We’re going to show 6 ways you could try cleaning your baseboards this weekend (or whenever it’s convenient for you). Some of these tricks are weird, some easy, some very thorough, and some you may never have thought of before – but one might be a fit for your cleaning style!
Our best advice: Get the family involved to make this task go faster. So how often should you tackle this task? It really depends on your needs. Homes with lots of fur and hair should consider giving the baseboards a swipe once a week, but if you live solo and keep everything else pretty clean you might be able to get away with doing it once or twice a month.
1. The Magic Eraser Method
Grab a stack of Magic Erasers (or whichever brand you prefer), a bucket of warm, soapy water (or vinegar and water) and simply swipe. Wring the sponge out well before you wipe so you don’t leave too-damp boards to dry. If you don’t have painted baseboards, substitute wood cleaner.
2. The Cleaning Wipes Method
Grab a box of cleaning wipes, and, well, wipe. This is particularly good if you have a small home or not a lot of time. The downside is, any method that uses disposable products is more wasteful than employing reusables.
3. The Dryer Sheet Method
Grab a box of Fabric softener sheets plus a Swiffer and take a swipe of your baseboards. The dryer sheets help coat your baseboards with some dust repelling properties.
4. The Broom Method
If you actually don’t have too terribly grimy baseboards, you might just need a dusting. Make it easier on yourself by using the right tools for the job. Use a mini handheld broom, or, if you don’t have one of those, a clean paint brush (those for edging would work great). If you sweep your baseboards this way, you might want to do it before you vacuum your floors to pick up any hair and dust that gets swept off. And if you’ve got a small enough sweeper attachment with bristles for your vacuum, use that to de-dust your boards.
5. The Sock Method
Step 1: Grab an old sock. Step 2: Place a disposable toilet wand into sock. Step 3: Spray sock with your cleaning liquid of choice (gentle soap, vinegar and water or wood cleaner), and swipe. You’ll probably look a little crazy doing it, but darn if it don’t sound easy (and dare we say fun?) to do.
6. The Most Thorough Method
Credit: Joe Lingeman
We spotted this super thorough baseboard cleaning tutorial on Imperfect Homemaking (and even then it’s still easy to do). If you haven’t cleaned your baseboards in awhile (or ever) you might want to start here, and graduate to some of the easier maintaining methods above in the future. Simply dry brush the dust off, follow up with a warm washcloth (or sponge, or sock) and soap, and then grab some cotton swabs to use in those hard-to-clean corners.