Vacuuming Basics

If you have carpet in your home or apartment, vacuuming is an essential skill, one that you hopefully use often. Vacuuming is a very simple cleaning skill, and the quality of your vacuuming usually will depend on the quality of your vacuum.

• To be able to do a good job vacuuming, you need to make sure that the floor is cleaned up first. Pick up toys or other objects on the ground and put them away. Move small pieces of furniture so that you can vacuum underneath them (and make sure you move them back and vacuum underneath where you had moved them). Pick up small pieces of paper, paperclips, marbles, rubber bands, bobby pins, small pennies, or other small objects. They may be able to get sucked up by the vacuum, but they also have a chance of getting stuck and blocking the air passage in the vacuum, or even ruining something in the vacuum. Also, make sure that chords, strings, threads, and wires are out of the way. They can get trapped in the vacuum, especially in the rotating brush or the beater bar.
• Although you can vacuum your carpet with no order or method to your vacuuming, having a pattern or certain way of doing things can make a difference. For example, it is important to overlap your vacuum strokes to ensure that every part of your carpet is being vacuumed. Also, try to vary the direction of your vacuuming so that your carpet does not get matted down in a certain direction.
• Make sure that you vacuum the sides and the corners! Most modern vacuums have hand tools that can help you do this much more efficiently. Although it may seem easy to just ignore vacuuming edges or corners because you are in a hurry, do not skip this part of vacuuming! Often dust and other particles get trapped on the side and in the corners. Also use a hand tool to vacuum under furniture or under beds occasionally to get rid of extra dust.
• When you are purchasing a vacuum, try to buy one that has a beater/brush bar or a rotating brush. Make sure that you also empty the bag regularly so that it does not have too much build-up. Many vacuums also have different settings for different surfaces, like tile or carpet.

Keep some of these tips in mind to make your vacuuming more worth your while! A clean carpet is always a plus.