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You can't call it clean until you've edged!

Spring cleaning is more than just washing windows and vacuuming curtains (although it certainly is a part of it). It’s the little stuff that counts. Yes, just like God and the Devil, cleaning, too, is in the details.

Everyone knows that Spring cleaning involves moving furniture and cleaning behind refrigerators and washing porches. But, to really get your clean going, it’s important to attend to those little details that detract from your house being truly clean.

What details are these? These are all those edges around the house. From the ceiling corners to ceiling fans, dirt and dust finds a way to accumulate on edges. Yes, even the tops of doors and door trim collect dust.

If you have paneled doors, such as a Colonial style six-panel, each little bottom edge of each panel will collect dust. And attending to these are the kinds of cleaning details makes the difference in cleaning.

So, look to the edge when you are cleaning the house this year. You’re sure to be rewarded with lots of dust on your cleaning cloth. And, you’ll see a little extra sparkle that you may not have seen there last year!

WARNING: Be prepared with extra vacuum bags! There’s going to be a lot of vacuuming going on and you might need an extra bag or two!

Attack the panels on all the doors in your house.
The small brush attachment on your vacuum is invaluable for reaching into window sills and around door trim. If the dust is greasy and won’t vacuum up easily, spray with a cleaner such as 409 and then wipe the panels clean. Then, vacuum doors tops and all around trim and baseboards.

Go after edges of picture frames and lampshades.
Use the brush tool on your vacuum to vacuum lampshades, furniture, and picture frames.

Go to the corners of the ceiling.
Yes, the edges of the ceiling collect and enormous amount of cobwebs and dust – especially if you have tall ceilings. Put a large dust rag over a broom and sweep the edges where the walls meet the ceilings.

Work the edges of the carpet.
This is where all the stuff that was once in the middle of the carpet migrates to. If you never use the crevice tool on your vacuum to run around the corners of the room to vacuum where the carpet meets the baseboard, I guarantee you are missing a lot of debris! So, don’t forget to edge that carpet.

Empty shelves and make them 100% dust free.
Shelves, especially open ones, are one of the worst collectors of dust. Take items off the shelf and re-evaluate whether you want to keep them before putting them back on the shelf. Then, once all the items are back up, consider covering the shelves with doors or glass or some other way to block the shelves from collecting more dust.

Vacuum blinds and shutters.
Dust REALLY accumulates on the blinds and shutters in a house, so attack these areas with the brush attachment on your vacuum.

Clean the edges of ceiling fans.
The edges of ceiling fans gather tons of dust as they turn through the air. Make sure edges – and blade tops -- are dust free.

Vacuum the edges of furniture.
This includes the edges of bed headboards that accumulate all kinds of dust on the back side and may be responsible for that sudden stuffy nose you get every time you get into bed.

It can also be on the little edges of wood furniture. Rather than just dusting the large flat sides of furniture, really get into those carved details to make sure the dust lurking in there doesn’t stand a chance against your dust rag!