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The battle against dust can never be won as it is in the air at all times, but that is no excuse to give up. The knowledge that household dust consists mostly of flakes of dead skin, moulds, insect parts and egg cases, hairs and flakes of cat saliva can turn even the most resolute slob into a devoted duster. Take as much pride in your cloths drawer as your knicker drawer: keep it well stocked and frequently laundered.

Dust duty
Arm yourself with clean cotton dusters and a leather duster for the less accessible areas or delicate objects.
Start at the top and work down so that dislodged dust and dirt falls down onto un-dusted areas.
Use the duster lightly as dust contains particles that can scratch and damage surfaces if you rub too hard.
Shake out dusters frequently otherwise you are just moving the dust around rather than getting rid of it.
To prevent dust flying around and settling back on the things you’ve just dusted, slightly dampen the duster with water.
Have a slightly damp cloth handy for removing surface dirt and marks, such as rings from cups and glasses.
Use a vacuum cleaner or hand-held dustbuster for corners and upholstery.
Finish the dusting programme with a thorough vacuuming.

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To conclude this section, here are seven tried and tested tips for effective clutter clearing:

1. 1) Discover Your Most Effective Clutter Clearing Time of Day
   Most people find they have favourite time:s of day for clutter clearing. Mine is in the morning. Some people like to clutter clear through the night. Discover when you are at your most decisive and do your clearing then.
   
   

2. 2) Schedule Clutter Clearing
   Decide now when you will begin and schedule it on your calendar, as you would any other activity. Make a date with yourself to do it and show up. It doesn’t have to be a whole day. It can a series of appointments of just ten minutes or half an hour.
   
   

3. 3) Time-box Each Task
   It’s a well known fact that all jobs expand to fill their allotted time limit, so if you tell yourself you will clutter clear your stuff until it’s finished, don’t be surprised if it takes forever. Time-box each job. Break each task down into chunks, decide how long it will take you to complete each one, and then set your timer. Work against the clock to do each chunk within the time box you have set yourself.

   You can also use this technique to accomplish other types of tasks. For example, if you are doing a job at your computer, there are some great timer software programmes you can use. Instead of a boring alarm sound, you can set it to burst into life with any sound track you have on your computer when time’s up.

   If you’re the kind of person who procrastinates because you love the adrenalin rush of getting something done just in time for a deadline, you’ll adore time-boxing. This way you won’t have to wait for a big deadline but will be able to get your fix many times a day. However, I have to warn you that with practice you’ll be able to time-box yourself without a clock, and will routinely start getting jobs done on time. So only use this technique if the rest of your life is interesting enough not to need adrenalin highs (your kidneys will thank you for this and serve you longer because of it).
   
   

4. 4) Play Upbeat Music
   Use external speakers (not headphones) and set the volume loud enough to make your body feel like dancing. For best results, set your player to automatic repeat so that it just keeps going. Most people are able to clutter clear for two to three times longer if they have the right music playing. Avoid CDs that have alternating fast and slow music – the ballads will cause you to lose momentum. If you have a lot of clutter to clear it would be a good investment of your time to make your own music compilation especially for this purpose. But don’t let doing this be yet another delay to making a start!
   
   

5. 5) Wear Something Red
   Just as red dancing shoes make your feet feel like moving, so wearing red clothes make you feel like taking action. If you don’t have anything red, then wear colours from the warm end of the spectrum (orange, yellow, etc) rather than cool colours such as blue. Many people keep clutter as a way of comforting themselves, so if you wear warm, comforting colours rather than cool ones while sorting through your stuff, you’ll find it easier to let things go.
   
   

6. 6) Don’t Wear Black or Grey
   Black attracts low-level vibrations and will quickly make you feel tired when clutter clearing. Grey is also not a good colour to wear because it will cause you to be indecisive about what stays and what goes.
   
   

7. 7) Reward Yourself for a Job Well Done
   It’s human nature to seek gratification, so if you reward yourself in some way after you’ve clutter cleared, that part of you remembers this and is more inclined to want to do it again in the future. Promise yourself that when the job is done, you’ll reward yourself with a massage, watch a movie, go out with a friend, or whatever kind of treat is possible, affordable and meaningful for you.

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Like learning anything else in the world, clutter clearing is a skill that you can develop. You can think of yourself as needing to build your clutter clearing ‘muscle’. The more of it you do, the more proficient you become and the easier it gets, but when you first begin you can feel like a clutter-clearing weakling.

After a few successes, when you experience what I call the E-factor of clutter clearing, it changes from being a chore to being a delight. ‘E’ in this case stands for Exhilaration – the joyful feeling of accomplishment you get when you finish a job. You decide to clear a small drawer, do it, and the feeling of exhilaration that follows is wonderful. All kinds of energy blockages are released in your body, the failures of previous attempts at clutter clearing are overwritten, and you feel unstoppable.

One of my clients, who had been a hoarder all his life, became so enthusiastic about clutter clearing that he told me he would sometimes come home from work„ say hello to his wife and children, and then go upstairs to his bedroom, open a drawer, select something such as a pair of old socks, and just for the sheer heck of it, throw them away! He’d discovered the E-factor. Actually you can experience this any time you decide to do something and do it. It’s not limited to clutter clearing. The E-factor is one of the main things that inspires successful people to do more.

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If you work from home or have a desk you use at home, this next section is for you. The first step is to do one simple sum: calculate the percentage area of naked desk you can actually see. Don’t cheat and tidy your desk before you do this. Just leave it exactly as it is to get an honest appraisal of your situation.
Now, I’ve seen hundreds of desks in my consultancy work, both in businesses and private homes, and one thing most of them have in common is that there is virtually no space on them where a person can work. Usually there is an area about the size of a piece of paper that has been left free and everything else is occupied, either with equipment or with stacks of paper waiting for attention.

My advice is: clear your desk! There was once a wonderful book by Declan Tracy with just that title (sadly no longer in print), and in it he described the desks and business practices of some of the top entrepreneurial business people in the world, who all keep paperwork to a minimum. A clear desk means a clear mind, and a clear mind has vision and perspective. If you are bogged down in paperwork, that’s exactly where you’ll stay.
Working with a clear desk increases productivity, creativity and job satisfaction. An excellent habit to acquire is to always leave your desk clear whenever you finish. It is psychologically far more uplifting to start with a clear desk rather than with mounds of paperwork, which make you feel defeated before you even begin.
So begin now by removing from your desk absolutely all paperwork that is pending your attention and all objects that are not absolutely vital. I’m talking here about leaving only real essentials, such as a computer, telephone, pen and note­book. Keep other extraneous equipment such as staplers, pots of pens, paper clips, fluffy toys, bags of munchies, and so on, on a nearby shelf or in your desk drawer.

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Let’s start with a few guidelines for laundry work.
1. Sort the clothes, and wash whites together. By following this simple rule you can avoid the dingy look white clothes can get when they pick up the dye — even in microscopic amounts — from darker clothing.
2. Presoak or pretreat clothing and other items that are heavily soiled.
3. Empty pockets before anything goes into the wash. Facial tissues and other bits and pieces hiding in pockets will cause havoc with your washing, and darker washing in particular.
4. For their well-being, close zippers. However, you’ll need to undo buttons for more effective cleaning.
5. Floating strings (as on aprons) or ties (as in men’s pajama bottoms) should be tied in a bow to prevent tangling.
6. Clothing of any fabric that tends to pill, such as jersey knit, should be turned inside out.
7. Any item in a colour that might bleed should be washed either separately, or with similarly colored items.
8. Use white vinegar in the final rinse to remove all signs of soap. Add borax to the final rinse as a fabric softener.
Water temperature can be a dilemma when it comes to doing the laundry. Using cold water may save on energy, but will it do a good job in every case? The answer is that different fabrics will get cleanest in different water temperatures. Let this chart guide you.

The Clean Cane Formula — for cane, bamboo, rattan and wicker
Clean pieces made from these materials regularly, using a small, stiff brush. To deal with grimy corners and other dirty areas, use a toothbrush dipped in soapy water. Then wipe down with toweling.
Sometimes this type of furniture will yellow as it ages. To help counter yellowing, wipe down with salty water every few months.
Use the Clean Cane Formula on your cane, bamboo, rattan or wicker pieces. The lavender will give a sweet, old-fashioned scent. Substitute another oil if you prefer.
• Va cup liquid castile soap
• 1 cup water
• 6 drops lavender essential oil
Combine these ingredients in a spray bottle. Spray onto the piece, leave for a few seconds, and then wipe down with a damp, clean cloth.

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The following recipe will clean and revive these surfaces beautifully.

All-purpose Cleaner

Substitute lemon juice for white vinegar if you wish, and use sweet orange or lemon essential oil for a delightful citrus fragrance.

• 1 tablespoon borax

• 2 cups very hot water

• 1 tablespoon white vinegar

• 1 teaspoon liquid castile soap

• 10 drops essential oil of your choice

Dissolve the borax in the water, and then add the other ingredients. Use a spray bottle to apply the cleaner to laminated and plastic surfaces. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.

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