I Made This Brilliant Dust-Busting Spray, and Used It All Over My House

I live in New York, and it’s been nice to finally enjoy some actual spring weather. I’ve got the windows open all over the house to let those beautiful breezes sweep through, and I am determined to hold off on using our air conditioner for as long as I can this season.

But do you know what also sweeps through my house? Dust, and plenty of it. The window screens are already in dire need of a good wash-down, and I’ve been wiping down surfaces like it’s my job. Well, as a cleaning writer, I suppose it is, but I’m tired of walking around the house perpetually armed with a microfiber cloth.

So when I discovered a dust-busting spray on Apartment Therapy touted for keeping surfaces dust-free — well, at least a bit longer, that is — I knew I had to try it. The best part? I had all the ingredients on hand.

All you need to create this concoction is an empty spray bottle (I reached for a glass one from Grove that I got a while back) and the following four ingredients that I’ll bet you also have on hand:

• 2 cups of water
• 1 cup of vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1-2 drops of dish soap

The vinegar-to-water ratio made sense to me because vinegar is acidic and it’s best to dilute it before cleaning to avoid damaging any surfaces. The dish soap works for extra cleaning power, while the olive oil is supposed to polish the surface and keep dust away. But here’s the thing: Oil doesn’t mix with water. So I wasn’t too surprised when I poured the ingredients into the spray bottle and witnessed the olive oil immediately rise to the top. 

That didn’t stop me from trying the spray, though. I knew that the vinegar solution and the bit of soap would have enough cleaning power on their own. But I was determined to get some of that oil into the mix. I gave the bottle a vigorous shake right before spraying a surface, then I wiped with a microfiber cloth.

I first used this dust-busting spray in my kitchen. I kept the vinegar away from the granite countertops — even in its diluted form, I’m afraid of damage — and instead attacked my stovetop. Yes, my stove has to be dusted on a regular basis, not just degreased, thanks to the open window in my kitchen and a frequently opened side door leading to our backyard that invites an endless supply of dust. I’ve been dusting the stovetop every day since I started opening the kitchen window again. But now that I’ve tried the dust-busting spray, I was able to skip a day. I’ll take that as a win. 

I also used the spray to clean the appliances. Both the diluted vinegar and olive oil are fine for stainless steel, but I was sure not to leave the spray on the surface for too long anyway. I wiped down the microwave, the coffee maker, the dishwasher, and the refrigerator. (I didn’t have to return the next day with my microfiber cloth, so that’s another win.)

Next, I dusted the furniture in the dining room. Again, it’s OK to use diluted vinegar on wood, although I was sure not to overdo it. In fact, by this point, my microfiber cloth was damp enough with the spray that I just used that to dust my dining room table and the sideboard. (I spot tested it to be sure.)

The surfaces I had dusted were neither wet nor oily, so I continued dusting the rest of my house with the spray. I concentrated on areas that have been an absolute chore to keep clean, like windowsills, baseboards, and the side door saddle. Another place that’s a beast to keep dust-free? The bathroom — notably the toilet tanks and the bathtub, the latter of which goes largely unused in my downstairs bathroom but still collects a ton of dust. (Note: I always use a separate microfiber cloth for the bathrooms.) I’ve taken to dusting the bathroom more frequently so that when I go in with the sanitizing bathroom sprays, I’m able to wipe the surface quickly rather than push around wet clumps of dust.

Do I believe this is the end-all, be-all house cleaning spray? Not exactly. Again, I’m not confident that even a drop of olive oil ever made it out of the bottle. But it did remind me of the cleaning power of vinegar, so it’s an encouragement to keep natural ingredients in that spray bottle in the future.