How To Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind

How To Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing with Your House’s Dirty Little Secrets by Dana K. White        Paperback Book:  223 pages         

I love this gal’s writing style.   She is so funny.   And she is so real.    She has invented several new words like deslobification clearing up all those piles and stacks of stuff you have sitting around so long you don’t see them anymore and procrasticlutter the process of putting off going through a pile of stuff until  later and later never comes until your mother-in-law is on her way over or  someone rings the doorbell.   She tells how she started hosting weekly meetings (book club, craft club etc.) so it would force her to clean her house knowing people were coming over and would see it.      She talks about her own trials and errors and how she finally learned you can’t do things once and expect them to stay that way forever.   You have to get in the habit of doing things every day.    She gets so many questions from fans of her blog: http:www.aslobcomesclean.com/manage

 asking how do I do this?   Is there a certain to keep your house clean and together at all times?   Do you have a daily plan that tells how to begin and what to do when?   So many people who feel overwhelmed with housework have asked her for help that she came up with a 28 day plan titled:  28 Days to Hope for your Home which is included in the book.    Warning:  there is no way out – we all have to clean and clear every day – if we don’t do it – it doesn’t happen.    She eases the reader through Day 1 – Do the dishes.    Even if it takes you all day to catch them up  because you have dirty dishes all over the house– do the dishes.  Nothing else, just the dishes.   She asks how strange does it feel to have all the dishes caught up?   She tells so many stories on herself it is hilarious.     She talks about when she ran out of clean dishes even with owning a dishwasher, she would go buy more instead of taking the time to wash some.     When judgement day came and she forced herself to do ALL of the dirty dishes she was amazed by how many dishes she had.    She ended up giving 6 boxes full of dishes away and started keeping up with the dishes the family tended to always use over and over.   She learned the value of keeping up with the dishes so  Day 2 Do the dishes again– she bets the family has dirtied up some more dishes since you finished washing every dish yesterday.  Spolier alert – you are never going to be free of doing the dishes it is listed every day for the 28 days.   She says we have to learn to accept that there is no day off from housework not even the weekend o.k. maybe while on vacation if you eat out – but if you are home, do the dishes every day.    By day 3 you are doing the dishes twice a day.   On day 8 she adds sweep the kitchen floor to washing the dishes.   Day 11 she slips in do the dishes, sweep the kitchen and before you go to bed wipe down the table and countertops.   Nothing too horrendous, but do you see the pattern here, she is teaching you in a very simple way to ingrain habits that will serve you.  By day 15, she adds clear the clutter from the bathroom.   Not clean the bathroom, just pick up any wet towels, clothes, shoes, toys etc. that may have been left in there.   Just pick up what doesn’t belong there and put it where it goes.    It becomes a routine eventually.   Put away the dishes you washed the night before.   Put dirty dishes in the dishwasher or sink throughout the day.  Sweep the kitchen floor.   Clear the clutter from the bathroom.   Wash the dishes before you go to bed and wipe the table and countertops off.   On Day 22 you begin adding do a 5 minute pick-up   Watch the clock or set a timer for 5 minutes.   Pick up stuff that you see that is either trash and can go straight to the trash can or pick up stuff that belongs in other rooms and take it to where it belongs.   Don’t go over your 5 minutes.   Stop.  You are done for the day.   Surprise!   Day 28!  Dana White says the hope doesn’t come from what your house looks like after 28 days,  the hope comes from knowing what it takes to keep it looking that way every day.    She says when she first started she honestly believed doing all these things was just temporary and that now her messy home would always be orderly.  She says  the bad part is she has realized there is no magic fix.   No end to the dishes orthe sweeping or the picking up but the GOOD NEWS is these are skills and skills can be learned and honed and practiced and developed and when they rusty from lack of use they can be relearned.   She says she still continues to struggle with keeping her house work done.    Some days that crusty marinara sauce spilled on the stove just gets to her and she has to walk away even if it is easier to clean it off while it is still wet.    She will share more about her day to day struggles on her blog and invites the reader to check it out and feel free to share your own housework and hoarding horror stories.   She was so happy and relieved to find out other people have the same problems she has it isn’t always possible to maintain everything day in day out.   She just always reminds herself no matter what – go do the dishes.   Fun book.   I love her sense of humor and her fearless sharing of her realities.   Great job, Dana White!  O.K. O. K.   I’ll go do the dishes.  J

Decluttering at the Speed of Life:

Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle With Stuff by Dana K. White           Audiobook:  6 hours, 7 minutes       Paperback Book:  240 pages       

I loved this book.    Dana’s style is so down to earth and so comical that she inspires the reader both empathetically – she gets it, she’s been there, too, and shares the greatest stories about her overcoming her clutter and compulsion to buy when it is such a good deal even though she probably won’t actually take up welding like she thought she would when she bought all the welding equipment and scrap metal.    Dana is like so many of us who think to ourselves that some thing is useful and we could repurpose it so we gather lots of them only to find 2 or more years later, we are paying rent on a home or apartment that we aren’t getting full use of because now the few things we collected for a purpose are now a stockpile of dusty whatever because after stockpiling we neglect to ever follow through and do what it was we considered doing at the time to make a new gadget, or décor enhancement or collage project with the kids – whatever our teeming thoughts promised of the glories of repurposing only to find out we honestly weren’t interested enough to actually do the work entailed in the repurposing of all those papertowel rolls we were planning to give new life to.    I am so fond of this gal, she is my alter-ego, my twin separated at birth and I laughed so much in listening to this audiobook because I saw so much of myself in it.   So many phases and half done projects have been dredged from the back of closets when I was gung-ho to make rugs or beaded necklaces, whatever stage I was in and enjoying – for a while – till I moved on to something else but neglected to move my left-overs out and donated to someone else who might just find it as interesting as I once did.   You will laugh, you will so enjoy the reflection pool that this book can be, and you will be so motivated by Dana White that you will be moved to actually tackle that junk room.    She is like mental adrenaline – her words and stories get into your head and you want to do yourself proud in accomplishing the de-cumulation of stuff in your home.   I truly, truly, loved this book and I wish Dana and I were besties so we could laugh over our mutual foibles then go gangbusters on clutter busting.    If I had a book of hers to read every day and I would if she had that many books in print or on audio, I would go through my house like Mary Poppins with a spoon full of sugar – a place for everything and everything in its place.   Dang, this gal is good.   I am on a hunt for everything else she has written – she is awesome and she is realistic.   She doesn’t recommend, like so many other declutter tomes do to take everything out of the closet then go through the pile and put back only what fits.   Like I said, she gets it.     She says delutter at the speed of life which dictates that you won’t have time to go through everything in one declutter session – so do what you can.    Five minutes counts in her world (and mine) toward making a way in the right direction and making a dent in that stack of stuff we keep walking by and ignoring.    All good deeds done are DONE and get you where you want to go and inspire you to keep on keeping on.    Life is not about making decluttering torment its about progress no matter how much or how little and enjoying the journey.  I like her style.

My Boyfriend Barfed in my Handbag

My Boyfriend Barfed in my Handbag…and Other Things You Can’t Ask Martha by Jolie Kerr         Paperback:  238 pages                

Any book that comes with comedienne Amy Sedaris’ seal of approval works for me but then Jolie Kerr had me at the title prior to the Sedaris homage.    What a great book!   I have now learned new ways on how to clean with white vinegar, ammonia, vodka, oxy clean, bleach, baking soda (not all together by the way)  and many new uses for toothbrushes and laundry sheets.    I have learned ways to rid the smell of cigarette smoke from everything from walls to car seats (spray vodka and water).    I have learned how to rid the boy smell (socks, feet, sweat, beer, stale smell with a little dust thrown in) from a room (vinegar and water – equal parts).    I have learned how to get the vomit smell out of an expensive leather purse (sudsy bubbles, saddle soap and that can of stuff used to get stink out of tennis shoes).   For the more adventurous there are cleaning solutions for your harness (I don’t judge) and other like toys (this is a family blog folks) both adult and younger.     There are instructions for getting the confetti cannon bits up without leaving one bit of confetti behind, there are instructions on how to get those nagging (bodily) protein stains out of just about everything (we’re talking from drool on your pillowcase to skid marks off your sheets to well, you know…off of pretty much everything you can think of).    We’re talking inside and outside the house here from kitchen to garage to car from recliner to every appliance and gizmo you can come up with and if it isn’t here you can always go online to Jolie Kerr’s column, “Ask a Clean Person,” which happens to be the title of another of her books.    This book makes the whole process of cleaning seem like the most pleasing adventure you have ever been on.   What a motivational speaker she is.   The Queen of Clean – sorry Martha, but, there are just some things we can’t ask you about.    Thank you Jolie Kerr – what a great book.    I am so inspired to go attack that odd stain my cats left for me now.     You have inspired me not to run from the gross stuff anymore but to attack full on while it is still fresh and simpler to get up.    A copy of this book should be in every household.   I loved it and you will laugh out loud and won’t be able to put it down.    GREAT BOOK!   A favorite and one I will refer back to often.