Regular readers will know that, even as a Mum of two who has more time at home than many, I’m a little more Domestic Disgrace than Domestic Goddess. If I had to choose between housework or making cakes / seeing what colour you get if you mix all the Playdoh together (FYI: always somewhere on the browny-grey spectrum) / worm hunting in the garden with The Things (our two boys, aged 3 & 4) then housework loses E V E R Y time. BUT, I like a reasonably clean and tidy house so if there are things, ways, methods, appliances that mean I can spend more time with my delightful kinder before they turn into knuckle-dragging, grunting teenagers then I am in.
So, this is a great opportunity to test two products from the Shark range: a vacuum cleaner and a steam mop. First up is a new vacuum cleaner: The Shark. Cool name, first off. Less catchy when given the full moniker of The Shark NV340 Lift-Away, so from this point I’ll just say Shark.
Blimey, it’s light. The box says 6.3kg but I’m resolutely old school so have literally no idea about kilogrammes. Two or three bags of sugar? I had braced to lift and needn’t have done.
It’s a bagless cleaner and the cylinder is approved by the British Allergy Foundation, I discover. If you’re married to someone who has multiple allergies (I am: his include but are not limited to cats, dogs, dust, flowers, certain scents and making his own tea) then this kind of thing and a cupboard entirely devoted to anti-histamine and eye drops are pretty important.
In the living room are some ground-up biscuits and over most of the stairs (talc? cat litter? flour? – what IS that?), some dried mud traipsed in by the boys Our lovely wonky old house is full of beams so I also have to vac the ceilings and walls. Shark, prepare for battle…
As you’d expect, it’s simple to use. The lightweight upright design makes light work of the earlier biscuit disaster in the living room and with all the attachment wotsits on the device itself, there’s no faffing about trying to find the tools you need. A few minutes in and Thing 1 says “Urrgh, look in there” and points to the cylinder. Of equal brilliance and horror is the amount of non-biscuit dirt and dust it seems to have picked up. I only vac’d in here on Monday and The Things were in nursery yesterday.
Next, the stairs. A quick-release button separates the base from the cylinder part and you’re easily mobile as there’s a shoulder strap that means you’re not lugging everything about with one hand. That’s actually really clever and one of those why-did-nobody-think-of-that-before kinda things. I look like the cool one in Ghostbusters and have a quick Ray Parker Jr riff on the stairs. What it also means, when combined with the 8 metre cord, in practical terms is that I’ve done the stairs before The Things have managed to empty flour all over the kitchen table again; in your FACE, kids!
I use the same method (cyclinder removed in Lift-Away mode) to tackle the beams downstairs and manage to get it all done in a fraction of the time. Usually, I’d use my upright for the carpets, brush for the hard floor and a small hand-held for the beams. Quite simply, this isn’t just another vacuum cleaner, this is a vacuum cleaner that delivers on its claims, does the job of two or three different bits of kit and saves you time. Time, that rare commodity, that I will now better spend helping The Things save Thomas The Tank from a terrible dinosaur invasion.
Every home could do with a Shark and for your opportunity to WIN a Shark Lift-Away why not check out our Twitter or Facebook links for terms and how to enter. Good luck!
