Getting Personal: My #1 Most Favorite Gadget of 2007

In the overall scheme of things, I consider myself a simple soul.

To wit, the longer I live, the more I like simple, easy to care for, lightweight things (food, relationships and other gadgets). Anything that gets too complicated, too fast---no matter how wonderful the promises---either never gets in the door, or quickly gets the boot if it does. I don't have a lot of storage space here, so I relish space-saving, decluttering indulgences.

I've never cared much for vacuum cleaners. They just get bigger, fancier, more laborious and expensive and take up way too much space in the closet. I loath lugging them around, ripping out the electrical cord from the wall, just as I've crawled under the bed to get a 5 year-old dust wad. In short, the vacs I've had over the years---great and small--have all been less than satisfactory.

Until this year.

Something magical happened to my vacuum world in 2007: I saw and bought on a whim a little Bissell Turbo Perfect Sweep for $39 at Target and threw away my last vacuum cleaner---FOREVAH! I admit I was skeptical at first, and even agonized for at least thirty minutes in the store before ringing the register and checking out. Totally unnecessary.

I now feel like Cinderella after the Prince when I vacuum.

It's the cutest little machine and will go anywhere with me. It's tiny and doesn't even have a permanent cord. Instead, when you're not using it, you plug it in overnight to charge it up for hours of hard work and then store it in the closet until you use or charge it again.

So ladies, remember to consider this when you want to do something nice for yourself. And fellows, if you're not giving her diamonds or lace, then consider a little touch of perfection. It's a lot cheaper and can do things in short order that jewelry can never do! And unless you're a cleaning perfectionist---which I'm not---the little turbo gets you out doing whatever else you most love to do instead of vacuuming.

Priceless.

Merry Christmas!