Please tell me this is about D's relationship and not yours! (Oy, we need to catch up.)
That said, Kevy and ABG pretty much said what I would have.
Most importantly, remember that the ritual only helps your mind focus on removing the energies from your life. Rituals/objects/spells are merely a focus or tool to take control of our own minds, which then affects our world around us.
I know some very old crones who don't do any physical ritual at all, and can literally banish bad things away without even thinking about it. They stopped using tools a long time ago, because their brains were already trained to do the work for them.