Why Dust?

Dust poses a number of concerns for people. Dust can cause allergies and breathing issues for people of any age. Dust is also unattractive and seen as dirty.

What's in Dust?

Dust is composed of human skin cells, pet dander, fibers from fabrics, dirt from outside that has been tract indoors, and dust mite excrement.

What Dusting Tools Work Well?

Vacuum:

Vacuums work well for sucking up dust, hair, crumbs, and other dirt and debris that accumulates in the home. You can also use the vacuum to dust the tops of curtains and fabric furniture. A vacuum with a HEPA filter should be used for this type of dusting because vacuums without the HEPA filter will spew the dust back into the air, defeating the purpose of dusting.

Feather Dusters:

You can purchase feather dusters at almost any store that carries cleaning supplies. Not all feather dusters are equal. The cheap feather dusters tend to fall apart much quicker than the more expensive feather dusters. You will also notice that the dust does not stick as well to the cheap feather dusters as to the more expensive ones. Most feather dusters that I have used just end up pushing the dust around and put the dust back into the air.

Microfiber Cloths:

Microfiber cloths are easy to use and they do a really good job. Microfiber cloths also last a long time because you can wash them many many times before throwing them away. You can use a microfiber on all surfaces, wet or dry. A dry microfiber cloth works well on mirrors, glass lamps, windows, chrome surfaces, and many more. If you dust regularly and you do not allow dust to build up too much between dusting you can easily use microfiber cloths dry to dust flat surfaces such as tables, tv stands, furniture, etc. You can also dampen the cloth and clean more dustier surfaces, rinsing between wipes.

There are many other items you can use to dust such as electrostatic cloths and dusters, paper towel, compressed air, lambs wool dusters, etc. Everyone has their preferences depending on the job at hand. I suggest using what works best for you and try to reuse and reduce as much as possible.