Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Dusting and vacuuming - in which order?

How do you clean?

  • Dust first, then vacuum

    Votes: 24 53.3%

  • Vacuum first, then dust

    Votes: 6 13.3%

  • Only vacuum (no dusting)

    Votes: 5 11.1%

  • Only dust (no vacuuming)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I do not clean

    Votes: 8 17.8%

  • Other

    Votes: 2 4.4%
  • Total voters
    45
C

c073186

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 2, 2007
821
3
I really cannot come to a conclusion on the proper order of these tasks. I can justify it both ways.

Dust first, because then you will vacuum up the dust the is inevitably pushed off the furniture (even if wet-dusting).

Vacuum first, because vacuuming unsettles a lot of dust in the carpeting, kicking it back into the air where it will re-settle on the furniture just dusted.

But one thing I'm not going to do is dust, vacuum, and re-dust.

So how would you do it?
 
Assuming you have a decent vacuum (HEPA filter), there should be little unsettling of carpet dust except into the vacuum itself. Ergo dust, then vacuum.
 
It's a matter of frequency, not order. If you let the dusting go for a long time, you will probably need to vacuum after dusting, and vice versa. (and you will need multiple dust cloths!) However, you will probably not be able to tell. Your eyesight is not that sharp. If you dust and vacuum on a regular basis, the "collateral damage" will be minimal.

Case in point: After giving up on a once a week dusting routine, I decided a thorough dusting was way overdue. The dust was thick. I dusted everything, and I mean everything that is not vertical, and I mean absolutely vertical. The dust rags were filthy. ...next time, not so much filth. I can no longer see the dust, but it's there.

You can, however, see the dirt on the carpet. (lint, threads, leaves, grass, etc.) Vacuuming is done once a week in this house. It is a 2300 sq. ft. house. Dusting the whole house is intimidating. Battle Plan: dust a few rooms each weekday, take Sat. and Sun. off. Did that weekly for awhile after resumption of dusting. The rags were not so dirty. Now it's done every other week. It takes 20 minutes or so per day, for five days. The next week, there's more time to post on MacRumors!

My vote was "Other".
 
if something gets really dusty (where i'd have to use more than one cloth) i'll use the vacuum to pick up a majority of the dust... then just wipe it off with pledge!

i've always heard you should vacuum first, then dust... however i usually dust first then vacuum....

i voted "i don't clean!" :p
 
Dust then vacuum, otherwise the dust that isn't captured will land on the floor or else where. I vacuum after the fact, it gets sucked up
 
it's an issue of gravity--better to clean from the top down, then sweep the big stuff up with a broom first (even on carpet) then vacuum the finer stuff in the rug after making sure the brushes and tubes inside the machine are free of any blockages and there is room in the vac bag or empty the compartment if it is a bagless--it will kick up a lot less dirt if you keep the vac maintained regulary.
 
There's only 1 correct answer to this, and that's dust first, then vacuum.

If your mom or grandmother gave advice to vacuum first, that's because vacuum's didn't always have HEPA filters and could blow dirt around. Nowadays, if your vacuum is blowing dust and dirt all over your furniture, that just means that your vacuum is broken! A modern, working vacuum will not blow dust around.

Dust first, then vacuum.
 
By dusting, are we talking feather dusters or damp cloth dusting?

I think feather dusters are just about the dumbest cleaning implements ever invented and the only value I see in them are if they're being held by a girl in a french maid outfit.
 
My daughter introduced me to this strange stuff in a can - I think she calls it pole-ish - which she actually uses WHILE DUSTING! (She gets these weird tendencies from her father's side). Why disturb perfectly happy dust? Do you know how much research Disney put into finding how to make places look all dusty and spiderwebby? You could have that look for free, gratis, nothing! Please, please, stop this madness now, before you fall into that vicious cycle where you have to do it again and again and again ...
 
Signal-11 said:
By dusting, are we talking feather dusters or damp cloth dusting?

I think feather dusters are just about the dumbest cleaning implements ever invented and the only value I see in them are if they're being held by a girl in a french maid outfit.
Click to expand...

i've never quite understood the purpose of them either?????
 
Signal-11 said:
By dusting, are we talking feather dusters or damp cloth dusting?

I think feather dusters are just about the dumbest cleaning implements ever invented and the only value I see in them are if they're being held by a girl in a french maid outfit.
Click to expand...

Pledge and a dust cloth is what I use.
 
The Navy taught us to use cotton socks like a glove to dust with and cleaning the head we were instructed to leave the toilet seats up after cleaning them even our sister company since we were training as integrated units(1/2 men 1/2 women) had to leave the seat up.
 
Dust then vac. Pointless the other way around or the outlet on the hover blows the dust around.
 
Maybe most of us have come to the consensus that dusting comes first and then Vac because whats the point of sweeping more dirt on the floors after you clean them.
 
Dust then vac. Pointless the other way around or the outlet on the hover blows the dust around.
 
I use a swiffer (sp) to dust and then vacuum with a dyson vac. You'd be amazed at the amount of stuff that dyson picks up on a seemingly clean floor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back