How Often Should You Vacuum Your Floors?
Vacuuming might suck, but it pays to stick with a schedule
You should vacuum high-traffic areas twice per week, including the living room and stairs.
Low-traffic areas, such as the basement, need less frequent vacuuming, about once per week.
If you have pets that shed, plan to vacuum carpeted areas daily to reduce pet hair.
Regular vacuuming prevents scratches on wood floors and reduces dust and allergens.
If you’re not a fan of vacuuming, you might put it off until you see unsightly piles of dust bunnies. However, getting into a routine and vacuuming the right way doesn’t just help keep your house looking tidier—it can lengthen your floor's life span and improve indoor air quality. Here’s the scoop on how often you should vacuum for a healthy, happy home.
How Often Should You Vacuum?
How often you vacuum your home depends on various factors, but making time to run this appliance over your floors at least once or twice a week is a good starting point. Doing this helps prevent grimy, abrasive particles from causing wear and tear, setting off allergies, and being more challenging to suck up.
Factors That Affect How Often You Should Vacuum
While scheduling weekly suctioning is a good baseline, consider the following factors when determining exactly how often you should vacuum.
Foot Traffic
A bustling family household—with crumb-dropping toddlers and kids dragging dirt through the entryway—will benefit from vacuuming a few times a week. This is especially true in high-traffic spaces, like the living room, hallways, and bedrooms.
To cut your workload, wait a couple of weeks to vacuum the spare room or the dining room you only use on Thanksgiving.
Floor Type
Hardwood, tile, and laminate floorings typically need less vacuuming than carpets and area rugs. Dust and damp debris can bury their way into carpet fibers. When left too long, they become breeding grounds for bacteria and bad odors, and abrasive grit and other particles can wear the pile. Vacuuming in a high-traffic area at least twice weekly and choosing a carpet with a lower pile can help.
You might only have to vacuum hard flooring once weekly to banish dust bunnies. A quick sweep and mop also helps keep the surface and any crevices clean and free from gritty scratches.
Pets
A house with hair- and dander-dropping pets might need vacuuming every two or three days. Daily vacuuming could be necessary to get rid of pet hair from a constantly shedding dog or one who’s always trailing dirt in.
Health Concerns
If anyone in the home has allergies, asthma, or other respiratory issues, vacuuming daily or at least a few times a week is a sensible precaution. The more you can reduce the dust in your home, the better. More frequent vacuuming also makes sense when you have curious, crawling babies who put everything in their mouths.
Research shows that using a vacuum with a HEPA filter can help reduce irritants more effectively.
Time of Year
You might need to boost your vacuuming schedule at certain times of the year. That could include hot, dusty summers when the windows and doors are open, during the spring allergy season, in the fall when pets have their seasonal coat blowout, or in winter when muddy, salt-encrusted boots are being tracked across your floors.
The Worst Time to Vacuum
Where possible, avoid vacuuming after dark. Artificial light can make it harder to see if you’re sucking up all the dirt, and your neighbors might not appreciate the sound of this noisy appliance.
Cost to Vacuum
Given how often you need to vacuum, it’s handy that this chore doesn’t cost anything to tackle. Once you’ve invested in a quality vacuum cleaner, provided you maintain it properly, you shouldn’t have to replace your vacuum for at least 5 to 10 years. The average cost of a mid-range vacuum cleaner is $200 to $600.
DIY vs. Hiring a Pro
Vacuuming is a job most homeowners can tackle. If you hate housework, have a busy schedule, or have mobility concerns, consider hiring a local cleaner to take over this task—and any other essential household cleaning duties. The average cost to hire a cleaner is $175 per visit.
While not always necessary, daily vacuuming can be beneficial, especially in busy households with hairy pets or people with allergies. Just be aware that this frequent cleaning schedule increases flooring and appliance wear and tear. Use the appropriate setting and brushes to go easy on carpet fibers, and regularly maintain your vacuum to increase its life span.
While you might get away with once-monthly vacuuming in rooms you hardly use, it’s not ideal in other parts of your home. Your living spaces will look untidy, and leaving all that dirt lying around is not the most hygienic. Plus, the longer abrasive debris sits on your surfaces, the more chance of scratches or damage to carpet fibers.
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