A Dust Free Home

Did you know that the average home can collect over 40 pounds of dust every year? It's crazy to imagine that much dust in our homes but we all know the feeling of cleaning and dusting week after week yet the dust never seems to end.

What Is Dust Exactly?

And where does all that dust even come from? Well, it's not just dirt like you might think. It's actually made up of various things like animal fur and dander, dead skin, decomposing bugs, lint and fibers from clothing, pollen, and other debris that you might track into your house. If you live near a major freeway or other fast moving road you likely even have soot from exhaust and even brake dust that adds to the dusty mess.

Health Issues

A dusty home can lead to a variety of minor and major health issues. The most common will be alergic reactions that lead to sneezing as well as itchy and watery eyes. In more sever cases it can cause asthma symptoms. Anyone who is already sensitive to these conditions will likely be the most sensitive to an accumulation of dust. So it's important to reduce dust in your house, especially if you have children, elderly people, or anyone with any type of breathing conditions.

How To Deal With Dust

You can't eliminate dust and you can't completely stop it from getting into your house so what do you do? Follow our tips below to help keep dust in your home to a minimum and to maintain a healthy living environment.

No Shoes Allowed

Do like we do in Hawaii and don't let outside shoes come into your house in the first place. Ask people to take their shoes off outside and provide them with a pair of indoor slippers (as in the fuzzy kind) or slippahs as well call them (which you'd call flip-flops or thongs). Think about how disgusting outside shoes are because of all the places you walk in any given day. You visit public bathrooms, restaurants, dirty sidewalks, parking lots with nastyness all over them, and just generally filthy places. Why bring that into your home? You'll be blown away at how much cleaner your floors stay too!

Furnace Filters

Routinely changing your air filters is a major step in reducing dust in your house. Furnace / air conditioning (HVAC) filters should be changed every month so set a reminder on your calendar. A basic (cheap) fiberglass filter can collect a lot of dust, but the more expensive pleated variety can trap even more dust which means less floating around your house (and less to collect in your HVAC duct work).

Toss It Or Bag It

Got a bunch of old clothes, plush toys, bedding materials, or other fabric items laying around? These things are all huge sources of dust. The first step is to donate or dispose of these items that you no longer need. Those that you want to keep need to get bagged up or put into plastic containers. Clear containers are the best as they allow you to see what's inside but still keep those loose fibers sealed in and keep other dust from getting in.

Ceiling Fans

Look at your ceiling fan right now, see any dust? Probably not, but now look closer at the leading edge of the fan as well as the top of the blades. They're probably covered in dust. Not only do ceiling fans collect a ton of dust, they also toss it all around your house when you turn them on. Carefully clean the blades monthly.

Avoid Cleaning Chemicals

Did you ever notice how certain surfaces seem to collect dust faster than others? Sometimes this is because of the cleaning chemicals we use on those surfaces. It sounds strange but some cleaning products actually attract more dirt and dust to the surface. Try our Multi Purpose Cleaner instead and you'll not only save money and be much "greener" than with harsh chemicals, you'll also find that surfaces don't attract as much dust when compared to those nasty chemical products.

Vacuum Better

There's actually a technique to vacuuming the right way and mastering it can seriously help with your dust problem. First off, you'll want a vacuum with a "True HEPA" filter on it. Not just HEPA, but True HEPA. One that can capture all of the dust you're sucking up rather than spewing bits of it around your house.

To start, vacuum slowly, several times, and in different directions over each area of your house while making sure to hit those high traffic areas twice a week. Too much work? Consider getting a Roomba to help out (see Roomba 880 Review).

While vacuuming, turn your furnace fan to the "on" position to further help any airborne dust that you stir up to be collected by the HVAC filter. Just remember to put it back to "auto" 10 minutes after you're done. Also, keep your vacuum well maintained and always empty the dust bin or change bags outside.

Clean With Microfibers

Microfiber cleaning cloths and dusters attract and hold dust with an electrostatic-charge so they do a better job of grabbing and holding onto dust. Always go for machine washable microfiber products, don't waste your money on disposables. When washing, never use bleach or fabric softeners on them and let them air dry or that dust attracting quality will soon disappear.

Lose The Carpet

Carpets holds dust and dirt better than anything in your home. Replacing all carpets with hardwood floors, tiles, or laminate flooring will allow you to clean your floors much easier. If that's not an option, be sure to rent a carpet cleaner and clean your carpets every year. They're cheap, easy to use, and you can clean most carpets with just water and vinegar rather than a stinky carpet cleaning solution.

Air Purifier

If dust is still a problem for you, consider buying an air purifier. These often come in two styles with one being the paper filter variety and the other purifying air via an ionic purification process.

If you go with a paper filter model you want one with a True HEPA certification on it but note that these will require HEPA filter replacements over time. On the other side, purifiers that use an ionic process (which is an electronic charge) will often have washable filter elements that collect the dust. Pop them out, rinse them off, dry them, pop them back in and keep on filtering.

Some examples of HEPA models are the Honeywell True HEPA Air Purifier and the GermGuardian AC9200WCA Hi-Performance True HEPA Air Purifier System. On the ionic side, options include the Best Choice Products Ionic Air Purifier / Ozone Ionizer and the Honeywell QuietClean Tower Air Purifier.

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