Shine On You Crazy Furniture

A friend of mine recently asked if I had any dusting tips.  She told me that she loves Swiffers but because they are a bit pricey she tends to re-use them so much that eventually she is just pushing dust around. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one guilty of this.

There are basically three ways to get dust off a surface;
1) Furniture polish
2) Just a cloth with nothing sprayed on it, like a Swiffer
3) Walk by a shelf, see that it's covered in dust, then proceed to pull the sleeve from your already stained sweater over your hand and wipe the dust off because your about to get in the shower anyways (I have done this more times then I would like to admit)

As I started to look at furniture polish, the first thing I noticed was that every one of them had olive oil in them.  I really did not like this idea due to some not so pleasant results that came from the last time I tried to put oil in a spray bottle. But I started to realize that it was unavoidable.  If I was going to make a good quality furniture polish I was going to have to add the olive oil in it, and hope it doesn't ruin another spray bottle.

Homemade Furniture Dusting Spray 
You Will Need:
1-3/4 cups water 
1/4 cup white distilled vinegar 
2 teaspoons olive oil 
1/4 teaspoon lemon essential oil (about 8 to 10 drops)

Directions: 
Combine the ingredients in a clean spray bottle of at least a 16 oz size.  Shake well to mix.
To use, spray onto wooden furniture and wipe off with a soft cloth to dust and clean the surface.
You’ll have to keep shaking this mixture as you use it to keep the oil and water mixed together.

I didn't have lemon oil so I used lemon juice instead.  I put all my ingredients in the bottle then started to shake.  About 10 seconds later I realized I was singing Shake Your Sillies Out by The Wiggles out loud and the kids were no where in site. I'm now singing kid songs for my own amusement, I need to get out more. 

 After I stopped my little one man performance I started to wander the house to find my first victim. It's amazing how much wood you realize you have in your home when it's time to dust it.  It's even more amazing how many knick knacks are usually covering those wood surfaces.

The Verdict:  I used the spray on all types of wood and all types of finished and the outcome was always fantastic.  The wood looked so clean and shiny.  I would spray the polish right onto the wood then wipe it off with a clean towel.

All the dust came right off and the wood looked great.

 What I really love is how easily it cleans gunk off the furniture.  The spray quickly dissolves anything on the wood like finger prints, food, dog slobber, etc and the spots come off with very little scrubbing.




















 It also works well with my homemade Swiffer, but that will have to wait for another post, to be continued....