A THOROUGH TREATMENT once or twice a year is needed for attics and basements to be put in order, swept, and dusted. This is the time to discard the accumulation of worth?less stuff that tends to move toward the opposite poles of the house.



There is a certain glamour to attics, especially old cluttered ones, with their lure of hidden treasure, rare stamps, papers, or antiques. Let's ascend'up steps or ladder?taking the vacuum cleaner along.

THE ATTIC. This is like a moon station, remote and weird; it suffers great extremes of climate, frigid cold in the winter and stifling heat during the summer months. Dust filters down from it as from a distant star to dim the floors and furniture below. Strange objects infest it. Though seldom visited, it seems to have a life of its own because the things you remem?ber distinctly storing in one place will frequently be found in another, or strewn all over the floor. This would be the work of the young, who infiltrate a house everywhere.

THE MAJOR PROBLEM is to rout the dust and achieve order. Here is where you really need your vacuum cleaner, but is there a floor outlet up there? If not, you can use an extension. In this case an ordinary one will do. Or you can have your vacuum cleaner man make one for you to match the cord you have. (If you do not have a vacuum cleaner, brushes and brooms will do.)

CLEANING THE WINDOWS FIRST is a good idea be?cause you will then have more light for sorting and stacking, while using your vacuum brushes to devour the dust.

JUNK IS A FIRE HAZARD. If you have cartons handy, sort it out with the next church rummage sale in mind and get rid of all the worthless stuff you will never get around to using. Be utterly ruthless in this, otherwise things will keep moving down from the attic to litter the rest of the house. Store what you want to keep, carefully, in cardboard boxes and, if you have woolens stored in chest or trunk, examine them for moth damage and make sure that they are well pro?tected with mothballs or para crystals. Directions will be on the box or tin of the insect assassinator you select.

CLUTTER ON THE STAIRS. When you finish, descend carefully, making sure that there is nothing left on the stair?way to constitute a safety hazard. If yours was a winter ascent, you may be wondering about providing insulation up there. If summer, you could be thinking of the advantages of an attic ventilating fan. But probably you visited the upper reaches of your house in the spring or fall. In the Pluto-ish region under the house, temperatures are more equable than in the attic. If summer has begun it is really nice and cool.

From this article we have learned some useful tips on cleaning the basements. Swept and dust the attics and basements or vacuum cleaned at least twice a year. Clean the window first is the good idea. Get rid of the junks to give more space for storage of other things which you don't use anymore.