h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Catch all the spiders in your home and tie small dusters to their feet...
Set them free for dust free crevices.

Just never move anything - the minute you do, you can see a clean spot! If you leave things alone you never notice the dust.

I wet dust if I have to, it stops the dust flying up into the air, and just falling back down where you've just wiped.

I know it can't be true, because I've seen it in Scooby Doo, where the gang enter a house that's been empty for decades and the dust is lying around in layers, *but* ...

... eventually, if you don't dust at all, it doesn't get any worse!

One of my friends says that as well - she says it takes about 6 weeks.

That works, till you move house and disturb all the dust .

I moved into my current house 2 and a half years ago, and I can't remember the last time I dusted... but now I'm moving into my fiance's house, and all the dust on my stuff is being disturbed, I've discovered that large amounts of dust in the air give me an allergic reaction (*atchoo* *cough* *splutter splutter*).

And cleaning things only to chuck them away or put them into a box seems a bit, well, obsessive.

Wet dusters will definitely be used in the near future when I unpack everything - good idea, that . And I think a periodic dusting once or twice a month should do after that. Otherwise all the cleaning chemicals will irritate me even more!

Dust is a real problem where I live, in a student flat. It used to be an elderly home. I don't know what causes it, but the dust here (and not just in my room) is very thick. It's not just any regular dust, it is much more coarse. I can easily see the individual hairs it consists of. It is also very quick to gather, even on items I use every day, like my telephone or remote control.

I hate it!

Sounds like free-floating pet hair. The old dear in question wasn't a cat-collector, was she?

I haven't the foggiest, but I wouldn't expect it to hang around for almost four years.

Depends how many cats she collected, and how well the place was cleaned when she left.

I have 5 realated Himilayan cats. How does one capture cathair tumbleweeds? Should I shave them bald and spare us all? The stairs looks like some movie set with trailing hairy mist. I sweep but then they run around after each other and it all comes back!

Oh, I have the same problem with dog hair, it was easier when i had rugs, i could just hoover it up. But now i have old bare wood floors and sweeping just moves it around. Any solutions would be a help!

Ostrich feather dusters have enough static electricity to pick up just about any dust. You just lightly pass it along the dusty surfaces, then you just take the duster outside and shake the dust out of it.

As long as the dust is not damp or sticky (like from cooking grease, or shower humidity), or really caked on because you haven't dusted in ages, that is.

It works best if you dust every day, but still works well even if you go a week or more between dustings, you just need to shake the dust out more often as you dust. I know, that sounds like torture to dust every day, doesn't it? But it's not really, because an ostrich feather duster works so quickly (one swipe) that you don't need to move things to dust, and can even use it to dust delicate knick-knacks along the way.

This won't work with turkey feathers or chicken feathers because they have too much natural oil in them and really do just move the dust around. It only works with ostrich feathers, because they are extremely low in natural oils, and therefore have lots of static.

If the ostrich feathers don't seem to have enough static (if you can see dust floating away as you dust), then you can wash the duster to remove any residual oils from the feathers (swish it in water with shampoo or dish detergent in it), rinse, then dry it with a hair dryer to really fluff it up and increase the static.

I'd say hoover the bare boards rather than sweep... but what do I know..
I really didn't expect to get involved in a serious conversation about dusting...

HA! Amazing what you can get into a conversation about on here, eh!

Duh a combination of using the right dusting materials and an air purifier will keep your house dust free for long periods of time but dust free period youd almost have to live in a bubble