Woman Uses A Simple Tennis Ball To Make A More Functional Duster

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Dusting is a commonly neglected household chore. Why? Because dust gathers in hard-to-reach places, like in corners and behind furniture, and that makes it trickier to tackle than, say, a bookshelf or the top of large appliances. If a cleaning job is going to take extra effort, like requiring the use of a step ladder or moving the sofa, you're less likely to do it.

Extendable dusters can help, but if you don't have one already, there's no need to go out and buy one. Instead, Kathryn Snearly of Do It On a Dime shares a nifty long-handled DIY dusting tool on her YouTube channel. The bonus is that this time-saving dusting hack you must try is made from items you may already have in the house: a tennis ball and a long pole.

Per Snearly's helpful instructions, all you're going to need to make this must-have dusting tool that will easily bring dusty areas of your home back to life is a tennis ball, a pair of scissors, an old broom handle sans the head (or any long pole), a Casabella Microfiber Dusting Cloth, and a rubber band. Once you've gathered all these items, you can make this tool in a matter of minutes. Then it'll be easy to dust all of those pesky spots that you've likely been ignoring until now.

This is an affordable way to reduce dust to make your home cleaner. Take your tennis ball and cut a slit in the centre using a utility knife. Place it on top of your broomstick or pole. If the slit is too small, use the same utility knife or a pair of scissors to widen it slightly. Next, wrap a microfiber cloth around the tennis ball and secure it tightly using a rubber band. You've just created your very own long-handled duster for almost no money — or for free if you already had the materials. It really is that easy!

Run your new tool along your baseboards, crown molding, and the frames of all your tall windows. The curves of the tennis ball will help push the microfiber cloth closer to these uneven surfaces. Any dust hiding in the crevices will stick to the cloth, making this often challenging job much simpler.

If you don't have a microfiber cloth handy and don't want to buy one, you can use an old sock instead. Follow the same DIY process for modifying the tennis ball and attaching it to the pole, then simply replace the cloth with a sock when securing it to the tennis ball. The dust itself might not stick as well to the sock as it would a microfiber cloth. To fix this problem, dampen the sock first. A touch of moisture makes the dust clump and stick to the sock, stopping the dust from flying into the air and settling somewhere else.