Vacuum maintenance

Have you ever changed the belt in your vacuum? I did last night, and let me tell you, the vacuum is the most disgustingly dirty appliance ever! I totally needed a shower afterward.

I also changed the filter, which is a whole story onto itself. Not the actual changing, that takes 5 seconds. But getting the filter? Here's my adventure:

I have a Dirt Devil upright. Good, solid machine. Takes an F1 filter. Which really needed to be changed, because it was starting to stink really bad whenever I vacuumed. So I checked at Walmart, but the filter cost $50! I am not spending that much on a vacuum filter. I only spent $75 on the vacuum in the first place!

So I started looking online. First stop was the Dirt Devil website. It's only $20! Much better. But look a little closer, and they don't ship to Canada. So no good.

So I started looking at Canadian sites. Staples has it for $25. Still good. Until you factor in the $15 shipping charge. Plus taxes still brings it to $50. Grr...

This lead to Amazon, where the .ca still let me down. The .com though, I found it for just under $30, shipping included. Much better. I only had to wait 3 weeks. But to save $20, I can wait. And I did. And it was great.

For comparison, the belts cost $4 for two, picked up at any hardware store. What makes the filters so special?