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A review by ury949
How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing with Your House's Dirty Little Secrets by Dana K. White
3.0
I think this book wasn't for me - not that I don't want to achieve the ideal clean home the author strives for, but I don't really need someone to tell me to do the dishes. If anything, this book showed me that I'm on the right track in many ways, which is nice. But I found myself skipping lots of sections. I think the most important thing I took away from this was, don't have three kids because things will be way worse and so much harder than they are right now.
See, I work, don't have kids, I'm an artist with lots of supplies and different needs than a blogger/writer/mom. Mrs. White tries to make her book apply to every living situation, but it's really for people who've gotten to a place in their life where they're in over their heads, and they are just realizing that something needs to change. Cleaning your house is like loosing weight - it's a lifestyle change, not a one-big-overhaul diet and you're there! But I knew that. What gets me completely hopeless is noticing stuff like, the door frames and baseboards are filthy and haven't been cleaned since we moved in, or that the window latches, tops of door frames, under the microwave, need serious de-greasing, or the dirt that builds up on the inside panels of my washing machine - the stuff that you don't think about or do but a couple times a year - but really I want to conquer these things, and know what all they are: the base of the refrigerator should be opened and cleaned yearly; replacing the filter on the furnace and water dispensers each year; washing the outsides of the windows, the gutters, the inside of the humidifier... I was hoping more for a book like that. One that would go over all the stuff that would make my home truly clean!
Still, reading this book actually had an unexpected effect on me - I'd be reading and then just stop and do some cleaning because I'd feel like it. For that reason, I'll probably follow Dana K. White's blog just for the motivation it provides. I did learn a few things that I haven't tried about decluttering, like the Container Concept and Clutter Threshold, and I'm assuming that since a lot of the practices she talks about I know work because I already do them, then I'm guessing these will too and look forward to trying them.
See, I work, don't have kids, I'm an artist with lots of supplies and different needs than a blogger/writer/mom. Mrs. White tries to make her book apply to every living situation, but it's really for people who've gotten to a place in their life where they're in over their heads, and they are just realizing that something needs to change. Cleaning your house is like loosing weight - it's a lifestyle change, not a one-big-overhaul diet and you're there! But I knew that. What gets me completely hopeless is noticing stuff like, the door frames and baseboards are filthy and haven't been cleaned since we moved in, or that the window latches, tops of door frames, under the microwave, need serious de-greasing, or the dirt that builds up on the inside panels of my washing machine - the stuff that you don't think about or do but a couple times a year - but really I want to conquer these things, and know what all they are: the base of the refrigerator should be opened and cleaned yearly; replacing the filter on the furnace and water dispensers each year; washing the outsides of the windows, the gutters, the inside of the humidifier... I was hoping more for a book like that. One that would go over all the stuff that would make my home truly clean!
Still, reading this book actually had an unexpected effect on me - I'd be reading and then just stop and do some cleaning because I'd feel like it. For that reason, I'll probably follow Dana K. White's blog just for the motivation it provides. I did learn a few things that I haven't tried about decluttering, like the Container Concept and Clutter Threshold, and I'm assuming that since a lot of the practices she talks about I know work because I already do them, then I'm guessing these will too and look forward to trying them.