Last Saturday, I woke up to the usual breakfast commotion.

Bowls clanking on the bench, the tinny rustle of cutlery being taken from the draw, the chatter, laughing and generally noise of our boys as they went about the business of making themselves (and their younger brother) breakfast.

In other words, the usual shenangians.

Then I suddenly heard the low hum of a motor so I jumped out of bed to investigate.

And this, if you can believe it, is what I saw …

I was floored (see what I did there).

It turned out that Mr 7 had spilled the crunchy Weetbix sprinkles (you know, the several bricks worth of dregs at the bottom of the bag) on the floor.

In an impressive display of initiative, he’d gone straight to the laundry to get our new cordless Dyson V6 Absolute,* (which was plugged into the wall to charge mind you). He’d unplugged it, vacuumed up the mess and was about to go and put it back where he found it when I appeared in the kitchen.

There were several things about this which, frankly, amazed me.

Firstly, he didn’t need prompting to clean up his mess. That’s a biggie.

Secondly, without any demonstration or instruction from me, he’d worked out how to unplug it, turn it on and use it properly.

Thirdly, the mess was sorted almost by the time I got there.

Before I continue, let me back track a little.

When I mentioned on social media recently that I was attending a Dyson V6 event (and would soon be receiving my very own* – yippee), I was met with several rather enthusiastic responses. Here is a sample:

– from @queenofthrift, “I love my Dyson he is awesome!”

– from @stylingyou, “We have one, couldn’t live without!”

– from @mumbytheseaside, “The absolute best with kids. This lives on our bottom floor with a living space and the big Daddy dyson stays upstairs with the carpet. Very much a regular vacuumer now :).”

Needless to say I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one. After all, it’s not often that people speak of household appliances in such glowing, life changing terms.

Before we received ours, I was dreaming of all the ways my new Dyson V6 would change my life. Here’s my list:

• No more stressed Mummy when the boys (aged 4, 7 and 9) ask to play with play-doh or do craft inside.

• More relaxed Mummy during mealtimes involving cous cous, pastry, crumbs, peas and other falling debris.

• No need to drag out the big bulky vacuum anymore to keep on top of our open plan living area.

• It would actually be achievable to keep the floor under the dining table reasonably clean with little effort from now on. The constant sight of mess under there has been doing my head in for nearly eight years.

And in just two weeks, I can honestly say, I can’t believe how having a Dyson V6, an effective cordless vacuum, has changed my approach to mess. I’m so much more relaxed about mess now because I know it is so easy to clean up.

Like when your four year old decides a bit of DIY sanga making is in order …

It’s also great for the small messes in random places that are just annoying, but not big enough to justify getting out the big vac.

You know, things like the dust wheels that appear on wooden floorboards all the time when you’re using ducted heating in Winter; the small bits of dirt and grass at the front or back doors that the kids bring in; the lint and dried tissues (is that only us?) that drop from clothes when they dry and so on.

In terms of usability, the Dyson V6 is lightweight, weighing only 2.2kgs (which is nothing when you routinely carry a 20 kg preschooler), is easy to manoeuvre and has a strong, effective suction. It’s easy to push too, with it’s large, soft roller and a new re-designed neck which enables smooth movement across floor types.

In fact, the kids are actually happy to, not to mention capable of, using it themselves. With sand and dirt trailing into our house every day, that’s winning right there.

And, unlike our previous cordless vacuum which put me off cordless vacs for years, it doesn’t run out of power within a minute or so or require bending over to use it. The neck is long enough for me (and someone closer to Mr 7’s height) to use it comfortably and is easy to adjust.

The Dyson V6 Absolute will run for 20 minutes, 16 with the motorized cleaner head and for 6 minutes on boost mode. This is what sets the Dyson apart for me. You can clean a lot of floor in twenty minutes including our rug, where the kids often play. Previously, I swept our floors most days using our broom but always had to leave the rug.

In fact, I can see it almost replacing our big vacuum in our big open living area. I could never say this about our previous cordless vacuum which was seemingly limited to 15 seconds of power with me hunched over.

It’s super easy to empty too – there are no vacuum bags or complicated systems. It’s just a matter of pushing the big red button which opens the bottom of the cylinder, dropping the contents directly in the bin.

Maintenance wise, the instructions suggest regular rinsing of the two filters, once per month or so. I haven’t done this yet but it seems a small inconvenience for all the other benefits and the instructions talk you through it.

In terms of recharging, the Dyson V6 takes 3 and a half hours to fully charge.  This might seem like a while but no major issue given you get twenty minutes worth of power in between charges (enough for a quick whip around once a day) and it can be left to charge every night.

It comes with it’s own docking station/wall bracket too for storage. We haven’t attached ours to the wall yet. At the moment it’s sitting neatly against the bench near a power point.

As you can see above, there is a plug which connects the Dyson to the power source which is easy to quickly pull out – as I mentioned above, my 7 year old figured this out and managed this without instruction.

So what makes the Dyson V6 such a game changer as far as cordless vacuums go?

Well, most of us have large debris and microscopic dust on our floors (I generally have a mixture of leaves, Lego, sand, food scraps, fingernails and random peas plus many unidentifiable other objects). Many vacuum cleaners suck up one or the other, leaving either crevices full of dust or piles of large debris, such as cereal snow ploughed to the wall. Don’t you hate that?

I’ll let the Dyson peeps give you the technical explanation of how the Dyson V6 Absolute solves this problem:

“To pick-up fine dust, a machine needs to have a tight all-round seal to the floor. Keeping this seal means that larger particles, like rice or large cereals, pile up in front of the machine. Introduce a gap for this large debris and the machine is no longer sealed, the suction drops, and fine dust is left behind.

Dyson has solved this problem with their soft roller cleaner head, Dyson Fluffy. The Dyson engineers have radically redesigned the traditional cleaner head so that it tackles both big and small debris. Rather than strips of hard bristles, the soft roller cleaner head has a full width roller, covered with a soft nylon material and rows of carbon fiber filaments.

Large debris are enveloped by the soft material and flung inside the cleaner head, while the anti-static qualities of the carbon fibre filaments gently remove fine dust, without damaging floors.”

And that, my friends is how you can clean your floors, be a more relaxed Mum and maintain your sanity!

Here are some more features of the Dyson V6 Absolute:

• Soft roller cleaner head:  A soft roller cleaner head engineered to suck up both large dirt and fine dust simultaneously. Powerful cleaning without scratching.
• 75% more brush power:  A second cleaner head features a direct-drive motor that creates 75% more brush bar power than the Dyson V6 vacuum to better agitate carpet pile and tackle ground-in spills and stains.
• Dyson digital motor V6: The latest Dyson digital motor gives V6 Absolute the most powerful suction of any cordless vacuum. It’s certainly a massive step up from our old school one.
• 2 Tier Radial™ Cyclone Technology: Flings dust out of the air and into the bin, separating out even the most microscopic particles.
• Handheld conversion: The wand can be easily removed and tools attached directly to the cyclone pack for cleaning stairs, couches, mattress and car interiors.
• Warranty: 2 year parts and labor warranty.
• Energy Star Rating: The machine’s battery charger has qualified for the Energy Star rating, due to its energy efficiency.
• Price: $899.99
• Availability: It was just released in April 2015. You can shop it at Dyson.com.au and select retailers.
• Range: Dyson V6 RRP: $499, V6 Animal RRP: 699, V6 Fluffy RRP: $799, V6 Motorhead RRP:$799, V6 Absolute RRP:$899.

You can read comments by SnS readers about what they love about their Dyson on the Style and Shenanigans Facebook page here.

* This is not a sponsored post. I was given this Dyson V6 Absolute on the basis that I would review it here on the blog. All opinions expressed are my own of course in accordance with my Disclosure Policy. The product information was supplied by Dyson. 

Do you have a Dyson? Which model? What do you love about it?