Over my life I've gone to extremes to clean. I've pushed the dirt under a rug to hide it, I've yanked appliances out of their places to scrub underneath them. Recently I lifted off the top of my gas range to really get in there and clean out the "Crap of Ages". Do you ever wonder what it looks like under there? It's not pretty. It's not just that the vacuum is heavy, or that my daughter's afraid of it, or that I hate vacuuming. It uses electricity. Electricity that could be better used running the AC during this hot, long, dry and dusty summer.

And yet there's just some things that can't be solved by the application of elbow grease. I have been enjoying the satisfaction of getting down and just washing my floors myself. Something about knowing for a fact that they're clean. But what do I do about the carpets that can't be self-scrubbed? How do I manage that?

The recommended standard for electric appliances is Energy Star . Look for the sticker on what you buy, and you'll be buying a device that doesn't suck up needless energy. Dirt Devil has just come out with a device that uses 70% less energy in a wireless device. No toddler coming along behind me, yanking the cord out of the wall! It charges faster, and seems to be easier to use. I have a Dirt Devil vacuum right now, and have never had a major problem with it (and believe me, the things I put this poor vacuum through, it deserves a day at the spa!).