Quick Answer: Start by dusting with a Swiffer (go extendable so you’re not bending over) or a vacuum with a brush attachment for heavier buildup. Mix a gentle cleaner, Blue Dawn for painted baseboards or Murphy Oil Soap for wood, using just a little since both are concentrated. Then clean with the three-towel system (clean, rinse, dry) either on your hands and knees, on a flat mop, or on a broom with a towel rubber-banded to it. Tackle scuffs with a melamine sponge or a baking soda paste, and do a full clean about twice a year while dusting monthly.
Cleaning your baseboards can be a big job, and let’s be real, it’s sometimes the last thing you want to clean. So let me show you a few ways to make it faster and easier on your body. Here’s the best way to get your baseboards clean.
Tools You Will Need
You can shop all my favorite cleaning tools and supplies here: 👇Amazon Storefront
Start by Dusting
The first step is always to dust the baseboards, and the tool I reach for depends on how dirty they are. For a quick dust when they aren’t too bad, a Swiffer duster works great, picking up the dust and locking it inside instead of spreading it around. One quick tip: get the extendable pole version so you can stand up and dust without bending over, and the larger one even has two Swiffer heads for better coverage.
If they’re very dirty with heavy buildup along the edges, switch to a vacuum with a brush attachment. The vacuum sucks all that dust up so you’re not burning through Swiffer heads, and the brush loosens the dust as you go. This is especially helpful in the kitchen, where baseboards can get greasy and sticky. Use a hose attachment long enough that you don’t have to bend over, because you’ll notice a theme throughout this whole job: the goal is to make it as easy as possible on your body.
Related Blog Post: The Best Way to Dust Your Home
Mix the Right Cleaner
The cleaner you use depends on the type of baseboards. For painted baseboards, I like simple Blue Dawn dish soap, and for wood, I use Murphy Oil Soap. The important thing to remember with both is that they’re very concentrated, so a little goes a long way. When I use the Dawn, I fill a bucket with a gallon or two of warm water and add just a few squirts. For the Murphy Oil Soap, about a capful is plenty. If you use too much, it can dry on the surface and get sticky, which makes your baseboards attract dirt and get dirty faster. Don’t worry though, the next steps show you exactly how to prevent that.
There are a ton of baseboard cleaning tricks out there, and I’ve tried just about all of them. I’ve boiled it down to three that actually work. The first is the classic, the way my grandma taught me years ago: on your hands and knees with the three-towel system. Take your first towel, dip it in the cleaning solution, wring it out well so it isn’t dripping, and clean the baseboards, paying special attention to any grooves or buildup so you give those a good scrub. Then grab a second towel, dip it in a bucket of water only, wring it out, and wipe the baseboard again to rinse away any soap, because leftover soap dries sticky and attracts dirt. Finish with a third dry microfiber towel to wipe everything dry so you don’t leave moisture or streaks behind, leaving a pristine finish.
Now, I told you this would be quick and easy, and here I am saying to crawl around on your hands and knees. I get it. But this is a classic for a reason, it really works, and I don’t use it on the whole house. I save it for the areas that are especially dirty, like greasy kitchen baseboards that need a good detailed scrub.
The second method is much faster and far easier on your body: a microfiber flat mop. I still use the three-towel approach, but instead of towels I use three flat mop heads. Take the first head, dip it in the cleaning solution, wring it out well, put it on the flat mop, and run it up and down your baseboards. The best part is you get to stand the whole time, and since the flat mop head is about the same size as your baseboard, you get great coverage and clean much faster.
Then swap to a second head dipped in water only to rinse, wrung out well, and run it along the baseboards. Finish with a third head to dry everything. Standing up the entire time is exactly why I love this method, because any way to clean smarter, faster, and easier on your body is a win in my book.
Related Blog Post: How to Clean Your Walls the Right Way
The third method is a hybrid of the first two, and I’ll be honest, it’s a hack I saw online years ago and doubted until I tried it. All you need is a microfiber cleaning towel, a broom, and a rubber band. Dip the towel in your cleaning solution, wring it out well, lay it over the head of the broom, secure it with the rubber band, and you’re ready to clean.
This works great because you get the reach of a flat mop without needing to buy one. Pretty much everyone has a broom, so if you don’t want to buy a flat mop just for your baseboards, this is a simple, effective way to clean standing up with your cleaning towels.
Removing Scuffs and Marks
You’ll likely run across a few scuffs and marks that don’t come up with regular cleaning, and there are two things I use for those. The first is a melamine sponge, which works great. The second is baking soda mixed with a little water into a loose, runny paste that makes a good scrub for lifting marks off the surface.
With both of these, you’re using an abrasive, so be careful. Scrubbing too hard, especially on white trim, can remove the finish and leave you needing to repaint. With baking soda, always rinse the surface thoroughly a few times, because any left behind dries with a haze you’ll still see on the baseboard. And anytime you use an abrasive, test a small inconspicuous spot first, and if you have really glossy, shiny trim, I’d skip it, since it can dull the finish.
How Often to Clean Your Baseboards
For me, I do the full clean we covered here about twice a year, usually once in the spring and again in the fall. But I’m dusting or vacuuming them at least once or twice a month so the dust doesn’t build up. Baseboards are little ledges, which makes them the perfect place for dust to settle and become a problem, so keeping up with a quick dusting keeps them cleaner much longer. If I notice a spot that needs a little extra attention during the year, I just run a damp flat mop across it to clean it up fast.
One last tip: that same three-towel system, whether with towels or a flat mop, is exactly what I use on doors, window casings, and the trim around doors. So when I have everything out anyway, I like to do all of it at once so the whole space gets clean together.
Related Blog Post: The Best Way to Clean Wood Kitchen Cabinets
