Cleaning and the Meaning of Life: Simple Solutions to Declutter Your Home and Beautify Your Life [Paperback]

Paula Jhung (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005

"The most thorough, fun-to-read book to show you the path to organization, simplicity, comfort and peace of mind."
- Phyllis Diller

"I highly recommend this bright and powerful book for clearing clutter and bringing joy to our lives."
-Alexandra Stoddard, Things I Want My Daughters to Know


"This delightful book brims with clever ideas and fun-to-use tips." 
-Harriet Schechter, Let Go of Clutter

Are you stressed by a mess?  Do drifts of paper cover your desk?  Has a toxic landfill consumed what your kid calls a closet?  Is your home a pain to maintain?  Take heart.  Interior designer Paula Jhung takes the mess out of domestic so you can clear a path to a clean, serene and beautiful home.  Not your average guide to dusting faster or scrubbing deeper, these playful and practical tips for outwitting the dirty work will free your time, lift your spirit and guide you to a Promise Land of balance, freedom and well-being.  

With her unique LIFE plan: Lighten Up, Invest in Comfort, Forget Perfection and Enhance Flow, she'll show you elegant, inexpensive ways to create a stay-clean home so you spend more time enjoying it than maintaining it.     

She also dishes the dirt on: 

• Recognizing and curing TMS – Too Much Stuff Syndrome
• A Procrastinator’s Guide to Purging
• The 7 Secrets of Highly Effective Closets
• The Kama Sutra of Cleaning
• Your Astrological Cleaning Style
• The Art of Hiding a Mess
• Creating a Private Retreat
• Giving a Home Heart and Soul

With wit and warmth, Cleaning and the Meaning of Life opens the door to a harmonious home and a fulfilling life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jhung's credo is, "If I can control the mess around me, I can find serenity within." To this end, the author of How to Avoid Housework and Guests Without Grief spells out her philosophy of LIFE: Lighten up, Invest in comfort, Forget perfection and Enhance flow. Realizing that many readers feel "clobbered by clutter," Jhung advises them to "lighten up" by cutting back on clothing, books and paper by trading or borrowing clothes, using the library more and reading newspapers online. "Investing in comfort" means installing high-quality storage units and creating serene places around the house to rest and meditate. "Forgetting perfection" involves using more print fabrics, which don't show wear and tear, and learning how to do the "twelve-minute two-step," a quick tidy-up that results in a home that is "not exactly House Beautiful" but "looks good enough to kick back in without feeling guilty." Finally, "enhancing flow" advocates paying attention to environmental mood lifters, like fragrance, soft pillows and gentle lighting. Jhung's strategies for "taking the mess out of domestic and the irk out of work" are fun to read and easy to implement. By keeping some very simple goals in mind—a low-maintenance home, greater everyday comfort, more peace of mind—she provides motivation for readers to tackle their spring cleaning with gusto. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Jhung is the author of award-winning How to Avoid Housework (Fireside) Guests Without Grief (Fireside) and co-author of Entertaining at Home (No-Brainer's Video Guides to Life) Cerebellum. A regular contributor to Family Circle, her articles have appeared in dozens of publications including House Beautiful, Home, Bridal Guide, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Herald, Women's World, Cosmopolitan and Women's Day. She has appeared on HGTV, Bloomberg News Radio, Party at Home, Today in New York, and scores of other television shows across the US and Canada. Her books have been picked up by the Literary Guild and Doubleday book clubs and have been excerpted in hundreds of publications including The Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, Newsday, Reader's Digest, Child and Redbook. She is an interior designer who owns CleanDesign, a low-maintenance, high-comfort decorating service. She lives in California.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 275 pages
• Publisher: HCI (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0757302408
• ISBN-13: 978-0757302404
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,200,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cleaning and the Meaning of Life, April 27, 2005

By 

Beverly Trainer (San Diego) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cleaning and the Meaning of Life: Simple Solutions to Declutter Your Home and Beautify Your Life (Paperback)

Hey, this is a fun read! No prissy prima donna, Paula Jhung describes her own struggles as she shares tips and techniques along with some pretty funny and dishy stories. Part how-to and part humor, this book has lots of cool ideas for overcoming household clutter and inner angst. And--this would make a great gift for brides, frantic moms or friends who're just trying to balance it all.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sound advice from the guru of clean, May 11, 2005

By 

Laura Wheeler - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cleaning and the Meaning of Life: Simple Solutions to Declutter Your Home and Beautify Your Life (Paperback)

For a self-proclaimed packrat, this book was a lifesaver to me. Within the first 25 pages, Paula gives the reader the "rubbish inquisition" - questions like, "if there were a flood, would I try to save this?" and "does it make my life easier?" Making room for all of my husband's stuff in our new apartment has ben infinitely easier now that I can let go of all my STUFF - and I owe it all to Paula.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow cleaning is not only easy it's fun, May 26, 2005

By 

Erika Sumner (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cleaning and the Meaning of Life: Simple Solutions to Declutter Your Home and Beautify Your Life (Paperback)

If you're like me you may not enjoy cleaning, but Paula's easy tips and tricks actually make this chore fun! I am a wife and mother of two, so finding the time to cook, clean, decorate, etc. is quite a challenge. Maybe that's why I found Paula's book so helpful. She has chapters on everything from cooking up a cleaner kitchen where she offers advice on food preparation that requires less cleanup. And at the opposite end of the spectrum is what she shares about the way cleanliness and chore sharing can build a better household and relationship. I truly found this a quick, helpful and easy read. I recommend it to anyone wanting to tackle one of life's biggest challenges-cleaning!