Remove leaves, grass clippings, and compost from the area surrounding your house. Avoid damp cellars and barns, wooded cabins and resorts, lumber mills, gra­naries, antique and thrift shops, and bargain sales in musty basements and garages. Store fireplace wood outside the house.

If you must go camping in the woods, wash your sleeping bag in very hot water before leaving home. Search for a rela­tively clear spot away from rotted logs and vegetation.

Don't play or work with soil or sand, and stay indoors on wet or windy days. Keep your home dry. Repair moisture leaks in your roof, walls, and plumbing, and be wary of dry rot. Seal off crawl spaces or use black plastic to prevent the spread of mold in them. A dehumidifier can help dry up damp base­ments, but the device must be cleaned daily. Molds and mites thrive at 80 percent humidity, so try to keep indoor humidity below 50 percent. Ventilate mold-prone rooms, and consider using exhaust fans in high-moisture rooms. Wash towels, throw rugs, and shower curtains frequently.

Say good-bye to foolish sentiment. Clear out old clothing stored in the attic and discard mildewed scrapbooks, photos, even love letters. Don't let kids eat in the bedroom and leave scraps of food where you may not find them until they're green and slimy (the foods, not the kids).

Mold can grow on bathroom walls, behind peeling wallpa­per, and on stalks and leaves of indoor plants. You'll find it in room vaporizers, humidifiers, rugs, feather and foam-rubber pillows, stuffed furniture, and mattresses. One man called a local thrift shop to find out where they sent donated mattresses to be sterilized for resale. When he got the address, he had his own mattress "baked" at a high temperature to destroy molds and dust mites. Then he encased it in plastic to keep it free of al­lergens.

There is often a brief burst of mold spores when the air con­ditioner starts running, so you may want to turn it on, leave the room for fifteen minutes to give the molds time to disperse, then return. The same with your car. Close the vents and run the air conditioner with the car windows open for a few minutes before you get in.