Life Hack: Dusting hacks to save you time and effort around your home

Plus why science says some dust is good for your health too

Cut through dust with these clever tricks

Dusting is one of those jobs that you either love or hate. For some it is a soothing repetitive task that they enjoy, while for others it is a thankless job that comes around too often. If you’re in the latter camp, you’ll be relieved to learn there are some tried and tested tricks to cut back on dusting and make it a much easier chore too.

Dust — a mixture of skin cells, hair, clothing fibres, dead bugs, and more — is both welcome and unwelcome in our home environments. It plays an important role in building children’s immune systems in their first year. A study funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US has shown that infants exposed a wide variety of household bacteria before their first birthday seem less likely to suffer from allergies and asthma.

However it can also carry bacteria and microscopic particles so it is essential to remove dust completely when cleaning, not just move it around and allow it to resettle. The simplest way is to dust with a damp cloth. Use warm soapy water and a cloth — regular or microfibre — to wipe over the surface and collect dust. Once it is cleaned to your satisfaction, wash the cloth as usual so you can repeat the process when you notice dust gathering once more.

#Life Hacks

Life is hard enough without being aware of these simple life hacks. Read on.

If you’re struggling to clean the dust in hard-to-reach, high places, an old pair of socks can be a huge help. Place one sock, ideally a fluffy style one, over the end of a sweeping brush or mop. Use the long handle to reach up and sweep away the dust easily. This can be useful for high shelves, light fixtures and cobwebs near the ceiling. And place on your hand, that fluffy sock will make quick work of vertical or horizontal blinds too. If you don’t have some old socks to use, wrap the end of the brush in a cloth or towel, secure it with elastic and use that instead.

If you use fabric softener sheets in your laundry, keep one aside for some household cleaning too. Among their other uses, their anti-static nature makes them effective at removing dust off with just a wipe. Some people also swear they repel dust from whatever area they’re wiped on, meaning more time between dusting sprees.

Some areas are very tricky to remove dust. if you have a fabric light shade and notice dust collecting on it, you’ll know if can be labour-intensive to wipe and scrub it away. Instead, use a lint roller and run it over the shade. it collects the dust in a fraction of the time.