Trying to stem the tide of allergy-causing house dust in my rural home has always felt like holding back a flood with a single sand bag. With a dust problem like mine, I’m always on the lookout for something new, like Pledge Dust and Allergen Furniture Polish. I knew my home would be a real test for company claims that their product can remove up to 84 percent of allergens found in house dust.

Like any product, it has pluses and minuses. Plus No. 1: The product seems to work well. Spray a little on a micro fiber dust cloth and it becomes a real dust magnet. SC Johnson claims their product traps and removes dust and dust mites, pet dander and pollen dust, and that it keeps surfaces looking cleaner longer. That sounds pretty impressive but realistically no single product can rid your home of allergens. Dusting with a product like Pledge is just one of many things you should be doing to keep your home environment as free of dust and allergens as possible.

Plus No. 2: I was already a fan of the traditional Pledge, although I have used it mainly to clean and polish my bike rather than my furniture. That’s right. Pledge or a cheaper knock-off version is one of the best ways to clean your bike and avoid damaging your pretty paint job.

That brings me to my first complaint. I don’t like cleaning products with fragrance because it aggravates my allergies. I can tolerate the fragrance when I use the product outside “occasionally” to clean my bike but indoors for regular dusting is another matter. The new anti-dust formula Pledge has an “outdoor fresh” fragrance.

It comes in an aerosol can which is another one of my pet peeves. Usually, you cannot recycle aerosol cans and they contain CFC’s, which are harmful to the ozone layer. But this new Pledge comes in a steel container that can be recycled in some areas and contains no CFC’s.

If you don’t mind the price (about $6 for 12.5-ounce size)or the fragrance, try some of these ways to use your new can of Pledge:

•Tie a towel around the end of your broom. Spray it with a little Pledge and use it to dust the blades on your ceiling fans.
•Spray a little on a micro fiber dusting cloth and wipe off your mini-blinds.
•Spray the bottoms of a pair of old socks, put them on and skate your way around your hardwood or laminate floors.

Before I use a product, I like to know what ingredients it contains. This information was decidedly absent from both the container and the company’s website but I decided to purchase one can anyhow to give it a try. In the future, I’ll probably stick with non-fragrance cleaners with a cheaper price tag.