Thursday, May 14, 2009

It's Question of Dust

(Props to those who can tell me what song title I am playing off of for my title)

How often do you dust in your house? Or maybe more appropriately, how often SHOULD you dust in your house?

Our house is dust central. We are very dusty here. So dusty in fact that my laptop keeps shutting down due to the fact that it's over heating because of dust...so says my husband.

I know I don't dust as often as I should. There is a sickening layer of the gray/brown stuff gently covering our entertainment center as I type.

It seems to me that we have an innordinate amount of dust and I'm wondering why that is. Our home is an older home and I don't know that the vents have ever been cleaned. Do you think that would help with the dust problem? Has anyone ever had their ducts cleaned? Do you think it's worth it?

You can leave your comments with your finger in the dust. I've got enough.

25 comments:

AW Cake! said...

Woo-hoo! I'm first!
My mother in law just had her ducts cleaned about 3 months ago and they pulled out mounds and mounds of dust bunnies and even some insulation. She did it because she thought her house smelled funny (which it did) and also because her house was always very dusty. So maybe it'll work. Our ducts are only toddlers but my house is always dusty because I have a farm field and a ditch right out my back door...hmm...not sure how to keep the dust down here. Any ideas would be helpful (besides painting the doors and windows shut so no micro-organisms can get in).

tammy said...

We are really dusty here too. I thought it had something to do with living in the desert because even though this house is new, it still gets the dust that our older house got. Luckily I have a little boy who loves to use the feather duster. I just need to remember to look up more often though. My ceiling fans are disgusting.

Depeche Mode - It's a Question of Lust??

Erin said...

Oh yeah. Depeche Mode. I thought of it right away.

Dust is my mortal enemy. But clearly I let him win because my house is covered with it!

Julie said...

My mom's house is always full of dust. It's the dry air you guys have out there... :) We get a bunch of dust here, but that's becuase I never dust, and the electronics draw the dust to them. The rest of the house doesn't look too bad, but the tv's and cabinets they sit on are always covered. lol!

Christa said...

Cleaning the ducts will definately help. We have an older house too and had ours cleaned around 3 years ago. It made a big difference in the amount of dust and the smell. I was actually recently thinking that I wanted to do it again.

I am personally kind of a freak about vacuumin and dusting. Partly because I have dark furniture and dust is very visible on it. It drives me crazy to see. Also, because I fear dust mites. They're nasty little critters that can aggravate asthma, allergies, colds, etc. I vacuum parts of my house every other day and sometimes every day. I've found vacuuming is the best way to keep down dust. I dust some areas around every 3-4 days. Like, if I did it on Thursday, I would do it again on Tuesday. I only dust my bedroom around once a week, but that's just because it's not as visible in there. I get freaked out about the dust mites that can get into my mattress. They eat the dead skin cells you shed and that just creeps me out. So, I always air out my mattress when I change my sheets (I change them once a week because of the mite thing) and I vacuum the mattress every couple of months. Dust is my enemy. You could probably tell that from my very long comment.

Jillybean said...

We're supposed to dust?

Apparently, just ignoring it seems to be working for me.

Kristina P. said...

I use those Swiffer dusters, and it makes dusting fun!

My grandma used to dust like once every six months. I remember running my finger across the top of her TV stand once, and she got so mad because then it looked "bad" and she actually had to dust! Ha!

Omgirl said...

I am bad. I only dust when I can see it. Not very preemptive. But we don't have vents (our house predates vents, can you believe that?) so it helps with not blowing dust around (we have radiators).

Cynthia said...

I'm like OMgirl. I only dust when I can see it. To see it, everything else has to be totally clean. I don't dust enough! LOL!

However, I won a feather duster from Flylady herself and I'll be putting my littlest one to work with it this afternoon! Thanks for the reminder.

Mary said...

Our house is only 3 years old & we live in a humid climate...and we have lost the battle. I saw 'we' b/c my husband does most of the daily cleaning, and I focus on the deep cleaning.

Anonymous said...

I may have the kids dust once a month...

Brooke said...

I thought I had bad dust issues in Utah, now in Texas I realize I had it good there! I have no carpet, only hardwood floors and tile and I sweep every day!!! I kid you not, we have wind and dust and nothing else. I don't dust every day, but I easily could. I can't wait for better insulation, new windows and clean ducts...my new wishlist! :)

Me (aka Danielle) said...

I have never had my ducts cleaned, but I have a friend that swears by it..and has it done regularly. I honestly think that location of your home can make a huge difference. Have you tried air purifiers or filters? We buy the high end filters for our furnace and have air purifiers and they seem to work well (help). My house still gets dusty..but not like it used to.

Lara Neves said...

I love Depeche Mode.

Dust, not so much. My house gets super dusty, and I dont' think it's the ducts because it's only 3 years old. Good luck!

Dawn Parsons Smith said...

I'm thinking you're playing off of that Depeche Mode song..question of lust..lalalala...I can hear it in my head! lol!

I live in the desert and dust is a NIGHTMARE of EPIC proportions here! It's just ridiculous! I hate it when I actually do dust my black furniture, less than 2 seconds later another layer of dust has settled upon it...ugh!

susette said...

That is on my list of things to do this month! HA!

bingham 5 said...

I recently had my ducts cleaned and what a waste of money! After watching what he did, I realized I could have saved myself the money and gotten an air compressor and did the same thing. My house is always dusty, and swear its worse after having the ducts done. I hate dusting - its the chore that never ends.

Mindi said...

DM 4ever!! love it!

i usually dust by blowing really hard on the table or mantle or general area. not lying.

Lady of Perpetual Chaos said...

I dust about once a week. Our house is older and super dusty. I've thought about having our ducts cleaned as well. I use pledge wipes and that seems to help slow down the dust build up. Each of my girls have a feather duster and I encourage them to just go wild with them on a daily basis. ;o)

Becca said...

I pretend I am going to dust once a week. I actually dust about once a month. And I think getting your vents cleaned would probably help but I have nothing to back that up with!

Missy said...

Oh, the dust! Another Bites the Dust! Love that song!
Anyway, dusting ranks up their with a root canal! We have lots of dust too! I blame the boys running in and out!

Lisa Summerhays said...

I hate to dust but try to do so about once every two weeks or so. I agree with Christa, I think when you vacuum a lot it keeps down the dust. Maybe not but I vacuum just about everyday and I don't have a lot of dust.

Anonymous said...

I dust as infrequently as possible - and it shows. Ha!

We had our ducts cleaned when Jacob was teeny - it made a huge difference. IN fact, I think a couple of our vents weren't even working b/c they were so blocked. One thing I remember noticing when they were done was that I wasn't seeing dust floating through the air in the sunlight.

The way they did our ducts? There's no way we could have done it on our own...

Wendyburd1 said...

Do NOT dust enough at all!! Especially my room, there is a coat of baby powder everywhere, LOL!

mCat said...

Totally want my ducts cleaned, I think it would make a huge difference. And for the record, I dust once a week.....