Dusting the House

One of those dreaded household chores that becomes more of a dreaded must during heavy pollen months is dusting. I was reading through some suggestions one the Today's Parent website and I had to giggle at one that I saw. Andrea Neblett, author of Housework Shortcuts from same site suggested that we "always dust from top to bottom and then vacuum." Not that I don't see the logic in this, but what I found funny is that my dusting usually involves the vacuum. Most of the surfaces in my home aren't of the wooden, beautifying type. They are of the plastic and/or faux-wood-over- chipboard types. I can't spray the crap on my television that I use for everything else and it's the dirtiest thing in the house. Sooo...I found out what that funny little brush attachment is useful for on the vacuum. Not only do I save time, but money AND the environment without using household chemicals and paper towels. Smart me, huh?

Here's the plan:

A. Walk into the living room and decide that it finally time to clean the goldfish/pretzel/potato chip crumbs up from the living room carpet and off the couch. Whatever that wet, blue stuff was is finally dry, too, and we can now scrape and vacuum IT up at the same time.

B. Go get a long, cold drink of ice tea and look across the other room at the vacuum.

C. Finish iced tea and go get vacuum from other room.

D. Decide that dogs need to be walked, leave vacuum in the middle of the kitchen floor, and walk the dogs for approximately one half hour.

E. Now, I need other glass of tea.

F. Okay, finally get that vacuum into the living room. Look up at the fan and decide it must be cleaned also.

G. Shut fan off. Put the extension hoses together, plug in vacuum, and put brush attachment on end.

H. Proceed to vacuum fan. Yes, this works.

I. Move on to vacuum the cobwebs from corners and dust particles stuck to walls, drapes, picture frames (I suggest holding them with the other hand so they don't fall off the wall and break. Trust me.), tv, and whatever and wherever else vacuum will fit.

J. Once surface areas are clean, trade brush for long skinny thing that will fit between cushions. Vac cushions and listen for money and large things going into vacuum. (Sorry, I am NOT sticking my hands in there first. I figure long skinny thing will prevent most important items from being sucked up.)

K. Finally, detach all the extensions and vacuum the floor. Avoid shoe strings and cats.

L. Put vacuum and extensions away, light the candle on the oil burner, and have a glass of iced tea. Your house smells and looks better, and the vac did most of the work. You can assign one of the kids to empty the vacuum later on. ;-)

Hope this helped you with your shortcuts for the day. Have fun dusting. Oh, and don't forget to celebrate your accomplishments with a great tank top to wear outside once the housework is complete: