Customer Reviews

I Hate to Housekeep Book

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Finally, some cleaning advice that I can use! Peg Bracken sorts the wheat from the chaff and passes on realistic tips and techniques for those of us who would rather be doing just about ANYTHING but cleaning house. This book is the perfect remedy for anyone who has ever passed out after reading one of those housekeeping books that expect you to jump through 101 hoops in order to keep the house clean. Since it was written 40 years ago, some of Bracken's personal comments may seem a little outdated, but her witty, conversational style more than makes up for this. I have never before laughed out loud while learning the best way to polish silver. This book is a must-have for anybody whose domestic skills could best be classified as "random".

I inherited this book and I had no idea that anyone else had shared my totally insatiable need to read and reread this little treasure. I thought that Peg Bracken was my personal little treasure trove. Although the book was written and published A DECADE before I was born, it has been time honored and continues to be THE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK FOR ALL GENERATIONS.

I love this book and I only started reading it tonight. I've never come across any housecleaning book, no matter how useful and sensible, that has as realistic tips as some of the ones in found in this little paperback. The part about starting all of your tasks at once so that you have no option but to do them instead of writing a list that you never complete is so dead on perfect for anyone with a personality like mine that it alone would make this a great book. Procrastinating and random housekeepers should definitely check this out. Specific cleaning tips, ways to save a bit of money, recipes, how to remember things, and more.

Peg Bracken is without a doubt among the funniest, most intelligent writers ever to grace the chirpily conspiratorial "Listen, girls!" housekeeping-book genre. This book is bright, witty and a pleasure to read.

I collect vintage housekeeping books and cookbooks, and this book is the only one out of my collection that you'll have to pry from my cold dead hands.

I love this book. It is not only very useful, but very ecologically advanced for the time it was written (i.e. you don't need 5 cleaning products for 5 jobs if one will do). I still use the hints, and nobody complains about my house.

Also includes good recipes and menus--simple ones that don't cost too much.

For years, I've used "The I Hate to Cook Book" and "The I Hate to Housekeep Book" when I needed to give a small gift to persons just leaving their parents' home for their own place, or for newlyweds. Great laughs and useful info.

It was described as a comical look at the ways to keep house easier and faster. While it was written in times gone by, you should let this book go by. I found this book none of the above, but a very dry and boring read.

Social historians will find this book a good time-capsule of 50's and 60's thinking: fixed gender roles (you can ask your teenage daughter to do ironing, but not your son, and don't stay up too late or your husband will object!) and other outdated ideas (be sure to get a long extension cord for your phone!) No one else needs to read this, especially not parents (she actually says that soap is good for cleaning out your son's mouth!) And the only way to get children to do housework is to yell at them. I'm recycling my copy.

Jan Hunt, author of The Natural Child: Parenting from the Heart and A Gift for Baby - Un Regalo Para Bebe