Ugh -- not enough. But I do try to make a point of doing so immediately before vacuuming.

Two to three times a week. I live in NYC, so I should do it everyday. That is how long it takes for dust to accumulate. Now that I have decluttered, it is the easiest of my chores to do. It only takes a few minutes and I feel like I have done something bigger.

AMEN!

Practically never. If I do it at all it's before a big party or before my mom comes to visit. I'm allergic so when I do dust, I get pretty sick. Luckily for me, we just hired a cleaning service....and they dust every time they come!

That image, Books should be aligned to the front of the shelf. It looks neater and it leaves no visible view of dust.

With dark walnut furniture and a dog, I dust 2-3 times a week. When the morning sun pours through the living room windows, the dust lights up like a golden, fuzzy gift from God. Swifter Dusters are my best friend.

I vacuum and clean all visible surfaces weekly, but I really only "dust" when I notice something is dusty. My bookshelves, the top of my fridge, etc probably get a proper wipe-down every month or two. I have no problem with this, but I'm sure other people do! ;)

Everyday, not the entire house but a little piece of it day in and day out. When I lived in a city, it wasn't necessary but I'm more in a country setting now and it only takes a day for dust, no DIRT, to settle on everything.

My BFFs are my microfiber cloths and compressed air (use on picture & mirror frames, to blow dusty prints off of curtains).

I dust before I vacuum: on average of once a week. I rarely get everything dusted at once, but I do my best to hit the high traffic areas.

I'm in the same boat as jessicamc: I really go at it when I notice the dust.

Honestly? I never go to sleep with a messy house or dirty dishes, but only do big cleaning every month or two. More now that there is a dog and 2 cats. Big cleaning means from one end of the house to the other, top to bottom: scrub, dust, polish, vacuum, sweep, mop, flip mattresses, hang big rugs outside after vacuuming (to air), etc. Between big cleanings, I wipe, scrub and polish if I notice something needs cleaning. Most of my friends are shocked at how little it takes, and stays so clean. A few minutes each day, and a couple of hours every 1-2 months.

***if commenters could mention the size/ composition of their household, it would be helpful for comparison.

Us? 2 people, 1 small dog, 2 puffy cats.

I live in a 400 sq. ft. apartment with two cats and a boyfriend and dust bi-weekly(I vacuum weekly and take the hose&brush across all the regular surfaces). We also keep an air purifier going(meant for pet dander, smoke, etc.) and on dryer days, when we're expecting more dust, I try to turn the humidifier on before bed and it seems to help.

I also found that, for smaller spaces, if you keep one half of the house for the beginning of the week and another for the following, the deep-down cleaning goes much faster and doesn't feel like such a hassle.

I don't dust anymore. I use one of those cans of air for computer cleaning. I spray the dust off my furniture, and then let the Roomba get it off the floor. I REALLY HATE DUSTING!

I dust less than I used to do. Dusting more than necessary seems a waste of time since collecting knick-knacks no longer is one of my hobbies. I dust with Swiffers, which snag on rough surfaces, and with lint tape rollers, which remove Swiffer fibers. I also dust with HEPA vacuum cleaner attachments so dust actually is removed, although my dogs and I dislike the noise my vacuum cleaner makes. I work from the ceiling down and finish by vacuuming the floor. I simultaneously weed knick-knacks no longer worth dusting.

Yuck. For some reason the bathroom seems to be my dustiest room... maybe it's because I don't have a fan/vent in there, or maybe I just notice it more under the room's bright lights. I hate it because the humidity from showers makes dry dust get sticky... which is difficult to clean with a dry Swiffer yet equally difficult to "lock in" with a wet cloth. Real problems, I know.

Anyway, to answer the original question, I dust my bathroom every other day, but I dust the rest of my apartment every other week.

honestly - not often enough. My dog sheds a LOT (Border Collie cross) and fur and dust seem to settle just everywhere. I'm still working on a weekly cleaning routine that won't take me all of Saturday to finish!

Two people, one hairy shedding dog - I dust once a week, after vacuuming. Does it matter whether it's before or after?

I live in under 400 sq and have monthly cleaning service in nyc. I don't notice dust in between visits but then again, it's just me in the tiny space. I can barely load the dishwasher so I'm very impressed by those who dust 3x a week!

Two adults humans, two adult felines, and one uber-shedding lagomorph (bunny, to you.) I dust when I notice it needs it. About twice a month for the obvious easy spots tabletops, etc.) and less often for hard to navigate areas.

Once every ten years but only if it needs it.

1800 square feet, two grown-ups, two little girls, one cat... once every two weeks or so...

Once a week before vacuuming. I don't find it to be that big of a chore.. maybe because I don't have a whole lot of knick knacks or clutter?

Twice a week or so. Sometimes more, sometimes less. 1000 sq ft, 1 person, 1 cat. In the bathroom I follow the flylady swish and swipe method, wiping everything down each morning.

But I agree with funstraw that pulling your books to the front of the shelf makes books look neat and conveniently makes them easy to dust.

I keep one of those swiffer dusters around at all times. I rarely set out to "dust" per se, but I hunt that duster down the second I notice a surface that's dusty enough to bother me. This means that the tops of my bookcases are probably scary, but everything else gets a once-over at least once a week.

Lol @Charlotte...

My husband and I in our Brooklyn 1 bedroom only do a real dust/vacuuming once a month. In between I usually get antsy and dust off some of the most offensive surfaces or gather up some of the hair dust bunnies from the corners (how is it possible that I shed so much?)

Monthly dusting isn't enough for our apartment (why is NYC so gross?) but it's all we can handle with our schedules as they are!

Ha ha Nooooo, don't show me that shelf, I am sure mine look like that!

I'm actually trying to be much better about dusting these days. Basic shelves are easy to do - it's the shelves with collectibles and art that are a real pain. And there's just no short cut besides carefully moving the fragile art and dusting things individually.

Someday when I have more room I am totally going to get glass cupboards or covers for this stuff.

Dust is my enemy. I'm very allergic. So I have a very uncluttered life.

Every time I see an adorable collection or vignette in photos on this site, all I can think is how much harder it would be to clean. I'm sure if anyone here saw photos of my space they would say it was sterile, harsh (very few fabrics - lots of wood, glass, metal and leather). We take off our shoes at the door (and put them on a mat that is ugly, but super effective). We have no carpets or rugs (dust traps, I like to call them). Bedding is all white and gets washed and dried very hot at least once a week (sometimes more).

But my space is SUPER easy to clean. In 10 minutes, I can sweep and dust the ground floor. I do it every day. And I can breathe. I haven't had an asthma attack at home in years and I've been able to reduce my medication significantly.

2 adults, 1 toddler, 2 cats. ~2500 sq ft. Ground floor is ~ 900 sq ft

Once a week. Probably needs it more but it is unbelievable how much dirt can multiply overnight.

Honestly?

I dust my 3400 sq foot house as often as I have guests. Unfortunately, I do not entertain often, so this means monthly at best.

I live in a very dusty place, too. Its hideous. But with a demanding job, 2 kids, dog, chickens, and hobbies, I'll live with it.

I wish I lived in a small house, and I wish I could not tolerate a mess. But that is not my life.

In addition to decluttering, I place all of my "knicknacks" and books on glassed fronted bookcases. Dusting consists of wiping down the case and the glass infrequently. I get to enjoy the objects, and the size of the cases automatically limits how much I collect.

I meant "in" glass-fronted bookcases. Sorry.

Our housekeeper cleans our home once a week, before we hired her, we only dusted once a month due to schedules etc. 1400 sq feet, two adults and three dogs - the hair is the main thing in our home.

I have 2 dogs, 2 boys, 1 husband and 1 cat. I dust the living room every couple days and the rest of the house weekly.

Act2 - I purposefully bought glass-fronted book cases (and scored a cool vintage metal lawyers book case) because I hate to dust shelves. I'm with you.

I probably dust every other week with damp microfiber cloths that I found for cheap cheap in the automotive section.

I dust my furniture maybe 3 or 4 times a year. I dust the blades of the ceiling fan blades every couple of weeks though (I keep scented dryer sheets paperclipped to the blades instead of air fresheners, and when it's time to change them out, I just swipe them along the edge of the blades--and you can't see them at all if the fan is on).

The only piece of furniture that gets dusted regularly is the old dresser on which my rats' cage sits. They shed worse than our dogs, and the hair is attracted to the dresser's paint like a magnet. I wipe the whole dresser down every time I clean their cage (twice a week). Not necessarily for the dust and hair, but to mop up bits of food and paper and the little spots where they sniff and sneeze through the bars.

I know it's disgusting that I rarely dust. I really should, especially with my allergies, but my thinking is that since I'm constantly rearranging everything, nothing really has time to get too terribly dusty. Yeah, that's what I tell myself.

Honestly, I only dust whenever we do a big clean, which is every month or so. I vacuum and change the sheets regularly, but dusting seems like such a big and thankless job. The minute after you dust things are dusty again!

We live in a loft in downtown San Diego. We keep the windows open ALL the time. There is no way I could keep things dusted!

Honestly, I only dust when we are going to have company over OR if I get the urge, which I usually don't. :)

@andrea.b - I hear you! The bathroom gets SO dusty. It's weird! My friend came to visit and told me she thought I was just a messy person until she wiped down the counters and saw that by the next day it was dusty again!

I actually am pretty good about dusting a lot --- I am just not good about Deep dusting. I am good about taking photos down and giving them a deep cleaning and moving everything off my desk (or tables, or entertainment center) and dusting everything --- but I have a lot of antique camera and little similar nic nacs that I am bad about deep cleaning. But when I do clean them I just use canned air and it makes it sooo much easier!

Anybody else think it's funny that all the books in the picture are motivational titles? Maybe read a few pages and then you'll be energized to dust!

I have dark furniture and dust really shows. I live in a neighborhood that is still under construction, so if I don't dust at least once a week it gets bad.

For a while we tried to dust before our weekly vacuuming, but that didn't last long. Now, I just dust when I notice things are really dusty... maybe once a month? But not the whole house... just whatever was bothering me.

730 sqft condo, 2 adults, 1 rabbit.

I love dusting because you can really notice the difference. That said, we generally dust one floor of the house each week; top floor one week, main floor the next. We don't have kids and though we do have cats, we also have a pretty good furnace and filtration system, so that seems to work for us. If people are coming over we may do the whole house once a week. I also have a swiffer duster ready for any dust I see during the week. Gotta love the dusting.

Two adult humans, four cats. of various coat lengths.

1 adult, 1400 square ft, no pets, and I either dust when someone is coming over, or when it's thick enough to be a coat, whichever comes first.

Two adults & one baby. 2300 sqft house.

I dust way too often. I would have a much more productive life if I didn't hate dust so much.

My house is old & gets dusty immediately. Everything looks so much nicer when it's dust-free.

I keep filters in the windows of my NYC apartment so I can keep them open but not get too much dust.

My housekeeper dusts once a month. I dust only if things are dusty and I am having guests. I would rather be neat than spend all my time cleaning.q

900 sq ft, 1 person, Wenge furniture and collections.

Never enough. 2 teenage boys, 1 cat, 1 rabbit and 1 more rabbit on the way if Mr. Picky can choose a mate.

Maybe once a week before I do the floors. Luckily, my home is small.

I live with one housemate in 600 square feet and we dust, hoover mop and clean the bathroom once a week. All in it takes about an hour, but as we don't have any carpets there is nothing to absorb the dust, so if we don't do it all once a week it looks like Miss Haversham lives there. (BTW, I do think it's worth dusting before you hoover - that way you hoover up all the dust)

I am reminded though of Quention Crisp, who famously claimed that if you never clean at all (which he didn't) after two years it stops getting any worse.

I dust once a week...at least the accessible surfaces. Just a thought on that, though - several above posts insist that books should be pulled all the way to the edge (which, IMO, looks much nicer) but if you do it that way, you trap SO MUCH dust behind your things! It's really kind of gross. I just did an enormous bookshelf for my folks, pulling everything off and cleaning behind, and it looked like it hadn't been done in years. That's an awful lot of skin flakes and dirt and other less-mentionable grossness.

I dust the living room maybe once a week, the bedroom, eh, maybe once or twice a month, the rest of the house... 2-3 times a year.

Wow... I dust the our home (1 bedroom flat, no pets) at least once week, sometimes more. Same with vacuuming! The idea of dust just really grosses me out.

We live on the 11th floor of a condo building, and we love to keep the windows open, and we have all hard floors. These things add up to LOTS OF DUST! We dust most surfaces in the living area (closest to the big windows) every time we clean, but even that doesn't do much good. We can dust, clean the house top-to-bottom, and an hour later there is dust on the surfaces again. That's just the nature of where we live!

We keep the dust collectors to a minimum, and keep our books flush to the fronts of the shelves so we don't have shelf edges like in the photo!

2 people with windows open *all day long* in L.A -- I dust twice a week. There's not too much to dust if I do it regularly. My Swiffers, Deep Cleaner, and Stick Vac are my besties.

2 adults, 2 nonshedding furballs.
1400 sqft house just outside of Philly (Jersey Side).

I dust when I see it on the tv stand. I don't collect nick-knacks so it really doesn't take too much to wipe down a few pieces of furniture. Maybe every 1 1/2 week or so...

Especially before parties/company.

Once a week. I also loathe dusting, but it simply has to be done or everything feels dirty. That goes for a lot of cleaning chores - vacuuming, moping, cleaning out the fridge, etc. My husband and I realized we were terrible at cleaning a little bit each day, as is often recommended, and so now, Monday evenings the WHOLE house gets cleaned (we have a list to check) whether it looks like it needs it or not. We've only been at this schedule for a few months, but already we've both gotten used to having a clean house (it's so nice) and we've also gotten really quick and efficient, so the whole place, including folding all the laundry, takes us 2 hours tops. Then we can forget about it for the rest of the week. So nice. :)