I clean houses and the best vacuum I've used is the Dirt Devil Bagless Breeze. It's $55ish at WalMart. I seriously hate cleaning out the bagless vacuums but this one is worth it. Something about the filter/suction really sucks stuff up. It has no problem with stuff like Cheerios. It is lighter than most regular vacuums, although it isn't one of those light versions. One of the best features is the automatic height adjustment. It isn't a big deal to press the little height lever on a regular height adjuster, but the key here is that you get the right height every time and don't ever have to start over because it's not picking up right. Attachments are easy to switch to. The only thing with these is you have to be careful you don't break the tiny little posts that hold on the hose, these are prone to breakage as you switch from vacuum to attachments. I have a Kirby that cost a ton of money but now I want this one for my house. The Dirt Devil Featherlite is about a pound lighter and $5ish more. I don't know if one of their stick vacuums might do the trick.