It’s that time again people. Time for me to come out of my bitterly cold, consumerism-hating cave to admit that there is a product worth buying out there.

An upright vacuum in a typical Manhattan apartment is about as practical as a Kitchen-Aid mixer. Most buildings have hardwood floors that, having been stomped upon without much fanfare for seventy years, became “beautiful” in the nineties.

Not having any carpeting to worry about, or gaping utility closets to fill, I’ve championed the lightweight and reusable broom & dustpan as the ideal quotidian floor cleaner (or, hell, hebdomadaire). But lately I’ve noticed dust clogging our computers, our lamps, our closets, our toothbrushes. This city may eschew carpeting, but it’s got enough dust to put 1930s Oklahoma to shame.

I burned out on DustBusters in my teenage years. (Seriously, I was into them HARD CORE for a few months.) They aren’t very powerful in the first place, and only get worse from there. It’s better to be plugged in for indoor vacuuming.

The Eureka 71A is the perfect all-purpose vacuum for small apartments without carpeting. It’s branded a “stair and car vac,” two things I mercifully don’t have to clean, but it also rules at cleaning upholstered furniture, under radiators, and along the bottom corner of the wall. (Can you believe how much greasy dust is just stuck there? Gross!)

There’s nothing revolutionary about this appliance that I know of, it’s just exactly the right size and design for the job. Very long cord. The hose is easy to detach and use. Good suction! I’m just a loud, fast, domestic goddess when I’m working that ho. It’s the perfect cleaning appliance for about five hundred thousand non-rich people on this island.

That’s as close as you’ll get to a product endorsement on these pages.