October 2, 2020
How to Simplify Dusting
Dusting and furniture care may or not be on your radar, but if you have furniture and woodwork in your home, you can benefit from putting together a bucket or caddy with some products and tools that you will need at some point. I enjoy taking good care of furniture and woodwork – it makes your home look better and most definitely will make your furniture last longer.
I keep my furniture and dusting caddy in my cleaning closet. It’s easily accessible and holds just about everything I ever need for doing a little furniture polishing and maintenance.
I keep my weekly dusting essentials in the bucket – I like having everything at the ready for Tuesday (Tuesday is dusting day) and I’ve found that keeping it all in one place is convenient and keeps me from wasting time looking for supplies and tools.
Why do I dust on Tuesdays?
Dusting should always come before vacuuming because you are whipping up dust as you dust and you want to be able to vacuum the dust up. New to the Clean Mama Cleaning Routine? Go here. Curious what products I use? Go here.
3 Tips to Keep Up with the Dust
- Dusting consistently is key to keeping up with the dusting. I find that weekly dusting works for this – if I see a little dust on a table during the week I either ignore it or do a quick wipe down.
What’s my quick-clean dusting method?
- Dust all the flat surfaces, lifting up and removing items as you go. If you spot something that needs to be put elsewhere or tossed out, put it in a basket and deal with it later today.
- Work quickly and eliminate distractions to complete this dusting adventure.
- Once you’ve conquered one room, move to the next, and so on. Finish on the main level of your home with a top-to-bottom, left-to-right approach.
For weekly dusting, I simply use a microfiber duster and quickly move through the house dusting each and every surface. When surfaces need a little more cleaning and polishing (every month or so), I use my Clean Mama Home Utility microfiber cloth with a dusting and cleaning spray. (My favorite is Better Life Naturally Dust Defying Wood Polish). You can also see my weekly dusting must-haves on my Around the House page on the blog – I detail some favorites for cleaning by day of the week and provide links for products as well.
These products are great for polishing furniture, covering up scratches, and making worn wood shine. I keep them in the caddy so I can use them as necessary – if I’m dusting and see a scratch, I’ll correct it on the spot in lieu of waiting for another time.
- mDesign Caddy with Wood Handle or Clean Mama Home Cleaning Bucket
- Microfiber Cloth (traps the dust, lint free, wash and reuse over and over)
- Rejuvenate Furniture Repair Markers – these work great on cabinets!
- lint roller for dusting lampshades
- Van’s Furniture Polish
- Natural Beeswax Polish (I use this on our kitchen table – it was recommended by Crate+Barrel when we purchased the table – I love it!)
There you have it – a quick and easy bucket of favorite weekly and as-needed tools to dust and shine every inch of the home. What’s your favorite dusting product or tool?
Maria Lawson Says
Love to use Walnut oil to bring back shine and polish scratches on wood.
Penny Says
I bought some microfiber cloths. I do like them, but washing them is difficult, they try to become one with whatever else is in the load. Surely you don’t wash these by hand, the tag says they can be washed, any tips? The last load I washed them with my towels, which includes scrubbies I use to wash dishes, they ate those, literally, I had pieces of scrubbies that tore off and stayed on the cloths when I tried separating them and it required muscle! The load I tried prior to that was with clothes, I had a ball of socks all attached to my microfiber cloth. I’ve got to be doing something wrong here, please help!
Janet Says
I have had to start just washing them alone. So I have about 20 or more microfiber cloths and have a little bucket I keep dirty ones in. And I wash them alone about once every two weeks or so on the smallest load my wash machine will do. Then air dry them in dryer. I have 2 different colors if cloths and I use one color for bathrooms and one color for everything else. I also keep some spray and a few in each bathroom for a quick wiping if needed.
Vicki Says
What’s the difference between the furniture polish and the bees wax? Wondering if I need both….
b r Says
Post authorThe bees wax is stronger and more waxy – I like using both 🙂
K Says
The link to beeswax goes to something else…can you provide a link to the beeswax? Thanks 🙂
Peggie Says
Do you make sure to dust windows, doors and fans? Or just surface items?
b r Says
Post authorI dust surfaces on Tuesdays and work through the other items on my Rotating Cleaning Tasks.
Becca Says
The link to the bees wax is pulling up latex balloons – do you have a name or different link to find it? Thank you for sharing!
b r Says
Post authorAmazon must not sell it anymore – I updated the link in the post and it’s here:
http://bit.ly/2WayZzH
Susan Says
I love your microfiber cloths. They work better than any others I’ve tried. They are the only ones that will truly clean and polish my stainless steel refrigerator.
b r Says
Post authorSo glad to hear it Susan!
Sherrie Says
I have so many pictures and things on tables it makes dusting a pain! I forgot about dusting dressers, doors and cabinets! Holy cow there is a lot to this
Parrish in Alabama Says
Oh how I wish the M design caddy was metal. I fell in love with it ( really liked the wood handle). I’ve never found a caddy that I really like using….
Lynn Says
I hate dusting blinds. I have the blind duster in the photo of the caddy, my blinds are so large, going around the strings makes for slow going. Any tips on how to get through dusting blinds quickly?
I have found another great use for the blind dusting tool though, I use it to dust my baseboard heaters. It fits between the slats nicely when nothing else would and I got a ton of dust out the heater in my bathroom!
Aimee Says
I want some free printables but I am denied. I’ve sent you my email several times but have not been ok’d yet. Hope you get this!
Clean Mama Says
Post authorIt’s because you have a RR email address – they bounce 🙁
Debra F Says
Just found and love your motivating IG and site. About washing the microfiber cloths, I place mine in a mesh nylon washing bag then wash and dry them with the white towels that bleach has been added. Works like a charm. Otherwise, I handwash them in hot water with dish detergent and disinfectant, rinse them well, then line dry.
Sally Dahlstrom Says
Do you ever use Better Life Naturally Dust Defying Wood Polish on
(dark wood baseboards?
Clean Mama Says
Post authorI have used it on dark wood steps/trim with success!