The new year means that many of us will look for ways to improve our lives and for some this starts with organising your home. This could be anything from rearranging your furniture to giving your home a quick clean to get rid of dust, and while dust doesn't seem like a huge problem it can cause negative health effects.
To help with the cleaning, many people are turning to hacks from social media to prevent dust from forming in their homes. One such hack involves creating a mixture of fabric conditioner and water to stop dust in its tracks.
Organisation expert Scott Jones from Pink Storage however warns against the viral trend and says that it is a huge fire hazard and could burn your house down.
Why does your house get dusty and does the hack work?
Every home is different and the source of your dust problem is going to be different from someone else. Dust is the combination of pollen, soil, pet dander, dead skin and anything else that can dry and flake off.
The TikTok hack of adding a mixture of fabric conditioner and water to a cloth and wiping down the surfaces in your home is supposed to prevent dust from forming on your surfaces, keeping your home cleaner.
Scott says "While the videos show dust-free surfaces, what they don't show is that the dust will have accumulated elsewhere in the home such as on your carpets and furniture."
"This makes the hack useless as you have moved the dust rather than getting rid of it, but that isn't the biggest problem with this hack. Fabric conditioner is highly flammable and smearing your home in this liquid is very dangerous. If a fire were to break out in your home this hack would make the fire spread much quicker endangering the lives of everyone in your home."
Other variations of the hack
There are variations of this hack which replace the fabric conditioner with other oils such as olive oil.
Scott says "While olive oil isn't classed as flammable it is combustible meaning that it can burn if the temperature gets high enough. In a typical house fire, temperatures can reach 1000 degrees Fahrenheit making this alternative hack just as risky."
Safer alternatives to the fabric conditioner dust hack
"The biggest problem with this hack is that it simply isn't safe. Alternative versions of the hack also put your life and family at risk too, therefor in this instance, it's best not to use this hack to clean your home. If you want to get rid of the dust in your home there are safer alternatives."
"While not groundbreaking or cool enough to go viral, the best way of getting rid of dust in your home is to vacuum it at least twice a week." Says Scott.
Dust in the home keeps coming back regardless of what the online hacks will have you believe. Dust is made up of all kinds of particles with many of them coming in from outside your home. It's impossible to eliminate dust but using a good quality vacuum with a particulate air filter will help remove as much dust as possible.
Scott says "When vacuuming your home concentrate on the areas with the most footfall. Hoovering can be a tedious activity, but if you can do it at least twice a week you will see a significant decrease in the dust in your home."
Ditch the duster
You may think that the feather duster is the perfect tool for removing dust but that isn't always the case. Feather dusters can spread dust around rather than picking it up. To remove as much dust as possible from your home ditch the duster and replace it with a microfibre cloth.
Scott says "Microfibre cloths are cheap and can be used wet or dry to remove the dust without having to worry about spreading flammable liquids all over your home and furniture."
"If you still have problems with dust after you have hoovered twice a week and have wiped down your furniture with a microfibre cloth then you could have a clutter issue."
Clutter can create an environment where dust can multiply, dusting around the clutter often isn't enough to fix the problem. If you do have clutter in your home get rid of it as it will make your cleaning sessions quicker too.
