Look, I know dusting is one of those often-neglected chores – I myself am not great at dusting. But anything can be done with proper strategy and today, I’m going to give you a strategy for keeping your surfaces clean, shining, and dust free!

Just like with most things in your home, procrastination is not your friend. Letting dirt, dust, and dirty laundry pile up will be to your detriment and make the task of cleaning that much more elusive.

This holds true for dusting.

1. Make sure all of your air filters are clean and consider buying an air purifier. This will allow your filtration system to work more efficiently and prevent dust from building up at an alarming rate.
2. Grab a microfiber cloth or dusting tool and prepare to hit all surfaces of your home. Pay special attention to areas directly under lighting and ceiling fans.
3. Dust from the highest points in your home to the lowest and follow up with cleaning the floors. Dusting will inevitably knock all of those microparticles into the air and they will settle somewhere. You don’t want to make more work for yourself.
4. Dust once every 1-2 weeks to prevent dust build up that can have adverse effects. It’s possible to be allergic to dust, but even if you’re not dust can be a myriad of things from pet dander to pollen, all of which is not good for you and your family to continuously breathe.
5. If dust build up does occur, use a vacuum and its attachments to remove the dust, as opposed to wiping it down and sending all of that dust circling into your home.
6. Be mindful that much of your dust may come from your pets if you have them. Minimize pet dander and dust build up by properly grooming your animals and paying attention to the areas where they may make the most messes. Cover litter boxes and keep a mat by the door to help knock off excess dirt on your dog’s feet.
7. Shine your wooden surfaces with a dusting spray that will leave your furniture looking spic and span. Be sure to pay attention to the instructions and the intended materials of the sprays you buy or make to prevent damage to your furniture.

By taking a little bit of time each week to implement these simple practices, you will find that your house seems to stay cleaner for longer, the air is perhaps fresher, and you no longer have piles of dust building around your house, calling your name.

It’s not always easy to implement these minuscule tasks into our daily or weekly routines, but in doing so, you’ll most likely be carving yourself out some stress-free time in the future. I recommend making your list of weekly chores and rotating them by the day, if you’re able. Maybe you dust on Mondays, vacuum on Tuesdays, clean out your fridge on Sundays. This way, you shouldn’t have to dedicate a whole day to cleaning again and your house stays clean all week, instead of for two days.