With more than 90% of household dust coming from microscopic skin particles, it’s little wonder that our homes are often covered in the stuff, but how can you eliminate it and prevent it from recurring?
Get your clothes closets in order:
Closets are a veritable breeding ground for dust, or at least it seems that way when we open the doors and watch the dust swirling around. Tiny fibres from our clothing, bedding and towels get trapped in closets, and while preventing these items from shedding fibres is nigh on impossible, you can, however, make your closets easier to clean.
Try putting items into bags or boxes on shelves, if you can get hold of some clear containers that have lids to keep dust out, but allow you to see what’s inside them, these are ideal.
Keep on top of your laundry:
Bedsheets and pillowcases are certainly items guaranteed to be full of dust, since we have so much skin contact with them for extended periods. Keeping dust to a minimum means washing your sheets and pillowcases at least twice a month, and if you have items like comforters or blankets that are too big to be machine washed, simply take them outside and give them a good beating!
Ensnare the dust particles!
Damp rags or microfibre cloths are much better at trapping dust instead of shifting it from one place to the next, and you will get a great result on surfaces that enable you to use a vacuum cleaner, since they suck the dust directly up. However, suction power alone isn’t enough to get all the dust out of items such as carpets and rugs, so a vacuum cleaner that has a brush (oragitator) attached to the suction part is most effective. Agitators are not so effective for use on wood, tiles or vinyl flooring though.
Filter the air to eliminate the dust particles:
Heating or cooling distribution systems help to control dust by filtering the air, and if you have a good filter system in your home, then this can make a significant difference in reducing dust levels. While filters cannot eliminate dust entirely, they can go a long way to minimizing it and if you replace the filters often enough, this should be an effective way of keeping dust at bay.
Hire a cleaning service:
One way of helping to eliminate dust in your home for good, is to use the services of a professional cleaning company, who will regularly come into your home and give all surfaces a good going over. The cleaner your home is in the first place, the easier it is to maintain, and you may even find that hiring a cleaner to deep clean your home once a month is enough, and means that your cleaning tasks are kept to a weekly minimum.
Dust is a nuisance, but you can keep on top of it if you regularly clean items that are prone to dust, vacuum all flooring surfaces, and minimize any trinkets, ornaments and other objects that attract dust.