Vacuuming—it’s probably not a foreign concept to you. Even those of us who hate cleaning and housekeeping, most will probably still break down and run the vacuum cleaner when it starts getting really bad! Running the vacuum cleaner is not rocket science; however, it is something that could still be done better by most people in order to be more efficient and produce better results. Here are a few of the most common vacuuming mistakes that I see being made every day. 

Not Going Around the Edges

Vacuuming the main area of the floor is great, but please don’t forget about the edges. So many times I see people have vacuumed the main area of the carpet but they have not taken the crevice tool around the edges of the carpet. Their floor still looks dirty! With the activity taking place in the middle of the carpet a lot of the dirt travels to the edges where, especially if it is a carpeted room, the dirt lodges between the wall and baseboard. If you do not vacuum the edges with the crevice tool, it will stay there. This is why if you vacuum the main area of the carpet but fail to go around the edges your carpet can still look dirty. Little by little the dirt will bounce its way out of the crease between the wall and onto the main part of the floor. 

If you have hard floors, I always make the joke that you could just take the crevice tool around the edges and call it a day because most of the dirt will float to the corners and build up there, meanwhile the main part of your floor doesn’t look too bad! 

Rollers on Hard Floors

Most vacuums today come with at least two options, a hard floor setting and a carpet setting. Some vacuums even come with three settings: hard floor, low carpet, and high carpet (these are my favorite type vacuums). Please be aware that you don’t want to use the carpet setting on a hard floor, especially a hardwood floor, because it can scratch your floor. While it is generally okay to flash on the roller setting for a second to help suck up a big mess or little particles (such as kitty litter or glitter), you do not want to use this setting all the time on the hard floor. 

Picking up the Cord

Have you ever vacuumed a floor, especially a hard floor as opposed to carpet, and turned about and saw more dirt where you just vacuumed? More than likely you were letting your vacuum cord lay on the floor and it caught some of the dirt as you went along vacuuming.  A better approach is to loop the cord so you are holding as much of it as possible, vacuum a small area, then turn and release the cord so the cord is laying in a clean area that you already vacuumed. Then proceed to vacuum ahead of where you are walking. 

Vacuuming Out of a Room 

This is more of a detail but who doesn’t like seeing those neat lines in the carpet from the vacuum? In order to leave the carpet looking freshest, start on the side of the room furthest from the door and vacuum your way out of the room so there are few footprints on the carpet and you can enjoy the room looking even crisper for a little bit! 

Conclusion

I hope these tips help to solve any frustrations you may have been battling with your vacuuming! If you have any additional questions or topics you’d like me to cover please shoot me an email at: alainascleaingservice@gmail.com. Until next time!