apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Anybody actually use these? I have a couple boxes of Swiffers I'll gladly give away...all Swiffers do is move the dust around when I try them. I'm frustrated...

Anyone have a good retail source? Target or the like???

I have used the Wilen retractable feather duster for more than 15 years. I have yet to find a better duster. You can wash it with regular water, and my first one lasted more than ten years before I needed to replace it. Osterich feathers work very well at gathering and holding onto dust.

Swiffers work in a pinch, but they are expensive, wasteful, and only add to landfills.

I learned from my old boss that the grocery stores in Chinatown have the best feather dusters. I'm blanking on the store names, but ostrich feather dusters are plentiful off the Cermak/Chinatown red line stop. Visit their website for more info: http://www.chicago-chinatown.com/

I have a feather duster that I ordered from flylady.net that I love. She has a pack of a small and large one, but I order two large one for upstairs one for downstairs. I personally love it. It has a long handle (not extendable) and it works great. She has care instructions on her site as well that should work for any feather duster.

Cool, sounds like I should get one of these. Since I'm a 2 day drive from Chicago (Vancouver/Portland) I'll order the Wilen. So you don't treat them with anything at all, just dust and that's it? Do you vaccuum the feathers directly or...?

I'm a guy. Dusting does not come naturally...clueless here.

Feather dusters are great for cleaning things without beating them up--books on shelves [including knickknacks if they're not so light they actually get knocked off], stereo equipment [doesn't mess with buttons and knobs] and such. And contrary to boomer's experiences, we find Swiffer cloths great for cleaning hardwood floors [with the actual Swiffer] and the cloths by themselves for baseboards, windowsills and just about any surface you can wipe.

Well, I don't have hardwood floors, but I do have black funiture and glass tables that really show dust. When I use the swiffer I still have to use something else to get the dust the swiffer misses. About the only time they work even havlfway decent is if I use it once (per table) and then throw it away but that's crazy. So I stopped using them.

boomer -- as zaya suggested, check out www.flylady.net for her instructions on how to deal with the feather duster -- I'm betting it would work for any good, ostrich-feather duster.

I don't use feathers because I'm allergic to feathers. I used to use a Pledge Grab-It mitt (with no scent or cleaner added), but I can't find them anymore. The mitt was great -- the Grab-it cloths were pretty good, but I can't find the plain ones anymore. And they had the BIG disadvantage of being non-reusable.

I need to find a re-usable duster that doesn't bother my allergies. Wish I could use Flylady's ostrich feathers...

I bought an ostrich feather duster from an ostrich farmer in Borough Market in London a few months ago and I'm still completely in love with it. It's the best dusting tool I've ever had.

Smallcitybeth - Simplehuman do a microfibre mitt, which looks like it could be good for dusting with a little spray of water:

http://www.simplehuman.com/products/accessories/microfiber-sponge-mitt.html

I've found that feather dusters work great - I added the one I've used for years to my top ten cleaning supplies list this week...it's an ostrich feather one that they sell at The Container Store.

I use a microfiber dusting mit. It attracts all the dust and then gets thrown in the washing machine rather than in the trash.

ostrich feather dusters are the best! if you blow-dry it, it fluffs up even more, and picks up more dust.