As I was trying to spring clean a little today, I was in a quandary. I have always dusted first and vacuumed last so I’d vacuum up all the “crap” that went on the floor. I started thinking of an argument that a couple I know have on an ongoing basis.
He says you vacuum first. With his thinking like mine. This way you get all the stuff that ended up on the floor.
She says you vacuum first because of all the dust/hair etc flies up in the air and lands on the stuff you just dusted.
My house was really, REALLY bad. I have two big dogs that shed. I vacuum my furniture everyday but I’m a slacker when it comes to dusting everything off. But I also have 5 cats and they spend the whole winter inside and I was putting away a bunch of their little tents and play toys and I’d already dusted but there was hair flying all over so I know I was going to have to dust all over again which led me to believe both of my friends had a valid point.
I ended up dusting, vacuuming and dusting again. If you were OCD, it may never end!!
So, what do you do? What’s the “right” way?? Vacuum first then dust? Dust first then vacuum?
Us Girls..Our Views 
Hee-Hee…I put up a spring cleaning post today too! I’ve been cleaning closets all day.
In our house I have the kids dust while I’m vacuuming. They’re particularly good at knocking the crap on the floor. By the time I’m done vacuuming they’ve long since disappeared and I just re-dust the areas that they did and we’re done!
(Although I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say that we don’t do this very often, or AS often as we SHOULD)
can’t we just pick one? You are making me tired! 🙂
I THINK I usually dust first on the days I do both..otherwise since I’m just vacuuming I do it first 😉
sounds like we all got spring clean fever. I have to wait till I can clean my pop up out and get the mattresses and cushions out of the bedroom before I can even attempt the closet. I HATE that job and am seriously considering hiring my nephews girlfriend to just haul all the stuff out…bag it all up..put it in my van and haul it to goodwill. I hate it that I have kept so many clothes that I know I will never wear again.
East question. I just tell my daughter it’s dusty and make hacking cough noises and voila, all clean and I don’t care which she does first.
I meant easy question.
Vacuum first, then dust with a slightly wet cloth that will absorb the dust rather than pushing it onto the floor.
Mind you, although I was “raised” to dust and vacuum every week, it now gets done only once a month, and I don’t even do it – I hire it out. But, I do vaguely remember how I did it back in the day . . . .
I think it makes sense to dust 1st and then vacuum. That way you get all of the dust that hits the floor.
I dust all the stuff first, it falls to the floor and then I vacuum. What usually happens is I dust, the phone rings, I am on it for an hour and I forget to vacuum that day!!!!! So, the next day…I give it another try!
I like to dust first, vacuum next, and then finally shampoo the carpet!
I tend to dust first, vacuum second, dust third, and vacuum once again. Since I scour my apartment so rarely, it really does take a double helping of elbow grease to get it presentable. I’m not a total pig. Really. I just don’t dust and vacuum often.
I have always wondered about this myself! I dust first then vacuum. I’m not sure if it’s the right way but it’s my way! 🙂
It really all depends on wheather or not you have a vacuum cleaner that has HEPA filtration. If you are capturing all the dust when you vacuum then dust first. If you are just moving the dust around then it doesn’t really matter.
And don’t forget to get your air ducts cleaned!!
Air ducts ,I didn’t think about that. Oh Spring Cleaning. Ive heard top to bottom then everything falls to the floor. Vacuum it up. We just cleaned out our storage unit so box sit waiting for me to go through my worldly goods. One of my least favorite task. I can tell it’s going to be a few week unless I drag it out. sigh.
Vacuuming is always the last thing I do. Something about vacuuming and then being done is satisfying to me. I spend an hour dusting and wiping counters and cupboards. Then I vacuum and I’m done. It’s almost a daily ritual so I never have a a long day of cleaning. Unless I’m spring cleaning and that consists of organizing and going through toys, still vacuuming comes last. It’s a rainy day today and I have piles of paper(newspaper, flyer’s, junk mail) I have to go through,that’s the worst job in the world for me. Hmmm maybe I’ll give that job to Bailey let him earn a couple extra bucks. Oh yea…Joy, my pretty red vacuum broke and I’m back to using your blue one! Stupid vacuums!
I have always dusted first and then vaccum. It just makes sense to do it that way to me. Some “crap” always falls to the floor when dusting so you get it when you vaccum.
I dust first then vaccum. Sometimes I dust again. We have glass inserts in our tables. They always look dusty. At times I have the OCD thing going on. I’m not the clean freak but I do like order and things in their proper places.
I only dust very rarely! I vaccum every other day because we have 2 hairy, dirty dogs!
Like mssc said-clean the air ducts. Our vents had a layer of dust on it and when I would wipe it, the next day it would have a layer again! The maintance guy told me that it’s because we needed a new air filter (I think it is called) and they need to be changed every few months!! Here we had the same one for a YEAR!! Yuck, huh?
I vaccum much more than I dust, but when I do both, I dust first.
Seems to me vaccum first then dust. But how would I know? I seldom do either. LOL.
I usually use the vacuum dusting brush tool for the dusting…