One of my least favorite household chores is dusting. However, it’s a necessary task for the health and well being of your home and family.
10 years ago, we were moving from our mobile home into a cinderblock home in Florida. As we were moving our entertainment center, there was a layer of dust covering the surface.
Underneath of the entertainment center were gigantic dust bunnies. I was completely embarrassed!
I sheepishly said to the men helping us move, “I don’t like to dust.” One guy said, “Yeah. I can tell!”
This was my wake up call. I knew I needed to dust more often. But how often should a home be dusted?
Let me break this household chore of dusting down for you.
Dust Once a Week
Not everything in your home has to be dusted every single week. You don’t have to spend hours dusting your home. Mostly, you’ll want to dust furniture surfaces.
- desks
- side tables
- dressers
- shelves
- picture frames
- top of refrigerator
- top of stove
- tops of small kitchen appliances on your countertop
- tops of washing machine and dryer
Dust Every Other Week or Monthly
These items in your home don’t have to be dusted every week. However they should be dusted regularly. Decide what works for your home and family.
Either every other week or once a month should be good.
- light fixtrues
- ceiling fans
- window sills
- window blinds and curtains
- under furniture
- baseboards
- change AC vent filter
- wall or floor vent covers
- bathroom fan
- back of kitchen countertops
- door frames and window frames
Dust Quarterly or Yearly
There’s a lot of dust that builds up underneath of your appliances. Every few months or at least once a year, pull out your appliances and dust or vacuum behind and underneath them.
- behind and underneath refrigerator (remember the coils!)
- under the stove
- behind washing machine and dryer
- dryer vent hose
- tops of AC and heating unit
- top of water heater
- inside cabinet shelves and drawers
Dusting Supplies
Here’s a list of some of my favorite dusting supplies. Many of these are my affiliate links. All of them are supplies I personally use and love.
Vacuum
You’ll get rid of a lot of dust by simply vacuuming. Be sure to get a vacuum with a hose attachment for hard to reach spaces.
I have used a Bissell vacuum for years and love it! It works great and is budget friendly. I linked to it on Amazon, but it’s cheaper at Walmart.
All Purpose Dusting Spray
A great way to save time while dusting is to use a spray that can be used on multiple surfaces. I use a Pledge dusting spray that is good to use on electronics, wood, glass, and ceramics.
Microfiber Dusting Cloths
These cloths are my favorite to use for dusting. The microfiber has tiny hooks that grasp onto the dust and pick it up easily.
Microfiber Dusting Wand
This dusting wand is good for dusting ceiling fan blades and above door frames.
I like to use this wand when I don’t want a detailed dusting, but still need to do some simple, quick dusting around my house.
You don’t want to throw your dusting wand in the washing machine to clean it. See how to clean a microfiber dusting wand in this post.
Air Vent Filter
Changing your air vent filter is not what you may typically think about when it comes to dusting.
However, your filters trap dust in the air and need to be changed out either monthly or quarterly. Check your filters instructions to be sure.
Toothbrush
Okay, this may seem weird, but I love using a toothbrush to dust tiny areas. Usually, I use the toothbrush to brush the dust from vent covers and the bathroom fan.
Dryer Vent Hose Brush
The vent hose brush that I used took some time to figure out. But once I did figure out how to use it, I removed so much dust from my dryer hose. It was crazy!