The Kitchen Item That Makes Cleaning Dusty Blinds A Breeze

An important part of spring cleaning is making sure your home is free of dust after being closed up all winter long. There are plenty of simple decluttering hacks to help tidy your home, and one idea that's been making the rounds is to use kitchen tongs to help dust your blinds. If you've heard people talk about this but weren't sure if it was actually useful, you may be intrigued to learn that it can make dusting your blinds a bit easier.

This cleaning method is fairly straightforward. All you need are a pair of small kitchen tongs, some microfiber cloths, and a way to attach the two. Wrap the cloths around the ends of the tongs and secure them with string or rubber bands, and your new dusting tool is ready to go! You can swap the cloths out for other wipes, sponges, or other pieces of fabric, although microfiber is the most effective; it's a great tool for trapping dust, plus microfiber is reusable and easy to clean afterwards. Not to mention its thinner size makes it easier to squeeze into the tight spaces between blind slats!

Clamp the tongs over each slat and move them across to wipe the dust off. Since each tong end has a cloth or sponge attached, you can easily dust the top and bottom of each slat at the same time. Additionally, the tongs are narrower than a human hand, making it easier for them to fit between the slats. You can even combine this method with other hacks. For example, dryer sheets are the laundry room staple that can make cleaning your blinds a breeze, and you can apply that hack here by attaching the sheets to the tongs instead.

For starters, any tong with flat ends can be used. Toothed or curved tongs may not slide between the blinds as smoothly, especially if you have blinds made from a stiffer material like wood or metal. If you're using a cleaning spray you may want to stick to metal or plastic tongs, as wood is absorbent. If you do use wooden tongs, make sure they have time to fully dry afterwards. No matter what type of tong you use, remember to rinse it after to remove any dust or residue from the cleaning solution that may have gotten onto the tongs. This is important if your tongs are still being used in the kitchen, but you can skip that step if they're retired and are only used for cleaning. Likewise, you should clean or at least shake out your cloth or sponge afterwards. After removing all that dust from your blinds, you don't want to put it back onto them the next time you go to dust!

If your blinds are particularly grimy, don't despair. You can still use your tongs and cloth to clean them, but you may need to add a step or two to the process. Start with a regular dusting with your tongs to remove any loose dust, then use a steamer to loosen anything that was stuck on. Take another pass with your tongs, squeezing hard to get as much of the grime off as possible. If you don't have a steamer, you can also clean your blinds in a bathtub by soaking them in soapy water mixed with a little vinegar. You can use your tongs to scrub between the slats then and there, or wait until they're done soaking to wipe them down.