Don Aslett hates “tips.”
This housekeeping professional with around 55 years in the cleaning business and dozens of how-to books under his belt doesn’t care to hear about tarnish-removing hot sauce or toilets cleaned with Tang. Instead, the Idaho entrepreneur, who often turns up on Oprah and CNN to impart advice, relies on humor to teach people how to stay tidy and live with less.
Ignore the latest tips or tricks, Aslett says, and simply clean as you go and be responsible for your own mess.
This housekeeping cheerleader swung through Denver recently to give his “Clean in a Minute” and “Getting Off the Excess Express” talks to attendees of the 20th annual Spring Home & Patio Show. Before his visit, The Denver Post chatted with Aslett, whose books include “Clutter’s Last Stand” and “Do I Dust Or Vacuum First?” to find out more about his regular public appearances.
Talk a little about your approach to public speaking.
Cleaning is a hard sell. Parents punish their kids with it, and recently a big football coach punished his ballplayers by making them clean the stadium. My life is about telling people cleaning is important … It’s good exercise. A clean heart, clean air, clean floor, clean sheets, clean planet — it’s all related. Anything cleaner is better. But it is a hard sell, so we made it humorous.
How exactly do you make light of a chore like housekeeping?
The biggest problem in the world right now is excess. We’ve got too much stuff in us, on us and around us.
I like to talk about the goat’s brassiere — you know, what she uses to hold her udders up. I say, ‘I know a guy who didn’t even have a goat, but he was at a garage sale and saw a goat’s brassiere for 50 cents and bought it — just in case a goat came by.’ My whole audience has goat’s bras all over their houses. Once you get them laughing you can really crucify them. ‘Look at you scabs out there in the audience …’
My message is trying to get people to realize that the biggest reason to clean and de-junk is the way people treat you. You treat people like they look. When they’re sloppy, you treat them that way. If you drive through a state where the highway is littered, you litter, too. So the biggest reason to clean and de-junk is to be treated better.
Why do you think some people have so much trouble with housekeeping and clearing clutter?
It’s image. Somewhere you were taught to be clean. That’s why people shop so much — to have new stuff and throw away their old stuff … The problem is, we tend to clean up after people. Janitors, ministers, moms and pops. If kids left school knowing just one thing — I am responsible for my own mess, mentally, physically and psychologically — they would be better off.
Read more about Don Aslett, his cleaning business, and his many guides to streamlining your stuff at .
