As much as I wish I was a domestic diva, I’m not. I need a little help in that department. I try to be organized but it often falls to the wayside when I’m busy or flaring. I try to keep a clean house but honestly there are a lot of things I’m not sure what to do or how to do it (for example: when we moved to our new house, we got a new stove with the self-cleaning feature and I must be a moron but I have no idea how to use it – do I just push the button?). And being new homeowners, Hubs and I are trying to be handy when it comes to things around the house but again we’re still in the learning process.
I don’t want to go out and buy a gazillion books. My blog reader has gotten full of of home blogs (which are fabulous don’t get me wrong) but I am looking for a one-stop-shop where I can find resources on basic home issues.
Needless to say, when the opportunity came open to apply to review Home-Ec 101, I eagerly applied and thankfully was chosen.
Written by a fellow blogger Heather Soles, Home-Ec 101: Skills for Everyday Living is just what I was looking for. The layout is simple and clean. There could be more pictures but the text is broken up pleasantly with charts and bubbles. The text is very easy to read and the language is very conversation as if you were sitting down at the kitchen table chatting. There is a welcome amount of humor which is great (unlike some sterile home books I have flipped through). The book is broken up into 4 categories – Clean It, Wash It, Fix It, and Cook It – which make things easy to find. In addition to providing general information of the given topics, there are also inserts from readers asking questions that I think many of us find ourselves asking at one point or another and its nice to now have a resource in which to turn! Heather also includes 4 extremely helpful appendices which includes lists for homemade cleaning solutions, dangerous chemical combinations, a emergency preparedness checklist, and a measurements conversion chart.
All in all, I think this is a great book! It would be great to give to a college graduate or newly married couple setting up their first apartment or house but it is perfectly applicable to every household. I only wish I had found this book and Heather’s site Home-Ec101.com sooner!
**Disclaimer: I was chosen for this review through the One2One Network and was provided a copy of the book to review free of charge. All opinions are 100% my own.**
I just love the front of the book! Looks like a book I’d reference often!
One Christmas Mom used our self-cleaning oven and it filled the house with smoke, set off the smoke detector, and the home security system should have called the fire department. To counteract this, we called the fire department’s non-emergency number to tell them everything was fine. Well, the security system had never called but since we did, they had to come out. We missed the Christmas Eve service that year.
Katie