A good feather duster can be your best friend if you want to keep your home clean without much effort at all. Here’s how to properly use a feather duster.
It’s no secret that I love a good feather duster. Not only do they give off that whole old-school “I really know what I’m doing here when it comes to housekeeping” vibe when you use one, they actually really do work wonders for removing dust from all kinds of stubbornly dusty places. I know a lot of people are under the impression that feather dusters are old-fashioned and outdated and actually don’t work as well as some of the new dust-removal products available on the market, so I thought I’d talk about how to properly use a feather duster today so we can all be fully informed on this somewhat controversial topic.
How to Properly Use a Feather Duster: Busting Myths!
It’s a commonly-held belief that feather dusters simply move dust around, that they they don’t actually remove dust from your surfaces and your home in general. This is a MYTH!… if you’re using the correct feather duster. A lot of lower quality feather dusters use chicken feathers or something similar and those really are no good. What you need for success in feather dusting are ostrich feathers, which are big and fluffy and have thousands of little filaments that grab on to the dust and don’t let go!
Some higher quality non-ostrich dusters are starting to use a design that mimics an ostrich feather, which is great. In my opinion though, those dusters still don’t stand up to the real deal yet for everyday use.
Where to Use a Feather Duster in Your Home
We often think of dusting as a chore to be done with a rag and a can of dusting spray on shiny knick-knacks and surfaces like tables and shelves. The truth is, that while that process is kind of tedious, the rag-and-dusting-spray technique does work just fine on those areas. It’s too bad that dust accumulates on every surface in your home, not just the smooth, shiny ones. 🙂
Not only is a feather duster a much quicker and easier way to remove dust from those smooth and shiny surfaces, it also works wonders on surfaces of every shape, size, and texture!
You can use your feather duster to easily remove dust build-up on things like faux greenery, and even rough, rustic wood or stone surfaces.
And.
One of my very favourite things about using a feather duster is that you don’t need to move a single thing! You don’t need to pick things up and move them around, and you don’t need to take everything off of a table or shelf to dust it thoroughly. A feather duster can dust all of your decorative objects right where they are, and it squishes down easily to fit in between and behind objects on shelves, tables, and desks. This is a huge time saver!
How to Properly Use a Feather Duster: Completing the Process
When you’re all done with your dusting, all you need to do is head outside and give your feather duster a good shake in the fresh air to release all of the dust that you picked up from inside your home! If you happen to have a lot of dust, then you may want to go outside and give your feather duster a good shake every few minutes before you continue. These things can hold a whole lot of dust!
Of course, one of the best parts about using a feather duster is that they’re reusable. You no longer need to worry about buying refills for disposable duster products and that can save you a ton of money if you’ve been using those. Switching to a feather duster is obviously also great for the environment!
A good feather duster will last you years and years. To refresh it and keep it working well for you, all you need to do is give it a quick little bath every few months. Here’s how to clean a feather duster if you think it’s time to give yours a bath.
As you can tell, I’m pretty attached to my trusty feather duster and you will be too once you give feather dusting a try! I love not having to worry about having ugly, allergy-inducing dust build-up in my home because getting rid of all that dust only takes me a few minutes if I do it on a somewhat regular basis.
Do you already use a feather duster? If you’re new to feather dusting, definitely give it a try and let me know what you think!
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.