Smart Housekeeping Around the Year

<p><strong>SPECIAL NOTE! -- ANNE WILL PERSONALLY ANSWER ANY QUESTION OF YOURS AFTER READING THIS BOOK. ASK ON HER WEB SITE AND YOU'LL NORMALLY HEAR BACK WITHIN HOURS!</strong></p><p> </p><p>In this standalone companion to Smart Housekeeping Anne L. Watson presents tips on cleaning organizing decluttering furnishing maintaining and managing your home as you'd face those tasks around the year. Travel with Anne through the calendar as she deals with every aspect of keeping the things around you just the way you want them. New homemakers will gain skills and perspective while even veterans will find unique tips and insights. All delivered with a wit and frankness not seen in housekeeping books since the days of Peg Bracken.</p><p> </p><p>Anne's almanac also features the return of her photogenic family of felted mice. After their brief introduction in Smart Housekeeping LadyMouse and the rest now return joined by even more critters to help Anne illustrate many of her tips and add a touch of whimsy for readers' delight.</p><p> </p><p>/////////////////////////////////////////////////</p><p> </p><p>Anne L. Watson is the author of Smart Housekeeping as well as a number of other popular books on home crafts and lifestyle plus many novels and children's books. In a previous career she was a historic preservation architecture consultant. Anne lives in Bellingham Washington. </p><p> </p><p>/////////////////////////////////////////////////</p><p> </p><p>SAMPLE</p><p> </p><p>Housekeeping has gotten a bad rap. Somehow the subject has shrunk to discussions of clutter control and cleaning a bit like when your mom told you to pick up your room.</p><p> </p><p>But that's the dull part. Necessary of course -- I wrote a book Smart Housekeeping that's mostly about getting to a state of order. But housekeeping is no more about clutter control than gardening is about weeding. Yes you have to do some of both -- but why stop short of the interesting stuff?</p><p> </p><p>Housekeeping is making yourself comfortable in your home whatever that takes. A lot of housekeeping is about what you do and why you do it after you've taken care of the obvious chores. How do you set up a guest room? Unclog a sink? Keep garbage odors out of the kitchen? Arrange toy storage so that the kids will use it on their own? What's the best way to wash a family quilt? To be safe on a ladder? To choose appliances?</p><p> </p><p>Housekeeping isn't just housework -- it's setting the stage for your whole life at home -- which includes play enjoyment and creativity. </p><p> </p><p>This book is arranged as an almanac because the more skilled housekeeping tasks tend to follow the calendar. We do what we need to for seasonal celebrations and we try to get the weather on our side when we paint a room air dry a comforter or get the carpets steam cleaned. Other tasks and concerns are less linked to the seasons but also don't need to be revisited often once you've arranged things to please yourself. So considering them on an annual basis is probably about right. You may want to use this book as much as a reference as a read-through especially if your seasons are different from mine or even nonexistent.</p><p> </p><p>Smart Housekeeping featured felted white mice at least on the cover. As mice will do they have now taken over the house and are shown throughout this book doing their chores handling household crises and entertaining other small animals. And they step out each month enjoying adventures together and just having fun. </p><p> </p><p>I recommend that for all of us.</p><p> </p><p><br></p>