Kathy’s Home & Garden Tips – Dust Bunnies and What They’re Made Of

For those of us with allergies, dust bunnies can be very irritating. They’re often made up of insect fecal matter, mold, and fungal spores. But they can also contain scary things like lawn chemicals and heavy metals like lead and arsenic! Mold and fungal spores thrive in moist, dusty areas and flu viruses give off toxins that can also irritate your lungs. More than 100 toxins can be found in household dust.

The following items are not as dangerous but still yucky: skin flakes, animal dander, hair, and even food bits. These all cling together with the aforementioned nasties to form the common dust bunnies. Depending on your household, the percentages can differ. Mine have a lot of my hair, as it is thick, and I shed like a dog. Speaking of pets, pet owners are familiar with pet hair tumbleweeds.

Now for how to lessen the dust! I say lessen because it is impossible to be completely dust free. First, remove or change your shoes upon entering the house. Well over half of the dangerous things coming into the house do so via our shoes. Use mats inside and out and encourage everyone to use them. Always have hard flooring at the entry way, not carpet.

Vacuum often using a vacuum with a HEPA filter. Don’t forget the furniture too. Vacuum hard floors too, it stirs up less dust than sweeping. Finish hard floors off with a Swiffer to complete the clean. Vacuum at least once a week; more often if you have pets or leave the windows open. Steam mops are also great for hard floors; and they disinfect too. Dust using a slightly damp microfiber cloth and always dust last!

KATHLEEN WEAVER-ZECH & DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO