People Who Have The Cleanest Homes Always Vacuum First

It's a controversial viewpoint, but one many a neat freak stand by firmly: To get your home the absolute cleanest, you should be vacuuming both as the first and final step in your cleaning process. It may sound counterintuitive to get the vacuum out when dust bunnies are still lurking around at higher elevations. Still, there's certainly a case for clearing the initial layer off the floor before you begin the rest of your regimen, no matter how much we hate to admit it.

We've all been there—it's wall cleaning time, and hair, fur, or dust clings to your cleaning cloth, only detaching itself once it has a prime-time spot on your white walls. You realize you might have been better off with the fingerprint smudges. To avoid this most irritating scenario, give your high-traffic or mess-prone areas a quick once-over with the vacuum. It doesn't have to be perfect, but the rest of your cleaning will be significantly improved even if you just hit the problem areas like the corners, areas around the tubs and toilets, and even the baseboards themselves.

If you have a handheld vacuum, take it to the fridge drawers, stovetop, and dryer lint trap in this first round. It will keep a good bit of the crumbs and dust off your floors, making the rest of the cleaning much more manageable. 

Wiping off your lower cabinets will be a tidier and quicker process, too, without fear of your wet cloth dragging along grime if it accidentally sweeps the floor while cleaning the toe-kick areas.

Before you cry foul on this suggestion to add another step to your to-do list, know it benefits those with high-shedding pets. When the fur starts flying, we all know it'll cling to almost everything, even soaring to the top of that just-dusted sideboard—This means you're putting in the work without a full payoff.

Time is of the essence for many of us, and you might not be able to bust out the vacuum twice in one day. In those instances, the best thing to do is quickly clean up any obvious fur balls, crumbs, or other dust magnets and then continue the cleaning. You can catch everything else when you zip around the vacuum after the rest of the house is shined and primed.