You've Been Vacuuming Wrong Your Whole Life and No One Told You

CNET

06-05-2025

Vacuuming has never exactly been a thrill. It's loud, awkward to drag around and somehow always more effort than you expect. Still, it's one of those chores that really matter. Sure, it makes your floors look cleaner, but more importantly, it helps improve the air you breathe by picking up dust, dirt and pet hair that build up fast. And if you use one of the best cordless vacuums to get the job done, you can rest assured you're cleaning up much of the dirt trapped in your carpet and on your floor.
Regular vacuuming cuts down on allergens and gives your space a cleaner, healthier feel overall. A good cordless vacuum definitely makes the job easier, but let's be honest -- it's still not anyone's idea of a fun afternoon.
We've done a lot of in-depth hands-on and lab testing to ensure we are recommending the best cordless, robot and budget vacuums on the market, but the best tool isn't going to help much if we don't use it properly.
If you combine our top vacuums with these professional cleaning tips, you're sure to have tidy floors in no time.
The right way to vacuum clean your home
CNET
Those short, quick, back-and-forth motions that the majority of people do when vacuuming isn't sucking up all that dust, dirt and lint that is embedded into carpets and floors. The more efficient way to vacuum -- and the way professional cleaners do it -- is to go forward, in structured rows.
You'll first start by vacuuming a row of your carpeting in one direction, wall-to-wall. This first pass should be against the nap of the carpet to make it fluff up and to make the deeply embedded dirt come up easier. A way to tell if you're vacuuming against the nap correctly is if the carpet piles stick up or look a little darker.
Next, push the vacuum back over that strip you just vacuumed. This will lay the carpet back down flat and will suck up the rest of the dirt you missed on the first pass. Once you're back to your starting place, vacuum another strip right next to the first, overlapping slightly. Keep repeating this routine until the whole room has been vacuumed thoroughly.
Once you've completed that step, go perpendicular: If you were vacuuming north to south the first time, vacuum east to west on this second pass. If you think of your floor as a grid, you're going to want to pass over each square both ways for the best results.
Yes, it's extra work and maybe it even seems like overkill, but this method ensures you get every bit of dirt and debris, which will keep your carpet cleaner and looking newer for longer.
For more helpful vacuum info, explore the best Roomba alternatives to keep your floors clean and the best robot vacuum deals available now.
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FAQs
How many times should I repeat this technique?
You should repeat this technique as many times as it takes to vacuum overlapping strips across the entire room. Then, you should start the same process vacuuming the floor in the direction perpendicular to when you started.