OR

I have often spoken about what a crap housecleaner I am. Because although I do tend to keep things tidy(ish), I don’t go big time on tedious stuff like dusting, window washing, oven cleaning … but one thing that cannot be avoided here in Sevilla is THE DUST. It gets everywhere all the time (not unlike an unruly orange kitten I know) and so trying to keep dust off the furniture becomes a daily, well, waste of time, as far as I’m concerned. But even I get to the point where I concede that things need dusting, which always ends up with dust flying all over, much sneezing, and other general annoyance. But then…

A few weeks ago when I was cleaning up next door for my last ever new tenants I saw that one of the ex-tenants had left a box of these “plumeros mágicos” (magic dusters) in her wardrobe. And so, since I was cleaning anyhow and it was plenty dusty over there I gave them a whirl … and well, I never! I just slid the thing along dusty surfaces and they not only came out clean, but all the dust and grime ended up on the magic duster and not all over me and the floor. And that was all it took for me to adopt this new cleaning item. The refills will cost me about 75 cents a week. WHATEVER. I don’t care what they cost because they actually make dusting fun! Yeah, I know how pathetic that sounds … but it is just so darned satisfying to use this thing that I find myself enthralled.

What is your favourite labour-saving device?