What do you use for dusting around the house?

[RetiredHappy]

I find that Swiffer moves dust around too much for me. It is fine for thick dust. When you are looking at a fine layer of dust and want the surface to be completely dust-free, Swiffer does not remove all the dust.

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

Mr. Tightwad pays for a cleaning lady? Hmm.

$350 worth.

Every couple of years I hire one. The place needs it.

 

[rk911]

Bi-weekly housekeeper or me with a very, very moist cloth.

 

[jollystomper]

DW and I were also raised as Pledge children . Since marrying, rare is the time there has not been a spray can of Pledge in the house. But we also use Orange Glo and Swiffer.

DW has dust allergies and hires two teenage girls a couple of times a month to do the "easy" dusting. I will do the more infrequent "heavy duty" dusting. I try to do these on days DW will be out of the house most of the time. This was another household skill my parents taught all of their children (why hire anyone when you have 7 kids for labor ?), which added to my "magnetism" during my bachelor days .

 

[skipro33]

For me, I approach cleaning methodically. I start high and work my way down, so any dust that does get airborne falls to a lower level that is cleaned later. The final clean is a mop and vac of the floor. I use a robo mop n vac daily, every day. It takes 1.5 hours to finish and it always finds dirt even if we have been away for a while. But you could eat off our hardwood floors! Dusting is performed daily for 15 minutes and it takes a week to get through the whole house at this pace, meaning the house is dusted weekly. We use Swiffer extra duty that have two sides.
We started this when we built our new house, so there has never been any real accumulated dirt or dust anywhere. The most difficult to me is dusting the books and book shelves.

 

[Koolau]

Cover all surfaces with junk and ignore the dust.

 

[hesperus]

Haha yeah, I’ve tried all those sprays too . I mostly just grab a microfiber duster now, kinda lazy but it gets the job done without making stuff sticky.

 

[FIREd]

For dry dusting, I had been using a Swiffer duster for years but I now find it to be an expensive and wasteful option. So I switched to a good old feather duster and it works just as well. For wet dusting, I use a damp microfiber cloth. While I like the smell of pledge, I don’t like the residue it leaves on my furniture.

 

[Koolau]

For dry dusting, I had been using a Swiffer duster for years but I now find it to be an expensive and wasteful option. So I switched to a good old feather duster and it works just as well. For wet dusting, I use a damp microfiber cloth. While I like the smell of pledge, I don’t like the residue it leaves on my furniture.

How does the feather duster w*rk. Does it (as I suspect) push the dust onto the floor where the Vac (Shark in our case) picks it up?

 

[Aerides]

The swiffer duster wands (not the floor thing, but I do have that too). They are great, but you have to be regular, and use when dust is barely there. More maintenance than deep clean. Get the big box at costco when on sale can't go wrong.

Once you have a lot of dust, you need to go with damp something or endust.

 

[FIREd]

How does the feather duster w*rk. Does it (as I suspect) push the dust onto the floor where the Vac (Shark in our case) picks it up?

Some of the dust is pushed onto the floor (larger dust particles mostly) but the feather duster traps a fair bit of dust as well. I shake it vigorously outside after dusting each room and a cloud of dust comes off the duster every time. It works best if used regularly (light dusting jobs) and there is a technique to it - dust by using slow sweeping motions to avoid sending the dust flying everywhere.

 

[FlaGator]

Having spent many years in dry and dusty Phoenix and almost as many in humid and biologically-active Florida, my preventive advice is:
-The better your windows, the less dust
-Higher MERV filters help, and not just a little
-Don't open the doors/windows, no matter how "nice the weather is". In AZ the dust (and nasty pollen in the spring) gets in, in FL it's year-round pollen, rotting plant matter, humidity =>50%, and bugs you can't see, but don't want in your house.

Once it's in the house, Windex and micro-fiber cloth seems to be the best at capturing it instead of relocating it

 

[meleana]

I use a Swiffer duster with a long expandable handle to reach things and limit some bending since I have a bad back. I spray it with a little water. That's it.

 

[Sue J]

I like the Swiffers and I also use a microfiber cloth. I like empty surfaces that can be easily dusted. But DH is clutter blind. He puts things down instead of putting them away. And then he just doesn’t see it. So it makes it hard to do dusting on a regular basis. Or vacuuming.

I have few Lego Botanicals that I like to dust using a small, soft paintbrush.

One of my mantras…”It’s a dusty planet.”

 

[Koolau]

One of the advantages of age-related diminished sight is that I don't see dust like I used to. Macro-wise, everything is clean "enough." I don't put on my glasses and then go inspect to see if everything is clean micro-wise.

 

[MarieIG]

I use a cloth: DH uses Swiffers. We also have an air filter.

DF used to wear cotton T-shirts. If they got a hole, DM would turn them into dust rags. That used to drive DF crazy as he thought there was nothing wrong with wearing a T-shirt with a few holes to do work around the house or yard - but - he eventually had to leave the house so never successful at stopping her. (They did make good dust rags.)

 

[Retired Expat]

Sniffer, vacuum, damp cloth. Ionizing Hepa air filter unit to reduce the amount of dust in the first place. And it is a constant battle! Oh and get rid of any pets and extra people living in the home!

 

[Koolau]

Sniffer, vacuum, damp cloth. Ionizing Hepa air filter unit to reduce the amount of dust in the first place. And it is a constant battle! Oh and get rid of any pets and extra people living in the home!

Yeah, we're doomed! We don't have AC or heat, so there are no "forced-air" devices capable of using a filter system. On warm days, every window is open as well as our front door. Trades blow at 10 to 30 miles/hour and seem to carry volcanic grit from the mountains behind us. So we get fresh deposits all the time. The floor is pretty easy with the Shark (think Roomba). Other surfaces are problematic. BUT we have no pets!! I recall, back in the pets-days, the vacuum was always half filled with pet hair.

Just one of the "issues" of Island life - there will be dust. Get used to it. Get over it.

 

[MarieIG]

Sniffer, vacuum, damp cloth. Ionizing Hepa air filter unit to reduce the amount of dust in the first place. And it is a constant battle! Oh and get rid of any pets and extra people living in the home!

DH uses a vacuum and carpet cleaner for the carpets, and a Swiffer and vacuum for the non-carpeted floors.

 

[Jeb-NY]

When you die you turn back to dust, I'm afraid to dust because I may be disturbing someone I once knew.

 

[Koolau]

When you die you turn back to dust, I'm afraid to dust because I may be disturbing someone I once knew.

Voilà! Reason 101 for why we don't need to dust!!

 

[Mr_Pink]

Basic defense: We installed an electrostatic air filter off of the HVAC in the attic. We also run Coway air filters and change the main air handler filter often (I get them by the dozen from Amazon). Active defense: Swiffersor Swiffer mop device but using damp microfiber cloths.

 

[ls99]

Depends.
If highly visible and am inclined, swiffer.
If not too visible, eventually need to move something that is in the area, then use amicrofiber glove. Which goes in the wash macine, used as hamper, when full add the cleaning stuff and push Go button.

 

[aja8888]

Hmmm..."dust".....I'll have to look into that soon. (single life these days).

 

[Buckeye]

Swiffer. I use them for the floor, baseboards, furniture and anything else that looks like it is dusty.

I like using a Swiffer because it gets into the nooks and crannies of irregular shaped items without having to pick them up. We get the big box at Costco for a good price.