I never use water for dusting. I still do it the old fashion way. I spray a dust rag over a bathroom sink with pledge or something like that and dust. A large area I will spray the area near the center. I don't want over spray on my carpet. I sometimes use a feather duster between reg dusting.

Use microfiber cloths for dusting. Greatly superior to old rags.

Okay, thanks, seems at least you support the idea a dry cloth doesn't "cut it".. or "dust it"... just spreads the dust around.

I also use a wood spray cleaner, but have been out for some time and took to spraying some water to dampen the cloth slightly. I think maybe a vinegar diluted might also be good. All the wood surfaces have a finish, suppose most are lacquer.

I think many of my "rags" are in fact microfiber towels, but I still fine a need for some moisture.

Years ago I used a furniture polish (at that time Pledge) by spraying it on a cloth and dusting the furniture. Once a year I would take a damp soft cloth (think T-shirt) and wipe all the wood furniture down. The cloth was not soaking wet but more than just damp..just wrung out well. I would dry the furniture and then I would use the cloth with Pledge. Furniture looked very nice.

I use a long-handled lambs wool duster (I actually have two of them in different sizes) instead of rags/towels and sprays. The fibers attract and hold dust really well, then you just go outside and give it a shake to get rid of it. I have a lot of book shelves, and this works great on them. I also tend to stay away from petroleum-based products which is in many of the sprays. -Grainlady

We have several dusting tools, some on long handles.

I vacuum hardwood floors and stairs but sometimes I break out the old dust mop - I guess they can still be purchased. But even with this I usually mist the bottom of the mop with something. I have purchased from time-to-time wood cleaner, and have something by minwax in the cupboard now, but haven't used lately - best I can recall it is put down with a damp mop, not a dust mop. speaking of wood cleaner and I bet it has been discussed to "death" here, there is also the old product Murphy Oil Soap (did I get that righr?).. Typing before going to bed and too lazy to get up and look up the bottle to be sure I get the name right. Whatever it is I think the bottle we have is near antique status, years and years on the shelf and almost no use.

Dusting is good as well as vacuuming especially with carpets, i still use pledge or any wood polisher to finish cleaning of woods. I don't damp my woods or furnitures it lessens the color of the wood and making it pale. We have an air filter/purifier so not too much dust to clean anyway..

Thanks, I suppose if I used a more expensive filter on my furnace I'd see less dust. I use the lower priced filters but do have a large filter area, 2 filters 14" x 30" almost 6 square feet and about 2,000 square feet of house.

I an not sure how using a damp cleaning cloth/mop would make sealed wood dark, not arguing, just new to me.

I still have an old fashioned "dust mop" and that seems to need something extra on it to trap dust. I main-line with a vacuum, and even purchased a lithium ion 18V battery powered hand vacuum to help get corners and those spots that catch my eye when I walk by, but are too small to motivate me to get the full sized vacuum out. Hope the lithium ion battery holds up better than the NiCad batteries I have used in the past... for decades.

I'll do a search, but add here my current interest in finding experience on "Dutch Glow".. I think it is available only over the web, but not sure.

I also came across a spray bottle (16 oz or so) of "old" Pine Sol. I tried a bit of that with a damp micro cloth to clean a couple of real-wood kitchen cabinet doors. Not sure it was a great cleaner, the doors were not in serious need of cleaning... but I think a little added glow would be nice -- not sure there is any of that, but now 24 hours later I don't see any problems (streaks or damage)

I used some of the spray on a sponge mop to clean up some dog mud prints on my kitchen floor. Worked okay there too I my view. Floor is a 25 year old high quality asphalt tile (the stuff that imitates real tile).

I use Regency Gold for all polishing. It is non-toxic. You put it all over the wood, but you do not need a second cloth to wipe it off. It makes your kitchen cabinets and wooden furniture shine.

Then you can put your used rag in the washing machine and reuse it. I gave up on all the other polishes since the fumes are not good for you to breathe. Usually I do not enjoy polishing furniture, but the results I got from doing it got me excited to shine anything that was wood.

Here is a link that might be useful: Regency Gold

Base boards & mouldings - white - all over our house that we find dusting once a month with a microfiber swiffer or micro fiber wand - spritzed with some water does a good job of upkeep.

In conjunction with good HVAC filters the only time it requires any elbow grease is those tight corners where the above can't get into the wedges; there we break out a wet paper towel or cloth & pull out the dust.

As for floors: currently we are dusting with just a dust pan & broom. But that is definitely what you put in is what you get out & not every day we want to put in! LOL!

But we just got a Shark Rocket V302 vacuums that we think will help speed up the daily sweeping & hopefully cut the effort in 1/2.

iRobot type vacuums are hit or miss in terms of reliability/performance - so we chose to give above a try.