What do you do about vacuums you're partial about?

[amtraksebo1997]

This is something that I've been trying to grapple with recently. Ever since I got my DD Breeze Bagless, my desire to get other Dirt Devil machines has been reignited. Some of them include the DD Power Pak, Visions, old-school Featherlites, 7200 Upright style machines, a DD Sweeper Plus, and so on. However, these machines aren't ones that I have a ton of nostalgia for (besides watching old ads for them on Youtube when I was younger), nor do I have experience with them. I also don't have a ton of space to work with between two houses, and I want my collection to not solely focus on one brand or style of machine. I want it to be decently diverse, though I may gravitate towards one brand. There's also machines that I don't have feelings for or against that I want to try out, but don't want to spend the money and space to do so, such as Electrolux, Tri-Star, Miele, etc. Does anybody have any ideas on what I could do about these things?

 

[rainbowd4c]

I kinda look at it from this standpoint. These machines are in the back of your head for a reason. Something about these machines has your interest. I have this problem as well. But... I only have the ones that have any significant memory for me. My Rainbow is one of them. My Aerus Electrolux is like that as well. My Kirby was a gift. There are a lot of machines that I would love to have. But I have to remember that this can be an expensive hobby and vacuums take up a lot of space around the house. I have two machines that if ever given the option to buy I will and then as far as I'm concerned I'll be complete.

 

[blackheart]

Collecting

Isn't a logical hobby, If something grabs my interest I just go for it ya know? If you find space is an issue you can always scale back by looking at what you do actually use and what you feel more attached to.

 

[human]

It's really an addiction

I have gotten a whole lot pickier about my 'vacquisitions' of late. For a number of years, I had two Kirbys and two Electrolux canisters, then one of those Kirbys got away from me involuntarily and I went through a period of insane emotional vacuum buying, and I have more than replaced that loss increasing my total collection almost tenfold before I could put on the brakes. What finally did it for me was when I found myself buying them and putting them straight into the barn. Sometimes I'd fix them up a little first--and have a little fun doing it--but then I'd never actually use them. That's why I make so many jokes about vacuholics anonymous. I've gotten rid of a few machines over the years, giving them to friends or donating them to church rummage sales, etc., but most of them are still in my possession. All that said, I do good idea of which ones I would absolutely hold onto, as well as the ones I really wouldn't miss, and the few that could go either way. These days, when I see a machine that's marginally appealing, I most often get the same feeling I experience when I've eaten too much at a buffet and I look at the desserts. I might say 'hey, that's nice,' but then I'll leave it where it sits, because I just don't need it.

 

[amtraksebo1997]

RainbowD4C

That's kind of what I've been doing lately, only waiting for machines that I've always wanted to pop up online and then buy them. When I was younger, I'd beg my parents and grandparents to buy me just about any machine that I'd see, regardless if I actually liked them. Whether it be from thrift stores, garage sales, etc. That's another thing, my parents aren't exactly keen on me bringing in machines for my collection (at least my mom isn't), mainly for space and sanitation reasons. I get their concerns, but nowadays I try to clean whatever machine I get as thoroughly as I can, as I myself am a germaphobe (more so than my parents, ironically). So yeah, it's not often that I add a new machine to the collection, let's put it that way. Maybe in the future these things will become non-issues, but only time will tell.

 

[amtraksebo1997]

Blackheart

I get that, and did that for a Eureka F&G and a M. Wards canister that were badly beaten up, and I had no interest in fixing. I took them into a vacuum shop to be recycled. I also used to have a Hoover Sprint Quick Vac that I got with the intent of giving it to my 4th grade teacher, which never panned out. I actually liked that machine a bit, but I traded it for my Bissell Lift Off Hybrid Pet since it had a horrible smell that I could not get rid of. I still kind of miss it. I plan on getting rid of a few others, idk when though.

 

[amtraksebo1997]

Human

I'd love to have a barn or some other storage area to keep surplus machines, but unfortunately that's not really the case right now, at least not any that would keep them out of the elements well. In a perfect world, I'd want a decently sized collection room in the finished basement of my dream house (oh, and a Central Vac too, because of course I would). There's a reason why my location is set the way it is beside my username...