Is it my birthday!?”
– My oldest son earlier this year, in response to watching me vacuum

Certain chores take a back seat to kiddos rocking car seats when there’s a family to be juggled and higher priorities to be reckoned with.

Do I wash dishes or fold laundry less frequently since having grown my family?

Heck no, my husband and I do far more than ever, unable to keep up with continually overflowing sink-loads and washer capacities, like just about every American family.

Every American family without housekeepers or kiddos old enough to lend hands to these duties.
In fact, we underwent the most expensive washing machine debacle earlier this year ultimately caused by one too many baby sock spin cycles.

Those were exorbitantly priced baby socks that day.

Those household chores, among others, are necessary to carry out just to get by.

One needs clothes, after all. Even if one takes 25 minutes to put on a pair of socks.

Other tasks, say, ironing or vacuuming or window-washing, meh. 

They’re done far less frequently.

Windex-wiping my puppy’s nose art and kiddo-prints from windows in increasingly sparing increments won’t prevent my littles from wearing clean clothes or having spotless Paw Patrol plates to be filled with food they won’t touch.

And so to the back burner goes vacuuming and ironing and window-washing, oh my.

My husband and I have had our trusty vac since our wedding.

I remember the day we registered for it at Sears well over a decade ago.

It was pretty, shiny, effective.

But it’s actually also heavy, awkward, incredibly loud – which terrifies my 3-year-old – and the bags need replacing constantly.

I don’t so much enjoy vacuuming, which takes me away from things that are more important.
I also don’t enjoy traumatizing my middle child.

But with a dog and three small children, floors do need cleaning once in a while.

And they should be cleaned on more days than those that lead up to a birthday party or large family gathering.

Enter the floor-cleaning robot, the Roomba.

Roomba vacuums are small, frisbee-sized little gadgets I’ve seen advertised on TV for years, always skeptical of its durability over a length of time.

How could a spheric-shaped device clean corners?

I’d heard they came with hefty a price tag, and the TV ad’s cheesy nature led me to believe that, rather than full of dirt, it was full of something else.

But over the past few months, the idea of this little tool kept creeping back to my husband and me.
I researched as dust accumulated in our living room. 

There are several types of self-cleaning vacuums, and just like our self-timer soaker hoses that water our gardens all summer long, we realized we likewise needed this product – we had no time to tackle the woodwork anymore.

And the corner pockets of our home continually filled with our dog’s fluffy fur.

Roomba reviewers swore the product would take care of these corners and more.

My research showed these were smart little buggers; they’d slow before hitting walls, stop before propelling to their death down stairs, and deep clean dirtier or carpeted areas. This model had sensors that could determine square footage of rooms, return to its charging station on its own, recharge and resume, and even text message us if the dust bin was full or if it was stuck under a coffee table or chair.

It’s already happened a few times.

We tore open the new package eagerly as though it were our own Christmas morning, a large ‘iRobot’ logo emblazoned across the corrugated box.

When we tested this little critter for the first time, my husband and I discovered another bonus for which we hadn’t accounted – the entertainment factor.

Our older boys are unbelievably delighted and fascinated by this little device which navigates our floors, making itself as home, chomping up bits of dust PacMan-style all the way.

We named her Rosie, for the Jetsons’ robot housekeeper.

When in operation, I hear my boys squeal with glee, ‘Here comes Rosie! There goes Rosie!’

Who needs screen time when you’ve got a vacuum?

Personally, I just love having clean floors again.

Sure, a self-cleaning vac’s an investment. We were fortunate to receive a large contribution toward ours as a gift.

But boy, is it worth gaining back that valuable time.

If you’ve got a busy schedule and a shedding dog, consider getting one of these for your home.
You’ll be surprised how much debris and dirt these little apparatuses pick up.

In the meantime, I’ll be searching next for a robot that encourages picky eaters, or even acts as a cheerleader for kiddos to put on their socks in fewer than 25 minutes.

But then again, I’d be out of a job, now wouldn’t I?

— Michelle Cote is creative director of the Journal Tribune and a nationally-syndicated columnist. Rocking out to the classics in her minivan with husband and three sons is totally her jam. Contact her at [email protected].