How to Clean Your Living and Dining Rooms

Compared to cleaning your kitchen or bathroom, cleaning the living room and dining room in your home is a piece of cake! You are basically just dusting and vacuuming. Neither of which are all that complex, but they do involve more than simply watching the dust blow around and then pushing your vacuum around the room.

Before you begin to actually clean the living and dining rooms, take a walk around them. Pick up all items that do not belong in the room and and return them to where they do. It's like starting with a blank canvas.

As with cleaning any room in your home, you want to start at the top and work your way down - bring the dirt to the ground. Catchy little slogan, eh? If you do not own an extendable duster, go out and buy one - NOW. They are invaluable to cleaning and so much safer than wobbling around, tippie-toed on a step ladder.

With your extendable duster in hand, walk around the perimeter of the living or dining room. Check for cobwebs in corners high and low, be sure to hit woodwork, trim and baseboards. If your woodwork has not been dusted on a regular basis, you may need to go back over it with a damp rag. Dust all ceiling fans and hanging light fixtures with your extendable duster. These may also need to be cleaned with a damp rag if they are particularly dirty.

Next, dust all wall hangings and shelves. Be sure to dust frames across the top and bottom where dust always lands. An old paint brush is my favorite cleaning accessory. Use a paint brush to dust knick knacks, home decorations, pieces of artwork, floral arrangements, wicker and lampshades - works like a charm!

Move on to tables, you can either remove all items from the table and dust them each separately, then wipe the entire table down before replacing the items OR if you're short on time, use your paintbrush to dust around everything. Windows - tops, sills and sides - should be dusted also...when was the last time you gave them a wiping?

Now you are ready to move on to vacuuming and you're almost done the job! Remove any small, throw rugs from the room - you can vacuum those after you've vacuumed the actual carpet. Divide the room into sections and vacuum the room slowly, concentrating on one small area at a time. Use the small brush attachment on your vacuum to clean upholstered furniture. Be sure to lift up cushions and suck up any crumbs that may be under there. God only knows what else you may find - be prepared for the worst!

Voila! You have a clean living room or dining room! Of course, these are only the steps to a routine cleaning. A much more through cleaning of your living room and dining room should be done at least four times a year, you can probably get away with once a year, but you didn't hear that from me!

When doing a major or spring cleaning of your living room and dining room, drapes or curtains should be taken down and washed, windows should be cleaned and furniture should be completely moved out to vacuum the entire carpet. You may also want to wash your walls once a year. This is a huge and messy project. I find it much easier just to re-paint them.

Did you know that "technically" you should dust and vacuum your home EVERY DAY? Who has time for that? Not me. Enlist the help of your children. Dusting and vacuuming the living and dining rooms make great chores for kids. Make maintaining your home a priority for the entire household. By getting your family into the habit of picking up and wiping up after themselves each day, your task of cleaning will not be such a heavy burden.

Nicole Dean is the owner of www.freequickrecipes.com and www.romanceyourhusband.com