Home Time: The Ultimate Manual for Dust and Stress-free Living

by Jocasta Innes

The phenomenal resurgence of interest in the art and craft of proper housekeeping should not really surprise us - a smoothly run, clean home not only gives immense pleasure to its inhabitants, it actually saves time and stress. In this extensive book, the queen of interiors, Jocasta Innes, provides the ultimate manual for dust- and stress-free living. Jocasta's approach is a realistic one - she recognizes that in the real world a lot of us have cleaners, as well as jobs that mean that we are not going to spring clean the entire house every week. Her aim is to set up routines which mean the work happens automatically, as well as providing a wealth of information on just how it should be done. Chapters cover everything from cleaning materials to how to do the laundry, from stain removal to the proper way to clean antique glass. It should provide the answer to every domestic enquiry, as well as being a primer for briefing professionals where necessary. And shining through every page of the book is Jocasta's humour as well as her expertise, her great ideas and her love of homes that not only look good, but that work for those who live in them.

• ISBN10: 0091879353
• ISBN13: 9780091879358
• Publish Date: 25 July 2002
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 10 August 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Ebury Publishing
• Imprint: Ebury Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[wyvernfriend]

Leaves me torn, much of the advice is good but the tone (people who aren't meticulously clean are described as sluts - no seriously, and there's a "boys will be boys" attitude about men not being as clean-orientated as women) just put me off.

Honestly it wouldn't be a book I would give to someone feeling overwhelmed or depressed about their house.

She also enables teens not putting washing up correctly by "fixing" it herself. Personally speaking they would learn better if she left them deal with the consequences of not doing it right.

She talks about poverty but then talks about considering reducing your hairdressing visits to maybe one a month, and the book is littered with mention of au pairs. This is a book of privilege, and it didn't really sit well with me, which coloured my acceptance for some of the good ideas.

She put my back up early on in the book and I never really recovered, I actually contemplated giving up several times.