Customer Reviews

How to Cheat at Cleaning

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Do you feel like housework is just all too much? Are you still trying, in vain, to clean the house like your mother did, even though you have two kids, a career, and a home all at once? Or are you just sick of trying to keep up with everybody's mess?

Then look no further, this is the book for you. How to Cheat At Cleaning is Jeff Bredenberg's new book for the rest of us who don't have designer pails full of aesthetically-pleasing homey-looking mail-order cleaning supplies that all smell of lavender. This is the practical person's how-to that not only shows you how to clean faster and easier, but eases up a lot of guilt you feel at not getting the house as clean as mom did.

For instance, he gives you a 7 minute cleaning routine for the bathroom that really works. He shows you what needs to be done and what can be dropped from your cleaning routine, such as laundering shower curtains. Just toss 'em, he says, and buy another. Its an easier, faster way of getting things done, extremely practical with a lot of cost-effectiveness thrown in to boot.

I'd also like to add there is a LOT of useful tid-bits of information in easy-to-read asides on all sorts of house-reated subjects, my favorite being a microbiologist's standpoint on the five-second rule and useful facts like the middle stalls in the public restrooms have the least germs. He also addresses the need to put your spouse and family to work to help you acheive your housecleaning goals in a nag-free approach. This information itself is worth the price of the purchase book alone--I mean, why should you be cleaning the house by yourself? Get that family to cleaning too, by making it easier, faster by using the cheats outlined in this book. (The easier it is for them to clean, the less you have to nag).

The book lives up to its title and is a sure safe bet for you if you really want a clean house, but don't have a great deal of time or even if you just hate cleaning house. It's guilt-free housekeeping--a little cheating goes a long way.

I read the book in about 3 days. I've got a new outlook on how to clean my house. I know that alot of the information is basically, common knowledge, but there are somethings that I learned that I didn't know before. The thought to get rid of the small things that you have to move around to dust, helps to remind ourselves, make everything simple on yourself. A very interesting read, worth your time.

I bought my wife this book hoping that she would take the dust-mite "don't make the bed" hint to heart. That didn't happen, but it's still a practical and, at times, oddly effective approach to household management. She has taken many of it's recommendations to heart and so have I.

I bought one for myself and one for each of my 3 daughters. Everyone loves it. Wonderful ways to clean in the kitchen without having chemicals where you cook your food. Great hints for the whole house--saves hours of cleaning time.

Some gems hidden within this book, but frankly, I felt like I wasted my time. I really was appalled to read that the author seriously told readers to buy disposable cutlery, and dishware for the kitchen in order to save time. He even tried to make it sound like it was a wash both environmentally and financially. Same went for diapers.
I felt this was rather irresponsible.
if you read this book, be warned. this is for the seriously non-eco friendly reader and seemingly for the financially well-to-do, as he recommends pretty much every disposable product out there.

Just by chance, this book ended up on my coffee table, and every woman who has come within 5 feet of it has immediately picked it up! Surprised at now entertaining this book is to read, we have all enjoyed the short descriptions of how to solve cleaning problems. It's an entertaining and useful book.

I'm still going through this book, but I've read enough to give a review. Jeff Bredenberg is a highly entertaining writer. In fact, if you had no intention of changing your cleaning habits, you could buy the book and read it through for its snappy humor. But in fact, there are some good pointers in here on cleaning. I think he relies too much on disposables (buy! buy! buy!), but as he states, take what advise you want and don't sweat the rest. The book is upbeat and fun to read. I bought another book on how to eliminate clutter; the first chapter was so depressing I put the book aside. Cheat at Cleaning also has an index, which is very helpful.

This purchase was a rare case in which I was not in some way disappointed after actually getting the book in my hands and leafing through it. It starts out by giving you a list of cleaning tools and products that will make the job easier and then discusses practical ways of keeping your home clean and well organized. This is not a book for the neat-freaks among us. If espying a teensy-weensy speck of dust on the drapes sends you into deep depression, then you'd be better off with a Martha Stewart book or, if you can afford it, a weekly maid service. But if you want to keep your abode presentable and neat, then this book is a good place to start. There are neat little ideas about how to maintain your clean spaces, such as wiping out the bathroom sink with a disposable wipe each time you use it. And one of the most helpful hints for me was to always tackle cleaning chores in small bits. The idea of having to spend an entire day cleaning used to cause the very kind of stress that led me to procrastination. It's much easier to deal with the idea of spending a half-hour or so spiffying up the bathroom than of tackling every room in the house. If housework is not your idea of the way to spend your days off, then this is the book for you. The title is a little misleading, because even though the author provides some shortcuts, he is not suggesting that we literally sweep the dirt under the rug (though if company is coming you might even consider that temporary solution as a last resort with no guilt whatsoever.) Don't expect any amazingly new ideas in this book; many of the suggestions are just plain common sense, but it's great to have them so well-presented and organized. And though the author recommends a few state-of-the-art cleaning appliances, he does not push them and suggests many ways of cleaning that just involve the usual suspects: rag, mop, broom, etc.

I checked this book out from the library because I was looking for alternatives to hiring a home cleaning servics, as we re-evaluated our budgeting priorities. I couldn't put it down! Liked it so much I came and ordered on amazon.com once I had to return it. Well written to be entertaining and easy to read, it's just full of helpful advice. I think it's strengths are bathroom and kitchen cleaning. Good focus on what matters (where the bacteria hides), so you target cleaning to where it matters most. If you are concerned with cost savings or minimal waste from disposable products, you will want to ignore some of his advise, but it's easy to look past that because he has several alternatives for most tools and chores.

I'm truly torn on rating this book, because it has some excellent advice (especially the justification about not making the bed!) and he does stress that having the right tool for the job makes things a lot easier (and they're not tools he's selling, which is a change). On the down side, the push of disposable products really bothers me. He tries to justify it by saying that you don't have to use energy and resources to clean disposable products, and in the case of, say, paper plates (which will biodegrade), sure. But diapers and plastic cutlery? I don't think it's particularly good to push that. And that uncomfortable message pushing this book down to a three-star rating.

I can't bring myself to push it down to a two-star rating (the disposable thing really rankles, can you tell?) because it does present a very important message: "Keep the kind of home you are happy with." It's not about impressing the neighbors or being as neat as your mother, it's about making *you* happy. Always remember that it's your house. If you're okay with a bit of dog hair on the floor, you really shouldn't try to make yourself vacuum every day because your Great-Aunt Martha might sniff at it. That's a recipe for frustration and stress.

Overall, there's not a whole lot the book will tell you that you didn't already know (except the justification for not making the bed, which I will use and cherish, thank you!) but it is an entertaining read.