Household fans can get extremely dirty as dust builds up on the blades and other parts of the fan. If you don't clean fans, they can spread dust through the air which is quite counter-productive when the whole idea is to keep the home dust and dirt free! Dirty fans can also cause eye irritation and infection. If you incorporate cleaning your fans in with your regular weekly household chores, keeping ceiling and table fans clean can be quick and easy.
You could either clean all of the fans in your home on a certain day of the week or just clean the fans in the room that you're already cleaning. If you clean your household fans once a week, it's just a quick matter of wiping dust with a dry cloth and then giving the fans a quick wipe with a damp cloth before going over them once more quickly with a clean cloth to dry them. But, if you wait a long time before cleaning fans, the job is much messier.
Dust tends to pile up on the blades of ceiling fans and then dirty the ceiling when the fan is turned on. If you have an older style textured, or popcorn ceiling it can be very difficult to remove trapped-in dirt. In some cases, a rolling type of lint brush may work. When cleaning ceiling fans that haven't been cleaned for a long time, it's a good idea to have a plastic bag in one hand and then push the built-up dust from the fan blade into the bag using a paper towel in your other hand. Then, a thorough washing of the blades and other outer areas of the fan will be needed.
Table and standing types of household fans can usually be easily taken apart to be cleaned. An old toothbrush can be used to remove dust from grills and small areas near the motor. Dirty fans can irritate eyes and in some cases the dirt blown around from fans can cause conjunctivitis, or eye infections, so regularly cleaning all household fans is a good idea.