8 Things You Should Be Vacuuming In Your Home Once A Week

Your vacuum cleaner is often an unsung hero when it comes to maintaining a clean and healthy home. This appliance is a necessity for dirt and debris removal, as well as pollen and dust that might contribute to allergies and other health issues. While you might target common spaces like your living area on a regular basis, this may not be enough to truly keep your home clean. You might even need to pull extra vacuuming shifts when you have pets and young children. As a general rule, you should vacuum key areas in your home that get the most dirt and dust exposure on a weekly basis. While these spots can vary based on your unique home details, common examples include carpets, fabric-based furniture, and drapes.

Targeting dusty and grungy areas every week can go a long way in making your home cleaner. Just know that you may need to vacuum certain areas more than once a week, including high-traffic spaces, pet beds, and area rugs young children might play on. Use your judgment when determining whether a spot needs some extra TLC, and use the once a week rule as a guideline along with avoiding common mistakes everyone makes when vacuuming to help you get started on your journey to a cleaner and healthier home.

There are definitely benefits to having soft carpeted floors, but vacuuming is certainly not among them. These fibrous floors have a reputation for trapping dust, dust mites, and dirt particles, just to name a few. Carpets require vacuuming at least once a week, and perhaps more if they get noticeably dirty or if there's a lot of foot traffic in the room. The American Lung Association also recommends vacuuming twice a week if anyone in your household has asthma that's triggered by either dust or dust mites.

While some area rugs are machine washable, it's unlikely that you can throw your 8 by 10-foot specialty rug into a washing machine without ruining it. In most cases, vacuuming can help keep area rugs clean and healthy. As with carpets, area rugs can trap debris and allergens thanks to their fibrous materials. Weekly vacuuming can help keep these items at bay, but you may want to do so more often if the rug tends to gather a lot of pet fur, or if you have children crawling around.

Vacuuming every week isn't exclusive to carpeted floors or area rugs. If you're looking for easy ways to clean hardwood, vinyl, or tile flooring, you may be able to vacuum these once a week instead of relying exclusively on dry dusting. This is especially helpful for picking up dirt that might otherwise drag across the floor and possibly lead to scratches. When vacuuming these types of floors, be sure to switch off the appliance's brush head to help prevent damage.

Flooring and rugs aren't the only spots that get dirty from foot (or paw) traffic. This is especially true of any four-legged members of your household and their beds. Whenever you vacuum your floor, consider touching up your dog or cat's bed with upholstery attachments, too. Doing this on at least a weekly basis will help reduce the amount of pet fur and dirt that may migrate to other areas of your home. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also recommends washing pet beds every couple of weeks to specifically help control fleas and ticks.

If you have any upholstered furniture in your home, then the ideal way to clean them and control dust mites is with a vacuum. When considering frequently used furniture like living room couches and sofas, your best bet is to vacuum these at least once per week. You might need to touch these up even more often in the case of food spills, or if you have pets that like to lounge on your furniture. Be sure to use the attachments that come with your vacuum for the best results.

While you're vacuuming your furniture, don't forget to touch up any decorative pillows you have as well. These can be hot spots for dust mites, stuck-on hair and fur, and dirt. Use a brushed upholstery attachment to gently remove dust and debris from these items to help them look and feel clean. Also, be sure to take care around any buttons, special stitching, or other items that could get damaged during the process.

Floors and upholstery arguably get the most attention when you're trying to decide what needs vacuuming. Fabric based drapes are other items that often get overlooked, though. You might be able to get away with vacuuming these once a month, but it depends on your household dynamics. Consider tackling fabric drapes weekly instead if you have pets and/or allergy sufferers in your household. Be sure to use the appropriate upholstery attachments to help you remove dust and other allergens without damaging the fabric.

Not everyone needs to vacuum underneath their bed weekly, and some people might get away with this cleaning task once a month. If you have allergies though, you should consider weekly vacuuming to manage dust, dander, and other common allergens that might aggravate your symptoms. Vacuuming underneath your bed every week is arguably even more important when you have carpet in your bedroom because of its tendency to trap allergens. Check out an easy way to complete this task if you hate cleaning under the bed.