How to Clean Pollen off Outside Furniture

Hello Readers, and welcome to Week 17 of 52 Weeks to a Cleaner House!

Has the pollen fairy visited your neck of the woods yet? If not, get the allergy meds ready and cover your outdoor living areas in plastic, because she's on her way with a heaping crop of yellow sneeze dust.

We were out of town all weekend and came home to this on Monday.

How to Clean Pollen off Outside Furniture:

While it's annoying and messy as all heck, pollen isn't exactly difficult to remove. FYI:  you may need to protect your eyes, nose and mouth during the process. And, unless you spend lots of time on your porch or deck, I wouldn't rush out to clean them until this year's pollen shower is finished, or you'll just be scrubbing all over again tomorrow...and the next day...and the next day...and the next day...and th...

(I did break down and clean mine today because I just couldn't stand looking out the window at jaundiced furniture.)

Here are my top cleaning tips on de-pollinating your outdoor spaces.

For glass surfaces, I use homemade glass cleaner and about 37 cleaning rags.

DIY glass cleaner: in a spray bottle, mix together 2 cups water and ¼ cup of vinegar

Spray pollinated surfaces and wipe, wipe, wipe until the yellow is gone. Vinegar glass is perfect for making glass extra shiny and streak free.

For wrought iron, wood and plastic, mix a few drops of Dawn dish washing liquid with warm water and put it in a spray bottle for easy use.

Just like with glass surfaces, spray, wipe and repeat a thousand times. Be sure to get into all the crevices and under sides of your furniture. Rinse with fresh water when you're done. (I use the water hose.)

For wicker, vacuum away any loose particles first, and then clean like you would wrought iron, wood or plastic.  After rinsing, shake any excess water out of wicker furniture so it doesn't get trapped in there.

For cushions: These can be a tad more tricky.

Step One: Beat off as much surface pollen as you can. Do this by smacking cushions against each other, or with a baseball bat or a broom, or a tennis racket or your neighbor's prosthetic leg. Doesn't really matter what you use as long as it's pounding out the yellow stuff.

Step Two: Liberally spray cushions with your dish washing liquid mixture (the same one you used on the plastic and wrought furniture above).

Step Three: Scrub cushion surfaces with a bristled brush.

Step Three: Rinse cushions with fresh water.

Step Four: Allow them to air dry outside.

To clean floor surfaces, I stick to the handy-dandy water hose and a mop. In all my researching and experimenting, I've yet to come across an easier way.

Hopefully these tips will help you enjoy your outdoor spaces even after the Pollen Fairy has worked her dreaded magic.

Happy Cleaning!