Clearing up the Christmas Chaos with Vax

So that's it. Christmas is over. The decorations have come down and now the house is feeling a bit bare. Although it seems a bit of a shame that all the Christmassy-ness has gone, I do quite like the feeling of being able to reclaim my home and I always find the new year to be a great opportunity for a bit of a clear-out and clear-up. This year Vax have set me up with one of their Cordless SlimVac which has been a bit of a godsend while we were taking down the Christmas Decorations.

Trying to clear a house of baubles, tinsel and Christmas Tree pine needles while there are two over-excited children whizzing around the place is no mean feat. You need a tool that can be quickly lifted out, whizzed around the living room to pick up all the needles and tinsel remnants and then very quickly put away again. Enter the Vax Cordless Slimline Vacuum which doesn't even need to be plugged in. Point it at the needles, pull the trigger and hey presto, the room is back to looking like a living room again!

Clearing up after the pine needles

It isn't the most powerful vacuum I've ever owned but these days I don't need to be able to hoover up finger-food debris or vast quantities of cat hair; I just need to keep on top of things. One of the niftiest things I liked about this hand-held cordless vacuum was that while I could use it with the long nozzle to pick the Christmas tree needles from the floor but I also got Mr. B. to remove the long nozzle and just use the hand-held vacuum with a different nozzle to furtle in behind the table where the Christmas tree had been without having to faff about with moving furniture. Long or short, its your choice.

Its also your choice whether you use it on hard surfaces or soft - a switchable brush head helps here. Swirly brush thing, or no swirly brush thing, it's your choice. Because this Vax is cordless, its so lightweight and easy to use that I could even ask Lara to use it without fear of her getting tangled up in it, or having to worry about plug sockets. The charge on the battery lasts about 20 minutes which for me is more than enough vacuuming for one sitting!

We managed to remove the tree, clear up the debris and set the living room back to rights in record time leaving us lots of time to play family games together over the weekend.  Hurrah. And we've managed to find a home for the new Vax in the cupboard inside our utility room (this isn't a photo of our utility room, it's a Vax library picture) - it is incredibly compact and comes with a wall mount should you want to use it.

Image credit : Vax

My Top 5 Household Best Buys

As you may know, we are currently decorating the girls' bedroom.  We've cleared their room of furniture and sold off their wobbly wardrobe so that we can start from scratch in their bedroom.  As I waved goodbye (and good riddance) to one of my most hated pieces of furniture, it made me think about what makes a lasting piece of household furniture, storage or staples?  I know for a fact that it isn't just cost that makes a household item one that lasts - I've paid lots in the past for things I've quickly had to replace but then I've also had bargain items that I bought when I first moved out of home and I'm still using now and are still oozing quality.

So, as an aid to contemplating what sort of items to buy for the girls' newly decorated bedroom, I've written up a list of the items in my house which have lasted us the longest, and have become some of the most-used household items we have owned.  I am hoping that this will help me to understand what makes them stand out from the rest.  It is interesting to see how many of them now have the girl's presence stamped all over them!  Here are my top 5 household best-buys.

1. Ikea bookcase

This was one of the first items of furniture that we bought when we first became home owners. I remember having to pay a van driver to transport them home from Ikea in Wembley to our home in Bracknell.  These bookcases are so tall that you have to anchor them to the wall to keep them from falling over but they store so many books, CDs and games that they have been able to cope with our growing and evolving collection as our family has grown.

2. Brabantia laundry basket

I remember Mr. B. giving me a funny look when I bought a Brabantia laundry basket nearly 10 years ago.  For me, the new metal and wooden laundry bin was an important part of our new decoration and I still to this day feel that it makes the bedroom or hallway look stylish - it is a smart way of storing laundry which can sometimes be an unsightly afterthought in a room.

3. Oak bookcase

We LOVE this oak bookcase which was bought for us as a house warming gift ten years ago from a local furniture supplier. In our pre-parent days this used to house recipe books.  Now it hosts whats left of our grown-up book collection and is hidden away in the spare room but it is such a smooth and sturdy piece of furniture that I wouldn't want to rehome it any time soon.

4. Wooden mirror

Mr. B. and I were given this huuuuge wooden mirror as a wedding present. We are currently planning our new living room and we are both keen that this mirror remains a central part of our living area.  It is chunky and bold but natural at the same time. 

5. Boxer Bed

Our bed came with us when we moved house, even though it was originally bought for a very specific room dimension in our old house where space was limited.  It is a Boxer Bed which is surprisingly high because it features, underneath it, lots of different sized drawers for loads of storage.  It even hides away two bedside tables!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post but that doesn't stop it being fun to read.