Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home...

Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home | Martha Stewart | Both Basic and Surprising Information for the Home

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Martha Stewart's H...

	Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home Martha Stewart Clarkson Potter, 2006 - 752 pages average customer review:based on 149 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Finally, a Modern Mrs. Beeton

We have finally reached the stage where many of our mothers and even grandmothers were professional women, not homemakers passing their skills to their daughters (and maybe sons). The shadows of the Depression and WWII rationing are gone. We are a convenience society, using everything from prepackaged salad to throw away mops. This is not a Good Thing. But how many of us know the tricks of keeping a cozy, tidy house, without all those conveniences and products, and how to protect the things we own and love from wear and tear?

Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook is the answer, a wonderful encyclopedia of everything you need to know about keeping a house. Covering a wide range of topics, from how to remove stains to how to buy a sofa, this well illustrated volume offers clear instructions and suggestions for all aspects of home care. Well organized, there are sections for each room in the house, for cleaning and maintenance, and for home safety. Granted, there are parts that are a little "over the top" for most of us, for example, how to sort your children's toys, compete with labeling. Good luck! But there are invaluable things, like how to iron that shirt (saving money on a professional cleaner, to boot), and how to fold those impossible fitted sheets into neat bundles. There are even sections on how to fix a lamp, unclog a sink, and start a compost heap. Some things are just touched on, flower arranging, for example, while others are fully treated, such as how to restore a metal lawn chair or what constitutes the basic equipment for a kitchen. And there are pages of resource materials. If you haven't a clue what that stray funny-looking sterling fork you inherited was for, you will find your answer here.

What impressed me the most was that this was not an exercise in product placement. Wherever possible, natural, simple solutions were suggested, like using rubbing alcohol to remove ballpoint pen stains and using lemon juice and salt to clean your good copper pots.

Not everything in this book is for everybody. It is, after all, an encyclopedia. My tool shop is far more complete than Martha's suggested basic tool set. My library is totally organized, but many parts of my home are an exercise in memory retention, and that is enough organization for me. And I didn't need to be told how to set the dials on my washer and drying, but I'll bet somebody who is on their own for the first time (some young man entering college, let's say) needs this sort of information. On the other hand, laundry stains are my Nemesis, and I went staight to Martha for help. And I needed all the basic housecleaning help I could get. I think this book is wonderful, and I expect to make good use of it for years to come.

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Both Basic and Surprising Information for the Home

I'm really enjoying all the information of basic homekeeping methods, and I keep finding little "surprising facts" or techniques that don't require unusual supplies or materials. This is a very "hands-on," user-friendly book of ideas and methods.
I've given several books as gifts, and everyone has been delighted to have this large volume of information for all kinds of usual or rather obscure questions of "how do I do . . ." and "what are the benefits of . . ." I am impressed with the many informational charts that compare diffent materials so thoroughly. This is a packed handbook!

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LOVE MARTHA

This book is AMAZING! Martha knows it all when it comes to making a home. I received this as a gift from my mom when I moved into my house, and now I pass on this great book to my friends who are buying new homes! This book is a definite essential in makinf a house a home.

Not what I was hoping for, but...

It's still a good book. I have used this book to look up several household questions lately and have not found the answer ONCE. Among other things, I believe I wanted to look up what you can use to clean up a certain type of spill (can't remember which, now) and what is the best way to defrost frozen chicken, and there was nothing on either topic. I scoured the glossary, index, chapter info, paged through the humongous book (which just is not practical) and came up with nothing.
With that said, there is a LOT of useful info in this book. I do like it and I'm sure I will get some use out of it eventually. I would highly recommend taking a gander for yourself at a bookstore to see if this is for you. It does cost a lot of money, so you really need to be sure this is going to be of use to you! I don't think this is necessarily a book for everyone.

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Too wordy for me.

I love Martha Stewart. I watch her show. I am OVERWHELMED by her book - I had to put it away. If you watch Martha's show, you know Martha is a bit anal about everything and good at it - heck, she has a staff to do what needs to be done - so for me, all the fuss and bother to clean something is truly Martha but it isn't truly me. Give me a roll of papertowels, some spray cleaner and step out of the way. The book is too over-the-top for me.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, page 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

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