One of the bigger jobs in our household is vacuuming. Like many Scandinavian families we remove shoes at the entrance to the house and walk around inside in our slippers, nonetheless with kids and pets and friends coming to play not to mention the garden, dust and dirt soon builds up.
One of the duties we expect our au pairs to do is to vacuum the whole house at least once a week and to sweep the kitchen floor and under the dining table as often as necessary (often every day). While vacuum cleaning sounds pretty easy, our experience has been that several of pur au pairs have not really known how to operate it efficiently and making use of all attachments, so here is perhaps the most banal of posts, dedicated to a quick guide.
Our vacuum cleaner is a solid and easy to use brand of the pull along the floor type., similar to the one in the picture.
Like most vacuum cleaners it comes with a range of attachments designed for different purposes and that should not only ensure a nice clean house but also make your au pair/cleaner’s life a bit easier too.
Ours has different suction settings for different purposes too (curtains, rugs, fitted carpets, furniture and wooden floors as well as a lower noise setting). There is a small window that shows red when it is time to replace the internal bag and which can also indicate blockages.
The standard long flat attachment is used for most floors and can be used brushes down (for the uncarpeted stripped wooden floors) and brushes up on most carpets and rugs.
So let’s break this down into stages.
- Firstly make sure the room you will vacuum is tidy with as little as possible on the floor. Go over the whole area with the wide attachment (shown in photo below), pushing both backwards and forwards. This is particularly important on carpets as only going one way will flatten the fibres trapping dust underneath, you need to go in both directions to pick it all up.
The standard long and wide vacuum cleaning head with adjustable brushes. This will be the part you use most to cover the large areas. - If there are any rugs on the floor make sure to vacuum over the top first and then pick them up and shake outside. Leave to air if possible and vacuum underneath as well. Also vacuum under any furtniture, asking help to move it if necessary.
3. Now it’s time to get the other attachments out.
The long thin tube attachment is designed for getting into the corners and the edges of the floors. It’s also useful for skirting boards, windowsills and those awkward spaces around radiators.
We tend to use it also for cleaning the stairs.
4. The small flat attachment is mostly used for furniture. It is not necessary every week but at least once a month the sofa cushions should be vacuumed and lifted off so that the sofa can vacuumed underneath the cushions to catch all the dust and crumbs that inevitably seem to accumulate.
5. Finally, the small brush attachment is rather useful as a supplement for dusting the house, use this on bookshelves, window sills and other flat surfaces where dust can accumuluate.
You may want to supplement with a damp cloth or duster on occasions to really get a good clean surface.
Make sure that any small items that might accidentally get sucked up into the vacuum cleaner are safely out the way before you start!
6. Repeat these steps for each room and don’t forget to replace the rugs/furniture as necessary as you go along. The kitchen and bathroom also need to be vacuumed and will likely need to be mopped after cleaning at least once a week too.
And there you have it, a nice clean, dust free house.
Don’t forget the obligatory cup of coffee and a biscuit once you’ve finished!
Tips
Found this helpful? We accept tips to help keep the site going
€1.00
The Au Pair's Survival Guide 