I live in a small house and have two young children, my baby boy is just 22 months old and my daughter is 13 years old. My house gets quite messy especially during the winter months when we spend more time at home.

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I have a long lounge with a beige carpet which is not very practical when you have children as you can see the mess very easily. I am a very clean and tidy person and hate to be surrounded in mess.

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After giving away my vacuum cleaner when I moved house, I decided to get a handheld vacuum as I thought this would be better for me as we are tight on space. My daughter helps with the cleaning so I thought this would be easier for us to use and wouldn't take up much space, after a few months of using my handheld vacuum, I found it wasn't very good. It would fill up too quickly and it became smelly and needed charging up before I had finished cleaning up all the bits. I am always picking bits up from the floor all day and at the end of the day the carpet is quite a mess. I have a dust pan and brush to clean up when there is quite a lot of mess on the floor, but I didn't like to use this much as the dust goes everywhere. So it was time for me to find something to make my life a bit easier.

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After looking online and deciding that I wouldn't get another rechargeable handheld vacuum, as this wasn't the right choice for me I looked through several different online retailers at what other options were available to me on a tight budget with the holiday season approaching I didn't want to spend much money. Also being tight on space and we never seem to have many free plug points.

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I was quite surprised when I noticed a selection of carpet sweepers. I didn't think these were still available to buy as I remember my Nan having one of these. I used to love helping my Nan at the weekend and I would always get her carpet sweeper from under the stairs to clean up.

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This is not something you would expect to find a lady of my age to be buying as you would think this is outdated when there are plenty of modern appliances available today. This didn't put me off though, I was tempted by this as I thought it would be good at just giving the carpet a quick clean and collecting up crumbs and bits as these seem to be the bane of my cleaning routine.

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There are a few available ranging from as little as £8.99 - £39.99. I decided to buy a mid ranged priced sweeper. I wasn't expecting much for something that was quite cheap and since modern technology has come a long way since then. So I wasn't sure if I would be happy with it, and how effective it would be for the job.

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It came in a surprisingly small box, the handle just needed to be screwed together and attached to the main body of the sweeper, and it was ready to go.

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Was I right to think this wasn't going to be very good? ... I was so wrong!

No surprises that it didn't take long before I could test it out. So away I went sweeping the carpet and couldn't believe my eyes! I was very happy to see that my initial judgements on this was completely wrong, it cleaned up all the bits and crumbs of food from the floor with ease! I did the rest of the carpets in my house and it left them looking clean. It picked up all of the fluff, lint and food crumbs and even the odd Cheerio that can usually be found lying around. I was amazed with the results. It only needs to be rolled back and forth across the floor a couple of times to pick up the dirt. Like all appliances it needs to be maintained, it will need to be emptied from time to time, and check the bristles are clean, so no clogging will occur.

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Like many other babies my son would become upset and start crying whenever he heard the sound of my handheld vacuum. So the fact that this sweeper makes little to no noise means that it is perfect for use while he is with me, and also at night when he is sleeping as he is a very light sleeper. He was very intrigued and amused whilst I swept the floor making silly vacuum noises. So it has become a fun chore!

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I am really pleased with this carpet sweeper; it doesn't use electricity, so it is reducing my carbon footprint. It is much quicker and easier to use than other cleaning tools used for this job; you don't have to struggle to get in and out of rooms and up and down the stairs. It doesn't cost any extra money to use. It has two compartments in the bottom of the sweeper which easily empty out. It is quite sturdy, lightweight, and well made. It takes up very little space, and is very convenient.

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Since having this sweeper, it gets used several times throughout the day. My carpets are kept much cleaner, and it only takes a minute to sweep up after meals and messy play. I am very happy with this little sweeper; it has definitely made my life easier and reduces my work load. I no longer have to get down on my hands and knees to clean up and it saves my back. I can also use it at night when my children are sleeping without disturbing them.

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This is not something I was expecting to find as effective as what I thought it would initially be, but now I prefer this to using a vacuum!