Dust is my ultimate enemy. It is a never ending battle that I am slowly loosing to those pesky dust bunnies that make me sneeze, wheeze and otherwise miserable. I really don’t know how so much dust can accumulate so quickly! My usual weapon of choice is a disposable dusting cloth. My comrade in arms, my four year old who loves to dust. (It’s either her eager youth or she is destined to be a neat-freak like dad.)
While I dust the main surfaces in this house on a regular basis, it’s spring cleaning time and that means dusting hard-to-reach places that don’t get hit as often. My major dusting job seemed like the perfect time to test Guardsman Ultimate Dusting Cloths that I was recently sent to review. Since disposable clothes (my normal go-to product) are not a green option, I was interested to see how the reusable cloths would perform and how cleaning them for reuse would go. I got really excited when I noticed that the box points out that the cloths work with most floor sweepers (another place I typically use disposable clothes).
I am a firm believer in furniture that lasts. So just about everything in our house is wood. I am not a fan of dusting sprays both because I don’t see the need for an additional chemical and because I don’t like the residue left behind. That’s why I typically use disposable cloths for my dusting needs. I was ready to put the specially-coated dusting cloths to the test on our furniture.
My little helper and I hit the house with our dusting cloths, dusting high, dusting low. We dusted the regular route – furniture, picture frames, counters, etc. Then we tackled today’s messier job doors, baseboards and doorframes. Ewwww… Finally under the furniture with the dust cloth on the sweeper. After all our work was done, and I finally stopped sneezing, this is what our cloths looked like.
The dusting cloths did a great job at picking up the dust without fluffing a lot of dust into the air, which is very important. Although the cloths are specially coated, there was no reside left behind (on the furniture or our fingers). But the real test (to compare them to my disposable cloths) was to wash them. I was afraid the large bits (hair and giant bunnies) would gunk up my sink so I pulled off the bits into the trash, and then I hand washed them. Although I am not typically a fan of adding a step to my cleaning routine, washing the cloths was not a big deal. I was surprised that the water ran yellow as I cleaned the cloths, so I am glad I didn’t opt to wash them in my machine on a hand-wash cycle. I defiantly think this is an easy step I would be ok with adding to my routine to keep all those disposable cloths out of the landfill.
In my house, my favorite piece of furniture is our kitchen table. Flanked on one side by a bench, we picked this table because it is big enough to sit seven and sturdy enough to hold up to everyday wear. We live at our kitchen table, from mom typing away to craft projects and, of course, dinner — our kitchen table is the centerpiece of our home.
Guardsman and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition star Tracy Hutson have teamed up for the Stop Cleaning. Start Caring Campaign, to help educate furniture owners on techniques that will bring out their furniture’s inner beauty. The campaign will show a new generation of furniture and home enthusiasts how to love and protect their furniture by demonstrating that furniture has its own beauty routine.
- You nurture, protect and care for the things you love. And your furniture should be no exception. New or old, we all have furniture we love.
- Furniture should be cared for in the same way we take care of ourselves. It’s more than dusting and polishing, it’s about nourishing, revitalizing and bringing out furniture’s inner beauty.
- Guardsman wants to unlock the secret experts and homeowners have shared for more than a century. The simple furniture beauty routine includes: cleansing, polishing and, of course, covering those tiny imperfections.
- The secret to beautiful furniture is simple… “Stop Cleaning. Start Caring™”
To kick off the campaign, Guardsman is also donating $25,000 to Habitat for Humanity.
Show off the furniture you love — Guardsman wants to know if you have a piece of furniture that you love and the story that goes behind it. By sharing your story and photo, you can enter to win a $1,500 room re-accessorizing and shopping experience along with a suite of Guardsman products. So grab your camera and take a picture of your furniture for your chance to win and enter by April 30, 2012 at Guardsman.com.
Disclosure – I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Guardsman Furniture Care and received a Guardsman product and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.