Sometimes it Pays to Spend More

Posted by Lynnae on March 24, 2008

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Kenmore Progressive Vacuum

My new vacuum, otherwise known as The Purple Beast.

Saturday I was cleaning for Easter when the inevitable happened. My vacuum, which has been on it’s last legs since the day I bought it, stopped working. I checked the belt. Made sure it wasn’t clogged. Nothing, except for a nasty burning smell.

Fortunately the only guest we were having over for Easter was my mom, who is very understanding about a less than perfect looking house. Still, I was cringing at the state of my carpet.

I asked my frugal blogging friends for advice as to what I should do. Emily told me to see if I could get my vacuum repaired. I considered that. But my old Hoover has been trouble since day one. And it was only a $100 vacuum. I’m not sure a repair would be worth it.

Paidtwice directed me to a post she remembered from Five Cent Nickel. That post was a lifesaver for me. Seriously, if you’re in the market for a vacuum, you have to read it. Nickel did all the research on the top rated vacuums, so you don’t have to. And neither did I.

After looking a Nickel’s list of vacuums, as rated by Consumer Reports, I considered the cheapest option, a $60 Hoover. For the short term, it would be a good choice. However, a cheap Hoover is what got me into my current vacuum mess.

The first and third highest rated vacuums were both Kenmore Progressives. The first being the version that uses a bag and the third being the bagless version. After doing some online research, I was convinced that both were good vacuums.

As I checked out the specs at Sears.com, I noticed that both models were on sale. The version that uses bags was on sale for $249.99, down from $349.99. The bagless version was on sale for $269.99, down from $349.99. The sale ended at midnight Sunday morning, leaving me with little time to make a decision.

My options were:

Buy the vacuum on sale right away
Wait and hope it goes on sale again soon
Pay full price in the coming week
Buy a different vacuum all together
See if my old vacuum can be serviced.

I already told you why I opted not to get my old Hoover serviced. And since my floors are already grossing me out, I opted to buy a vacuum right away, figuring if it wasn’t the right vacuum for me, I could return it. I opted for the Kenmore Progressive bagless version.

I selected the option to pick up my new vacuum at the store. I was planning on picking it up on Monday, but there was a little snafu with the order. Sears left a message for me, saying it wasn’t in stock, but that they could order it and have it for me on the 30th.

I called the store to sort things out, and it turns out they indeed did have the vacuum I wanted on the floor, and I could pick it up right away. Since our Easter celebration had winded down, I ran over to Sears and picked up what I now affectionately call "The Purple Beast". After vacuuming one room, I was convinced I had made the right decision. All I can say is the beast picked up more dirt than I ever thought could be present in my carpet. Yuck.

Sometimes it pays to spend a little extra money to get a quality product.

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Comments

12 Responses to “Sometimes it Pays to Spend More”

danielle on March 24th, 2008 5:12 am

Thanks for posting this. You read my mind. I need a new vacuum as well. My old one really sucks, or, depending on your definition of suck, it doesn’t suck.
paidtwice on March 24th, 2008 5:24 am

Glad I could be of help! I have that post bookmarked for when mine finally gives up too.
Frugal Dad on March 24th, 2008 6:53 am

We went the cheap route with a Hoover Rewind, and it has served us well…or so I thought. The other day I ran our steam cleaner over the living room carpet and it was amazing the dirt and junk the steam cleaner picked up that the vacuum cleaner missed. You are correct - this is one of those cases where you get what you pay for.
Jaynee on March 24th, 2008 7:13 am

I have this vacuum! I LOVE this vacuum! YOU will love this vacuum! In our house we have two kids, four cats and a shaggy dog. That vacuum makes me feel okay about laying on the carpet after I run the vacuum over it. It’s AWESOME.

We did have to have it serviced about four months into ownership, but it was still under the Sears warranty and it only took 3 days for it to get fixed and returned to us. It has run like a dream since then.

LOVE THAT VACUUM!
Moneyblogga on March 24th, 2008 7:14 am

I always buy commercial vacuums because those plastic pieces of junk that sell for $300-$650 (ridiculous) never ever last. I buy the Sanitaire vacuum for around $180-$220 depending on who has it the cheapest on the internet. It works great. Doesn’t have any tools though but, for me, that doesn’t matter. I need something that will actually work for longer than a year or two and I cannot believe the prices of these plastic machines that are ready for the landfill right from the getgo. YMMV
Big Wizz on March 24th, 2008 7:20 am

If you can find a sale, Dysons also pick up *huge* amounts of pet hair and dander. The five year warrenty is also nice.

Just remember to never pay full price on them
Emily on March 24th, 2008 7:28 am

Yay! I am glad you found a good one and I agree it does pay to spend more.

I’m a Dyson convert and probably won’t ever go back but I know there are lots of other good ones out there.

Happy vacuuming and thanks for the link
Becky@FamilyandFinances on March 24th, 2008 8:16 am

I love Consumer Reports! I checked before I bought my very first vacuum cleaner about 4 years ago and bought a Eureka SmartVac that was a Consumer Reports Best Buy at the time. I’ve never regretted it
Jesse on March 24th, 2008 4:32 pm

Consumer Reports has been a life saver for me a bunch of times. I remember I was *this* close to buying some speakers until I read consumer reports. Turns out it was a very well marketed, but terrible product.
Erin on March 24th, 2008 6:55 pm

i agree with you!
sometimes you just need to spend a little more and get the best quality. especially since it will almost always last 10 times longer
HerMoney on March 25th, 2008 5:06 am

It seems this Easter weekend was a bad weekend for vacuums all around. We had to make a vacuum purchase this weekend as well. Such a bummer to have to spend money on something that’s really no fun!