Cut Your Cleaning Time In Half...More than Half

Have you ever gone in a store with tons of knick knacks or jewelry or little display items and wondered why it wasn't dusty in there? I know there are plenty of dusty stores...but some aren't and why is that?

It's because of the featherdusters. When I used to vacuum, I would take each of my knick knacks off the shelf or table or whatever surface, vacuum the item and then vacuum the surface and move on to the next piece or area. It's no wonder that it took me about three hours to vacuum my house. There had to be another way.

That's when I met my Swedish friend. She used to clean her house...it was bigger than ours...in half the time it took me to clean mine. Granted, she didn't have a lot of knick knacks....but, she did have a lot of surfaces! So what was I doing wrong? What was she doing that I wasn't doing?

It's because of the featherdusters. After the third time she told me this, I decided to get one...now, not just any one will do. It has to be a rather expensive, or what I deemed to be expensive when it comes to cleaning supplies...duster out of ostrich feathers. Something about the static electricity and holding power or something.

And one day, she showed me how to use it...in all of two minutes. Start at the top of the room and work your way around in concentric circles. Yes, there really are cobwebs in the corners of your rooms...you just didn't see them. As you get halfway around a room, lightly tap the edge of the duster handle on the edge of your shoe...down low, almost at floor level. The concept being...the dust will fall down to the carpet. After you dust that room, it gets vacuumed.

I take it one step further...which does take a little longer, but I don't care cause I like to see the dust fly...I take the fully loaded duster outside..making sure there isn't an open window or door...and beat the handle against the side of the house or my hand...then back inside and repeat. About once a month, I'll take furniture oil and shine up all the wood furniture, but other than that, the house at least looks dust free.

One of these days when we retire somewhere nice...I'm going to talk my husband into spending extra money on a whole house filter...can you imagine how much better the dust situation would be then? What do you do to keep your house dust free?