I’ve been a neat and clean freak all of my adult life. I admit, when I was a teenager, I could of cared less about cleaning but once I got married and got my own home…all of that changed. Now I take great pride in keep my home clean, germ-free and well organized.
My home gets very dusty because we’ve been remodeling it for almost 3 years. We are going room to room and gutting each room and building it back up. Dust…well, it’s a problem!
Every two weeks I tackle the cleaning of my ceiling fans. We have three of them here in our home and if I don’t keep up with the cleaning, they get pretty dirty, pretty fast.
Here is how I like to clean my ceiling fans and light fixtures. I alternate between all of these methods depending on how dirty they are and how much time I have to spend cleaning them!
One of my favorite products for cleaning ceiling fans, high light fixtures, tops of cabinets, top of door frames, photo frames, etc. is the Swiffer Dusters. I love how easy it is to use and gets the job done quickly. With that said, it’s not very economical to use because I blow through those replacement duster heads pretty quickly.
My next favorite is my Static Duster which lifts dirt, debris and gets rid of static cling. The dust seems to be attracted to these things and they work quite well. My only issue is that they are hard to clean afterwards and get ugly looking quickly. While I like to use a Static Duster…my mother swears by her Feather Duster when cleaning ceiling fans. To each their own!
A few times a year I will fill up a spray bottle with 75% water and 25% white vinegar. I will spray this mixture onto my cleaning cloth and wipe down all of my ceiling fans. It really does a decent job at getting the blades and glass light fixtures clean. You do need to be careful to NOT spray it directly onto your unit because you don’t want water/liquid getting into the motor or electrical parts. Once I’ve cleaned it…I then use a microfiber cleaning cloth to dry things down.
If we’ve all been sick with a nasty virus or flu…I will use a few of those handy disinfecting cleaning wipes to wipe down the blades and light globes on our ceiling fans. Germs and bacteria can be airborne and land all over the place! This is a great way to make sure that I’m killing the germs and not spreading them! After wiping things down…towel dry.
For the most part…I wipe down or just dry dust my light globes. However, as the seasons change (four times a year), I will remove them from the fan and hand wash them in hot & soapy water and towel dry. You would be amazed at how dirty they are, even though they looked clean! My mother puts her light globes on the top rack in her dishwasher and runs them through on the lightest setting and air dries them. Whatever works for you!
Many people overlook cleaning their ceiling fans on a regular basis. Just like the other items in your home…they need a regular cleaning too! Find what works for you and incorporate it into your routine housework schedule.
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This is nice to know hard to clean the ceiling fan
allways leae dust after i clean it
thanks for the info
I so dread cleaning the fans. Thank you for this post, I never thought of using wipes on the fan blades. I also love the water and vinegar tip. I like to think of myself as a clean freak too and it seems like the more you keep up on everything the easier it is to keep a clean house. I am also a firm believer in everything has its place and everything in its place.
I try to clean fans every season and light globes every month, but do not always get up their to do that. I love disinfectant wipes and microfiber cloths for cleaning.
We were so dumb when we remodeled although there are extensions I guess to do it… we put a ceiling fAN on a story and a half . We took out an upstairs bedroom maybe 20 years ago and have a cathedral ceiling. At the time I liked it, and it was in style now I hate it. I cant even clean the ceiling fan. You would have a fit if you could see how dusty it is. It is in the middle of a room and to get to it you need scaffolding. HA! My husband thought he was clever when he put it in, and I told him please no, but there it is.
You are not kidding about how dirty ceiling fans can get & sometimes we forget about cleaning them! My Mom & I are both disabled & can’t get on ladders, so those extension cleaning things like Swiffer come in handy. Every so often, my brother or his wife will actually get on a ladder & give it a good clean.
I have a trio of neon green static cleaners which I just love. The longest handled one is perfect for my ceiling fan. I have a huge dust problem, living so close to busways, highways, and airports, so it’s a never ending battle. I love every cleaning article you post since it motivates me to keep fighting the dust and grime! Happy Valentine’s Day!
I dust the blades of my fan weekly. It is amazing how much dust accumulates there! The swiffer duster is perfect for the blades!
This is one cleaning job I don’t have to do since I don’t have any ceiling fans. Good tips for those who do.
Ceiling fans are dust collectors and definitely need to be cleaned. I’ve started using the sock on your hand and vinegar but I really like the dusters. It can be a pain to get up that high and takes time to make sure I put down newspapers or towels to collect any dust that flies off. Stay healthy and happy cleaning.