An often neglected area of cleaning is the walls in our homes. If you spend a few minutes every couple of days spot cleaning your walls it makes a big difference in the overall cleanliness of your home.
Kids make great wall cleaners. Give them a soapy wet rag and let them get to work. Don’t forget to get the trouble spots: light switches, door knobs, and wall edges. For tough stains try the magic eraser, but keep them out of reach of children.
Extra tip: Painting with satin or semi-gloss paint makes walls much easier to clean.
Clean Home, Fresh Start is a month long series to help you create a clean and clutter free home. Feel free to join in, follow along, share your tips and encouragement. Let’s all help each other create a peaceful and welcoming home for our families, friends, and ourselves.
Debbie says
This was one of those chores my mom gave to me about once a month while I was growing up – and although our walls never seemed that dirty until I started cleaning them, I appreciate this tip more as a MOM than I did as a kid. =) Light switches, doorknobs and walls are just marked throughout my house way more often than I ever realize – again, until I start wiping them down. It’s a GOOD tip – and I need to go quiet mine down right now…
Tonya says
How do you clean wallpaper? A couple of rooms have wallpaper and if you rub too hard, the pattern/color will come off.
TheHappyHousewife says
I found this website, it might be helpful. http://www.ehow.com/how_4892097_clean-wallpaper.html
The tips seem interesting!
Toni
Missy says
Ugh! This is one thing I ALWAYS forget to do until it is so grimy it is disgusting because by then, you certainly notice it.
Great idea getting the kids to help!
Kristine says
I just gave this task to my son before all the relatives came for Easter. I don’t know if I was more impressed by how much cleaner the house looked, or more grossed out by everything that came off the walls, light switches and doorknobs. Blech!
Ashley says
I am always looking out for “wall gunk” because I have a dog who comes in from outside and always shakes her head/body, getting who-knows-what all over. My whole house (save the kitchen) is painted with flat enamel paint, which looks really nice (if you are not a fan of sheen) and is washable. Magic erasers are great for spot cleaning walls too. I keep a damp rag w/ vinegar solution on it with me while I’m cleaning to wipe any spots on the wall, or to catch cobwebs, etc.
I would also suggest that all trim, doors, windows, and baseboards be painted with oil-based paint. They don’t mark up as easily, and they clean up beautifully when painted with oils. I regularly wipe my baseboards and I’m always amazed what how well the oil paint holds up on the wood compared to latex based paint.
Kim says
I usually do this when I’m chatting on the phone.
Lisa H. says
I used to do this much more frequently than I do now. Good idea about making the kids do it, since they make 99.9% of the mess.
Lana says
I use the swiffer on my grass cloth wallpaper and it is amazing how much dust is collected there. I use a washable microfiber swiffer type mop on the walls, it can be wet and rung out and it washes large areas at a time. Unfortunatedly my kiddos are all grown now and all the jobs fall to me. The house does stay cleaner though.
Nicole says
This might sound funny but, I bought a Shark pocket mop a couple of months ago and tried it on my walls where our dog loves to rub along in the hallway. Wow, it really cleaned up nice and didn’t hurt my paint at all. 🙂