Where To Start When You're Cleaning Your Living Room

Oftentimes, when we find the time to clean at all, it's done in a rush. Perhaps this is the case for you — maybe you find yourself darting from one task to another without thinking about the order. However, while it may not seem very important, your cleaning to-do list should be completed in a certain sequence, especially in one of the busiest rooms in the home, the living room.

Before you begin cleaning anything, Simply Spotless recommends simply tidying up your space by throwing away trash, straightening up pillows and blankets on the couch, and putting miscellaneous items back where they belong. This may also be a good time to disinfect things you use every single day, such as remote controls and door knobs, since they're probably covered in germs. Once this has been completed, the cleaning process, which involves chemicals, disinfectants, tools, and possibly even ladders, will be much easier and faster to complete. Below, you'll discover what should be at the top of your living room cleaning list and why, as well as the chores that should follow. 

According to Molly Maid, it's important to start at the very top of your room and move downward. This is because, as you clean, debris and dust will become dislodged and fall onto the floor and other surfaces in your space. Therefore, if you started with the floor, you'd have to vacuum and mop again after wiping down, say, your ceiling fan. If you start at the top, you'll only have to clean everything once, which will save you time and energy.

Zesty Maids has a few recommendations for how to dust your ceiling fan. They recommend using a damp microfiber cloth or the inside of a pillowcase. Again, while you clean the blades, don't worry about falling dust, as this will be removed in later steps. Or, maybe your living room doesn't have a ceiling fan, in which case the highest point may be a light fixture, the top of your window and door trim, or a high-shelving unit. Furthermore, don't forget to remove any cobwebs from the corners of the room.

Once your highest point has been cleaned, you can move downward from there. Therefore, if you started with the ceiling fan or light fixture, next you'd move to the corners and walls, then the window and door trim, then the furniture, and finally you'd reach the floor. Also, remember to have this same mindset when cleaning each piece of furniture, such as a bookcase with many shelves: always begin at the top and move to the bottom.

Home Made Simple says that there are two different ways to tidy up your living room, and they depend upon the amount of time you have. If you only have less than 15 minutes, they suggest simply decluttering and then quickly dusting and vacuuming the floors. If you have more time to spare, they recommend wiping down and dusting every single object in the space, including the surface of the walls and baseboards. Simply Spotless adds that, while the last step is always to clean the floor, begin by vacuuming and then move to mopping, as the vacuum will pick up larger pieces of debris that the mop may not.