Making dusting and cleaning easier...

[QueenCat]

I'm good with charts of what I want to do and how often. This part is well-organized. What I need is advice on better tools of the trade. I gave up my monthly housecleaner (my idea, want more travel $). I've bought a steam mop, based on the Hive's recommendations. I'm happy with my vacuums. What needs to be easier is dusting. For the in-betweens, I've been using a Swiffer 360, but I'd like to get away from disposables for this. I HATE cleaning bathrooms and have my son doing them weekly, but he only does an adequate job. I will need to do a more thorough job on this. I'm willing to invest in good quality products. Dh thinks I'll be back to a housekeeping service in three months... I will probably still have them do a deep spring and fall clean...

 

My emphasis is definitely on easier. I'm okay with spending money to get the tools that will make it easiest. 

Edited January 11, 2023 by QueenCat

[Harriet Vane]

For in-between floor dustmopping, get a Bona mop and a few extra terrycloth pads. OR go cheaper and get a generic rectangle dustmop with a removable terrycloth cover (and a few extras)--spray with vinegar, push it around, and call it a day. 

For the kitchen, I will often throw two wash cloths on the floor, spray the area I want to clean, and then just skate around to wipe it down. (Standing ON the wash cloths pushing them with my feet.)

For dusting furniture and such, the cheap option is a wash cloth or old tee shirt sprayed damp with vinegar. Wipe everything down. More expensive but even easier is an ostrich feather duster. 

[QueenCat]

13 minutes ago, Harriet Vane said:

For in-between floor dustmopping, get a Bona mop and a few extra terrycloth pads. OR go cheaper and get a generic rectangle dustmop with a removable terrycloth cover (and a few extras)--spray with vinegar, push it around, and call it a day. 

For the kitchen, I will often throw two wash cloths on the floor, spray the area I want to clean, and then just skate around to wipe it down. (Standing ON the wash cloths pushing them with my feet.)

For dusting furniture and such, the cheap option is a wash cloth or old tee shirt sprayed damp with vinegar. Wipe everything down. More expensive but even easier is an ostrich feather duster. 

 

Not to sound stupid, but what do you mean by dustmopping? The dry mop? I have a Bona on a stick. It doesn't shoot liquids, but has a dry pad attachment. I actually forgot I have that. 

I will need to check out the ostrich feather duster... 

[Miss Tick]

I use a Swiffer and I cut some flannel squares ages ago that I stick on instead of the disposables. My Swiffer has little slotted holes that I can push the flannel in to. When I'm done I shake the mop over the trash, pick off any hair clumps (ewww!) and then toss the piece of flannel in the laundry.

[Carrie12345]

I’m a fan of the OXO microfiber dusters. They’re not miracle workers, but they’re workers!

[Harriet Vane]

21 minutes ago, QueenCat said:

 

Not to sound stupid, but what do you mean by dustmopping? The dry mop? I have a Bona on a stick. It doesn't shoot liquids, but has a dry pad attachment. I actually forgot I have that. 

I will need to check out the ostrich feather duster... 

I find, with wood floors, that they need a damp cloth run over them in between proper mopping. The floors get dusty. 

I used to mop every now and then with a mop and bucket of hot, soapy water. These days, I mostly use a Bona with the spray attachment to clean the floors. 

When I want to be even quicker, when the floor is dusty but not in need of the full major cleaning, I spray a rectangular dry mop with vinegar or with Bona and just push it around quick. Or I do my kitchen floor (tile) with the rags that I push around with my feet.

 

[WildflowerMom]

For dusting surfaces, like dressers and such, I use once-used dryer sheets.    It does seem to help repel.  

[Faith-manor]

I don't know. I have considered torching the house and living in the mini-van camper or on our sailboat so I don't have to dust anymore. My husband thinks this is an extreme reaction. 

[Pawz4me]

To help minimize dust change your HVAC filters frequently. I keep a microfiber dusting rag in each room to encourage me to do quick swipes frequently. For me keeping things under control by doing a little every day is a lot easier than doing major cleans. Frequent damp mopping of hard flooring helps reduce/prevent dust bunnies. Spray mops are good for that. 

[QueenCat]

Just now, Pawz4me said:

To help minimize dust change your HVAC filters frequently. I keep a microfiber dusting rag in each room to encourage me to do quick swipes frequently. For me keeping things under control by doing a little every day is a lot easier than doing major cleans. Frequent damp mopping of hard flooring helps reduce/prevent dust bunnies. Spray mops are good for that. 

We do the filters every 6 weeks. That's based on the frequency suggested by our HVAC tech. 

[QueenCat]

16 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

I don't know. I have considered torching the house and living in the mini-van camper or on our sailboat so I don't have to dust anymore. My husband thinks this is an extreme reaction. 

I'm with you! 

[kbutton]

20 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

I don't know. I have considered torching the house and living in the mini-van camper or on our sailboat so I don't have to dust anymore. My husband thinks this is an extreme reaction. 

Not if your dust is like mine. Our HVAC people talked us into Aprillaire filters, and they are pointless. You can't put a regular filter in the HVAC now--we'd have to have it removed.

It's like it snows in here. It's disgusting, and it honestly makes me not want to clean or pick up anything it's so bad. I can write my name on stuff sometimes in just one day, depending on which room of the house it is (how many vents in the room and how close it is to the main source of heat and A/C). 

I do wonder if we should have ducts cleaned, but we did that when we moved in, so that seems too soon to me. Our other home was dustier than I would've liked, but we had a much less efficient furnace and woodstove for supplementary and backup heat--it was a lot of work to contain ash in the main living area. We used 3M filters, changed frequently, and that method actually cleaned out our ducts itself. We had far less dust there than we do here with our new HVAC.

It makes me crazy.

[KungFuPanda]

The worst vacuum I ever owned came with the best attachment.  It was a telescoping synthetic duster that looked kind of like a boom mic.  When I dust, I periodically vacuum the duster with the hose attachment.  This removes the dust and charges the bristles with static so they attract more dust.  I tossed that vacuum cleaner but I've been using the duster for years.  If you do it frequently you can do a really quick and really crappy job and the dust never builds up and turns to grime.  Once a week is plenty for my house, but my house isn't super dusty.  I've lived places where you would need to do it more frequently.  

[regentrude]

Robot vacuum.
I never thought I wanted or needed one, but with pets and hardwood floors, it's fantastic. It keeps the main floor at a reasonable level of cleanliness, and all you have to do is empty the canister.

[athena1277]

2 hours ago, Miss Tick said:

I use a Swiffer and I cut some flannel squares ages ago that I stick on instead of the disposables. My Swiffer has little slotted holes that I can push the flannel in to. When I'm done I shake the mop over the trash, pick off any hair clumps (ewww!) and then toss the piece of flannel in the laundry.

You can take some old flannel or fleece and sew to to fit a swifter duster and sew on 2-3 extra layers that you cut on the sides into strips, similar to the swifter duster.  It can then be washed in the laundry.  If you don’t care about color, you should be able to by some fabric remnants to use if you don’t have an old tshirt.

[Carol in Cal.]

I grew up using old cloth diapers for dust rags.  They were the best.  They had to be starting to come apart a bit to work the best.  I miss them

[KatieJ]

Norwex dusting cloths and mop system are great, expensive, but great.

 

[QueenCat]

14 hours ago, regentrude said:

Robot vacuum.
I never thought I wanted or needed one, but with pets and hardwood floors, it's fantastic. It keeps the main floor at a reasonable level of cleanliness, and all you have to do is empty the canister.

Ugh... we just sent ours back to Amazon. We bought an Eufy. It was highly rated. Every time it got stuck during the original mapping process, it erased the map & started over. Dh about lost his mind... 

[QueenCat]

13 hours ago, KatieJ said:

Norwex dusting cloths and mop system are great, expensive, but great.

 

I have some Norwex cloths but don't find them to save time/easy. I didn't know they had a mop system. 

[regentrude]

5 minutes ago, QueenCat said:

Ugh... we just sent ours back to Amazon. We bought an Eufy. It was highly rated. Every time it got stuck during the original mapping process, it erased the map & started over. Dh about lost his mind... 

We have a Eufy too. There's one spot where it gets stuck. When I free it and release it in the same spot, it does seem to remember it's map. Of course if I carry it to a different place,  it gets confused. Ours is a simpler one without laser navigation. 

[QueenCat]

32 minutes ago, regentrude said:

We have a Eufy too. There's one spot where it gets stuck. When I free it and release it in the same spot, it does seem to remember it's map. Of course if I carry it to a different place,  it gets confused. Ours is a simpler one without laser navigation. 

Sometimes simpler is better! 

[ktgrok]

For similar to the swiffer dusters (I have the same love/hate relationship you do!) you can try a feather duster. I got a cheaper one that works great reading amazon reviews. 

Or, there are similar ones to swiffer that are fluffy pads that side onto a swiffer handle, but I find them annoying - hard to find the holes to get them on the pad, don't work as well for crevices, etc. 

For a flat surface a microfiber rag or washcloth just barely damp works fine. For the other stuff I still usually use the swiffer ones - especially because they are extendable to reach door frames, top of bookcase, etc. I tell myself I used cloth diapers on the kids, I use dishcloths instead of paper towels most of the time, I earned my disposable swiffer cloths. 

Edited January 12, 2023 by ktgrok

[stephanier.1765]

15 hours ago, Carol in Cal. said:

I grew up using old cloth diapers for dust rags.  They were the best.  They had to be starting to come apart a bit to work the best.  I miss them

They really are the best. I miss my mine too. I have used them for so many things. They are all gone now, though I have no idea where they disappeared to, and I have yet to break down and buy more.  Yesterday, I was trying to decide which t-shirt to sacrifice to use as a dust rag but ended up using a thin dish towel that I rarely use. Still too thick but it worked. I may just have to try this flannel Swiffer idea.