I HATE to clean. It is a rare bird who likes to clean, but most people tolerate it and actually make an effort to do it regularly. Many people are bothered by dust bunnies, or sand crunching under foot. Me? I was born with the innate ability to completely ignore filth. It is only when the dust bunnies stand up and growl that I am moved to action.

Stop dialing the Health department, I’m not THAT bad, but I really don’t like to clean.

iRobot was a sponsor of Blissdom ‘10 so last month, I had the chance to see a Roomba in action. I’ve heard of Roomba before and I’ll be honest, I didn’t really think it worked. I don’t know why I thought that. It’s not like I’d heard people complain about their Roombas, it just struck me as a gadget, one that was too good to be true. You have to understand, we are a family of 4 blondes, plus a cat and until very recently a long a haired collie. It’s a contest to see who sheds more, us or the pets. My couches are the color of faded jeans and young and naive, I thought dark blue area rugs with plaid borders would look make my decore look like jeans and a flannel shirt. They weren’t on the floor 5 minutes when I recognized I had doomed myself to daily vaccuuming or grayish rugs. Guess which one won?

The ladies at the iRobot Booth told me there was a Roomba just for me the Roomba 562 Pet Series

I told A-man about my encounter with Roomba and the about the 20% discount iRobot was offering to Blissdom attendees. I planned to look online for consumer feedback, then honesstly, I got lost in the post conference catch-up and forgot all about it.

He did not.

About 10 days later, Scott, my UPS guy brought me a box from iRobot and made me promise to tell him how I liked it.

I LOVE THE ROOMBA!!

Let me say that again, I LOVE THE ROOMBA.

I named her Rosie.

I am a believer. My blue rugs? They look blue, not gray. We live on a dirt road and our driveway is also dirt. Take shoes off or leave them on, it really doesn’t matter, there is dirt all through the house. Rosie takes care of it. When the she encounters dirt, a blue light comes on and she spins in circles until she has collected the offending substance. Let’s just say Rosie’s blue light is almost always on in my house.

I shouldn’t tell you this, but she spent at least an hour just under our bed the first time she cleaned our room. That’s the cat’s domain. I guess it had been awhile since I’d gotten under there!

You simply set Rosie on the floor and press the button that says CLEAN and leave her to her duties. She even does a little cheer before she gets started. Girlfriend likes her job! Depending on the size of the room and the level of dirt, she may stop and take a break and ask you to empty her dust collection bin and clean her brushes. In our house that takes a little work (remember all that hair?), but Rosie came with tools that make cleaning her brushes quick and easy. Return the brushes to their home, press clean and Rosie is off and running.

She even leaves vaccuum lines!!

You can schedule when she runs (so you could do it while you are out) and she comes with two virtual walls, so you can limit her focus to a specific space. When all is said and done, she returns to her base to recharge issuing another little cheer. I guess like any busy woman, she’s happy to collapse into bed at the end of the a productive day.

She’s quieter than my canister vacuum, but she is a little loud for constant background noise if say, you were on the phone. Rosie the Roomba is round, so corners aren’t her strength, but she gets darned close. She even fits under the toe kicks under my kitchen cabinets. She also doesn’t do stairs, but she’ll collect the pile of of dirt, I push to the bottom using a Swifter. Having Rosie doesn’t completely eliminate the need for a competent human to operate a full sized vacuum once in a while, but it sure does extend the time between uses of said vacuum.

It’s a gadget, yes, but it is a gadget that works! Oh, and don’t discount the entertainment factor.

iRobot was a sponsor of Blissdom ‘10 a fantastic blogging conference I attended last month. I am writing this post to share with you my opinions, and to thank iRobot for their sponsorship of such an awesome event.  As a recovering event planner, I understand the importance and value of sponsors to an event’s success. That said. Everything stated here is my own personal opinion and was in no way requested or influenced by iRobot.