A few months ago, I remember having the same thought about several women in my life, “Why is so and so’s house always so clean? What am I missing here?” I even talked to my friend Kati about it. I’m a competent person, I’m not lazy, yet it never seemed I could have my house put together. It truly, truly baffled me and I had begun to think that some people are born with a neat gene and some aren’t. Clearly, I wasn’t. (Even though my mom keeps a very clean home- but apparently we don’t get all the good genes!)
When the agent for the new book “How to Manage your Home without Losing Your Mind,” (authored by Dana K.White) contacted me about reviewing the brand-new book, it was a no-brainer for me. I wanted to figure out the secret to at least keeping things under control.
This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own.
I read the book cover-to-cover in just a few days (which is in itself a miracle these days!) and gleaned so much valuable info from this book. One thing that I KNOW but is easy to forget is that since I am home many days with anywhere from 2-5 children, my home will naturally be harder to keep up than if we were gone all day during the week. So my house is not going to be perfect, but it also doesn’t have to be a disaster! (Order your copy of the book here!)
One of my favorite gems from the Dana’s book which I NEVER would have thought of but makes perfect sense: “Timing myself cleaning…. is a reality check. I learn how long it takes to clean a certain volume of mess, and this motivates me to not let it get to a thirty-minute mess next time.” I always assume that things ill take forever, but in reality, vacuuming the living room takes about 5 minutes. I can do that almost every day!
The book also includes a practical step-by-step guide at the back in order to the reader on track to de-slobification. One thing I’ve known- and been working on- for several years is that we simply have too much stuff. When we moved to our new-to-us farmhouse last year, we downsized by about 800 square feet and got rid of about half of our belongings. It felt SO good. By downsizing our square footage by so much, we are still constantly purging.
Having a little too much fun with the book 😉
Now that I have been able to get the number of items in our home under control, I can focus on long-lost arts like dusting. Or, shall I say, my little homemaker-in-trainer can focus on it. 😉 She just told me today, “Mom, I LOVE cleaning windows so much! I want to do it every day!”
When the publisher of the new book sent me my copy, they also generously included several Swiffer cleaning products. Trust me, if it wasn’t for a Swiffer Wet Jet, my floors simply would never get mopped. Plus, the kids think the Swiffer is fun. (Are you sensing a theme here? 😉 )
If you, too, have struggled with slob-i-ness and truly don’t know why, be sure to order your copy of How to Manage your Home without Losing Your Mind soon!
(Psst.. “How to Manage your Home without Losing Your Mind” is currently the #1 release on Amazon in Home Cleaning, Caretaking & Relocating so clearly I’m not alone. 😉
About Kelli Hays
