Finding dust in your home is no fun, and it often seems that no matter how much you clean, it keeps coming back.
Dust is made up of all kinds of particles including plant pollen, dead skin cells, and fibers from clothing and paper. When it accumulates, it’s annoying and can wreak havoc on asthma and allergy sufferers. To make matters worse, with dust come dust mites.
While it’s impossible to completely rid your home of dust, here are some easy tips for keeping it at bay.
Change your bedding once a week.
Dust mites love to dwell in sheets, pillows and mattresses. Encasing your mattress and box spring in an allergen-proof cover, in conjunction with washing your bedding once a week, should be enough to keep bug-a-boos at bay.
Keep tidy closets.
Garments stored in closets shed lots of fiber. So unless you want a blast of dust confetti each time you open the closet door, it’s best to store things in garment bags, plastic containers and boxes.
Remove clutter from floors.
Don’t ignore piles of clothing, toys, magazines, books or anything else on the floor. Cleaning around them won’t take care of the dust that has settled in or around them.
Stop using these.
Feather dusters are cute and retro, but they do a horrible job of removing dust. Even if you follow recommendations to stroke the surfaces with the feathers instead of “tickling” them, the dust will fall out of the feathers as you walk through the room. Use your vacuum’s soft-bristled dusting attachment to clean drapes or curtains, mini-blinds, and baseboards. Switch to a damp microfibre cloth for other surfaces and rinse it repeatedly. Both the vacuum and the wet cloth ensure you’re getting rid of the dust, not just moving it around.
Air purifiers.
If you have severe allergies or asthma symptoms, an air purifier can be very beneficial — but that doesn’t mean you can ditch the duster! While they filter dust particles, they don’t take care of dust mites.
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