The Item You Can Use To Dust Hard-To-Reach Areas

If you're on a deep-cleaning kick, then you know some spots are easier to dust than others. While some areas need little more than a soft cloth and a spray bottle, others need some creative maneuvering, whether that's an extra long duster to reach high ceiling fans or a thin scrub brush to get small grout lines. But what about those seemingly impossible-to-clean places, like lampshades or speakers? You can't dust them with a spritz of Windex, and running a microfiber cloth over them doesn't do much. In moments like that, grab some packing tape.

Sometimes you have to work smarter and not harder when it comes to deep cleaning, and that means utilizing a couple of ingenious cleaning hacks now and again. Rather than use a clunky hose attachment or spend money on expensive air canisters, you can use a piece of packing tape from your junk drawer to achieve the same thing in less time. Here's how.

This is an excellent hack to use for those tricky-to-clean spots. While an all-purpose spray and microfiber cloth is often sufficient to dust down furniture surfaces and small knick-knacks, here's how you can dust items wrapped in fabric, like lampshades or speaker sets.

All you need to do is grab a roll of packing tape and tear off a foot of the adhesive. Press it against the fabric of the item you're trying to clean, run your hand gently over it to stick it in place, and lift it off the material. Since the underside is sticky, it will not only adhere to the fabric, but to the dust and grime coating its surface. When you lift it off the item, the dust will stick to the tape and be lifted off the fabric surface. 

This is not only an effective way to clean, but it's also a time-saving one too, as pressing down tape is a much faster cleaning tactic than plugging in a vacuum and running its hose over every inch.

If you're all for shortcuts, then you definitely should file away this cleaning hack for your next deep clean. However, like with all new cleaning supplies, you should take a moment to see if it's safe to use on your intended items. Some packing tape is stickier than others, which means there is a chance you can leave behind glue residue if you're not careful — extra-sticky tape like duct tape should not be used as it will most likely leave residue behind. Since that creates a bigger mess and defeats the point of a cleaning hack, it's best to test the tape out in an inconspicuous area you won't see before using it anywhere else. 

Another precaution you can take is to make the tape a little less sticky before putting it on the fabric surface. To do that, simply stick the piece of tape on your hand a few times to make the tape less tacky. It will still pull up dust and grime, but it won't tug on the fabric or leave residual glue behind.