Not my favorite of cleaning chores it nevertheless does make a difference if they are done. I’m talking about baseboards. Those things at the bottom of your wall right where the wall and the floor meet. Catchers of all dust and debris in your home.

Not pretty.

If they had been a nice dark wood or darker color I would have ignored them a bit more but since they tend to stand out glaringly I knew I had to take action.

Rather than getting down on my hands and knees every time I cleaned a room I decided the best approach was Baseboard Days or days where the only cleaning done in my home (besides daily chores) would be the baseboards.

Since I’m in a 3 bedroom home with stairs (steep ones at that) breaking the cleaning of the baseboards up into units seemed a better use of my time and then I could combine cleaning the baseboards with other cleaning chores.

For example vacuuming the house and cleaning the baseboards of the master bedroom, master bathroom and hallway on one day. Doing a bit of organizing in the home office and cleaning the baseboards in there, a kid’s bedroom and the kid’s bathroom. These are just examples.

So now go look at yours. Do they need a bit of touching up?

Cleaning Tips for Baseboards:

• You may have noticed that the baseboards in your bathroom seem dirtier than most. That is mainly due to the amount of fabric getting thrown and tossed in the bathroom. There is lint from your towels, threads from your clothing, and the fact that besides the kitchen, your bathroom is the busiest room in the house.
• Dust first.  You may be able to keep the sufficiently clean for longer periods of time if when you vacuum you use your brush attachment and also go over the baseboards.
• Solution. Use a mild solution to clean the baseboards and make sure you wring your cloth out well before wiping. Too much liquid can warp your wood or cause water stains on your paint.
• Schedule:  There are two ways to tackle the baseboards that I can think of.
  • One.  Clean them when you deep clean the room. If you are on a schedule where you deep clean an area of your home one week each month then adding baseboards to the list means you will clean the baseboards of your whole house each month.  
  • Two. Clean all the baseboards in your home once a month. Or once every few months. Schedule a day or two for this and focus only on baseboards (during the time you have blocked out for activities such as this).