When and How to Dust
Yet another housewifely revelation for this one who is very slowly becoming domestic. I only found out last week that the reason accomplished homemakers do regular dusting is because they had secret knowledge which has been kept from me for 34 years…
Apparently the trick is to do the dusting *before* you can see it. Makes a lot of sense when you think about it. A regular & quick dust in each room will ensure that you never have to tackle the embarassment of unsightly layers of fluffy grey dust on your surfaces especially when an unanticpiated visitor is in your house! How marvellous. Imagine not having the monthly horrors that I have when I realise that every shelf, windowsill and chest of drawers needs to be urgently tackled before a guest writes ‘Clean Me!’ in a prominent place.
According to the very lovely cleaner I USED TO employ the best way for tackling dust is with a barely damp duster cloth.
Squeeze it out so hard that it is practically dry. This then acts like a magnet to all the naughty tiny little particles of (its a bit yucky actually) hair and skin flakes, insect parts, pollen, mold, fungi, lichen, tiny particles of wood, paint, fibers from fabrics such as wool, nylon, rayon, acrylic , plant and vegetable matter, car emissions, heavy hydrocarbon waste from your oil or gas heater, even tiny bits of metal debris from door hinges or any place where metal and friction meet, lots of food waste, and loads of paper fibres instead of just whipping it up back into the air as a dry cloth would.
Absolutely no spray polish is required at all, ever, but occasionally I lovingly rub some old fashioned creamy waxy stuff into the dark wooden furniture we bought back from our Bali honeymoon. It feeds the wood or so I’m told and makes it really shiny.
June 28th, 2008 at 2:08 am
I started using microfibre clothes about 6 months ago and have never looked back. No water needed so useful to keep in the car and I have one in each room so that I can always give things a quick once over without having to go find a duster first.