Left with My Own Devices

What are my favorites?

You may wonder how a person could feel passionate about a vacuum cleaner, as I do for my Dyson D10. And it’s not the only home maintenance tool that I’m attracted to—there are four others. I must confess that I have an unnatural attachment to all five of these gadgets. My husband Jon is even a little jealous of my attention to them. I just keep telling him that if he used them more, he would understand my feelings.

Part of the reason I’m devoted to these devices is that they’re so easy to use—you don’t even need to read the instructions. But mainly, I love them because they help me accomplish a wide range of yard and household tasks with great efficiency. And I know you’d like me to tell you about them.

My first and greatest love is the Weed Hound. It’s a magnificent stand-up weed puller that is 36 inches long and made of metal with a dark green powder coating. The best thing about it is that you don’t have to bend over to pluck the weed. You simply center the Hound over the little interloper, plunge it into the ground, pull the plant up, and eject it with the plunger handle at the top. It’s ideal for pulling up dandelions and other stubborn weeds. My former neighbor, Heather, used to say that my connection to the Weed Hound was my longest relationship until I got married—and she’s not wrong. It explains Jon’s worry that I prefer the Hound to him, but that’s not true most of the time.

Now, about my beloved Dyson D10. It’s relatively light, cordless, bagless, and comes with a groovy collection of high-performance accessories—try using the motorized “brushroll” if you want a thrill like no other. We got the D10 a couple of years ago when Jon and I went to a Dyson shop to pick up our mini handheld Dyson that needed repairs. While we waited for the service person, we started looking at some of the other vacuums, cleverly displayed in the waiting area. The manager skillfully interrupted us by showing us the wonders of the D10, a full-size upright vacuum. I was quite impressed but thought the price was much too high. Jon, on the other hand, was transfixed by the D10 and insisted we buy it, and so we did. We brought the vacuum home and within twenty-four hours it had become an important member of the family. Ever since then, it has hung in my office, constantly charging and ready to go!

The other three items I adore are specifically designed for cleaning surfaces. First is the Magic Eraser, a small scrubbing sponge. I had seen it advertised but was skeptical that a sponge could perform the miracles of spot removal as shown on TV, so I forgot about it. Then one day, our handyman, Dan, was working at our house, and we began a stimulating conversation about cleaning. He happened to mention the Magic Eraser and heartily endorsed it. Could this have been a mystical message from beyond, challenging my past doubts about the Magic Eraser? Of course, I bought one immediately and spent an entire day rubbing out every scuff mark on every wall, door, and baseboard in my house. Yes, you should try it.

Next is the ineffable Euro Scrubby—a real game-changer. It’s made of cotton and has a unique, raised, rough silicone coating that doesn’t scratch. It is a tireless trooper for everything from scrubbing vegetables to cleaning our colossal cast-iron pan, and it cleans up nicely in the dishwasher. Did I mention that each Scrubby features a variety of dazzling, colorful patterns that help inspire the completion of any cleaning campaign? I don’t think I have ever had one wear out. Once, I even used a Scrubby to remove stubborn vines on the bricks outside of our house. Now that I think about it, I eventually had to throw that particular one away.

As you’ve probably guessed by now, I have high standards when it comes to cleaning. This is because of my friend Evelyn, a remarkable woman who came to our house three times a week when I was a child. She washed and ironed the laundry and cleaned our entire house. She was the quintessential deep cleaner. Her endless quest to eliminate every spot and speck inspired me to purchase the OXO Good Grips Deep Clean Brush Set. Each brush is six inches long and these two babies may be small—but they’re mighty. They are described on the OXO website as a “grime-fighting duo,” which is perfect. One has a larger brush head to scrub around things that have flat surfaces around them like kitchen and bathroom fixtures. The other one has a smaller angled brush on top and an extraordinary wiper blade on the bottom to address that challenging circular crevice around the drain in your sink.

So, these are my five favorite implements for confronting the endless travail of housecleaning. You never know when a cleaning device is going to insinuate itself into your life and change you forever. Now, the fact that these tools are so important to me surely means I’m quite peculiar, but that’s another story.