fulfilled. Ours kept growing each day as we thought of other things we wanted/needed. We figured we might as well maximize the opportunity to stock up so we don’t have to shop as often.

One thing I didn’t realize until Monday night was that everything defaults to “replace with best match” in case something is out of stock, so I spent time going through each individual item, marking most of them as do not replace.

Over the weekend I read that Instacart workers were going to strike on Monday so we weren’t even sure if our order was going to be completed or not. However, around noon yesterday I got a notification that our order was being shopped (at Aldi, the store we chose since it carries the majority of items we needed).

I was strangely thrilled “watching” the shopper pick out our groceries live on the Instacart website. This qualifies as entertainment these days, I guess.

There were a couple of hiccups, as noted below:

1) The shopper put every canned item (plus some other stuff) in a single bag which made it very heavy. At least one can is dented. Everything was organized and grouped by type, however. Plus she made sure the bread and candy were on top and not crushed.

2) We ordered one cucumber and one zucchini. We got one cucumber and a bag of mini cucumbers. No zucchini. I’ve actually mistaken the two before when not paying attention, so it’s an understandable mistake. I just have no idea what I’m going to do with more cucumber than we need, though.

3) We ordered Aldi’s version of Cinnamon Life but it was out of stock. I marked regular Life as a suitable replacement, but the shopper suggested some type of cereal with berries in it. We didn’t want that, so I tried to just cancel the item altogether but the website wasn’t letting me. I messaged her and asked her to just skip it. She then sent me a picture of the cereal aisle stating she got what I wanted. I couldn’t make the photo on the website any larger to verify, but I took her word for it and said ok. What she actually gave us was Aldi’s version of Rice Chex. Not sure how she confused the items, but we can make due. Also, I learned the Instacart app will let you enlarge photos; now I know for next time (since looking at the photo closer I can tell the shelf didn’t have the cereal she said it did).

4) She wanted to replace a bag of frozen green beans with peas. I hate peas so I requested a refund instead, and since she was in store at the time, she just didn’t buy them. This illustrates my point about not liking the best match option. Had I not caught that I would be stuck with gross peas. I guess I just assumed she’d pick a different green bean, not a whole different vegetable.

5) The delivery window on the order said 2-3 pm but she dropped off our groceries just after 1 pm. Again, no big deal, just noting the difference.

6) I put in the delivery instructions to text me when dropping off the food (to maintain social distancing), but she knocked on the door twice. Turns out she was just doing it to let us know the food was there, but it made me think she was waiting to speak to us, so I ended up opening the door just as she was leaving. We just waved to one another so no big deal.

I pointed out some of the mistakes made (the dented can, no zucchini, and cereal replacement issue) on the website in order to help the shopper with future orders, but still gave her a high rating and tip as I wasn’t looking to punish her. I didn’t request any refunds and labeled my notes as merely helpful feedback. Hopefully she understands my intent when she reads the comments. I also thanked her for her service.

Overall we’re still pretty satisfied given the circumstances. We’d obviously prefer to do our own shopping to maintain control and save money since after Instacart’s markup, delivery fee, service fees, and tip, we paid $30 more than we would have otherwise. Right now it’s worth $30 to minimize our risk of getting sick, though. In normal circumstances, however, I wouldn’t bother with Instacart. It has it’s place, but for able-bodied frugal people such as ourselves, it’s normally not worth the markup.