30 Days to a Clean and Organized House

Takes you from stressed to impressed!
House organizing was so easy using this book. I wasn’t overwhelmed and the results were very satisfying!

Great book for the domestically impaired. But no table of contents in the kindle version
Recently displaced from corporate America I now find myself without a housekeeper and I’m as determined to get my house in order as I was as driven in my career. Biggest problem is that I felt so overwhelmed that I didn’t know where to start.Thank goodness I found this book. I’ve read through it completely and don’t honestly know that I will complete this task in 30 days. (6 years of living I a home with two working folks with a two hour daily commute has created a wreck). But I feel like I have the help I need now.Only on day one. My spice cabinet is clean and organized, most of the clothes are washed, the kitchen is clean, the living room is livable and best of all, I feel a sense of accomplishmentThe kindle links to the website and homemade cleaning products are great. The only down side, so far, is the lack of a table of contents, which to me is important.Would recommend this book for other domestically impaired folks

Absolutely the help I needed
I had been lost about how to have a clean, comfortable house without constant, exhausting work. I discovered Katie’s website, Housewifehowtos.com while searching for a solution to fruit flies. Her directions were easy to follow and 100% effective! I’ve been wanting this book for some time and am so glad I’ve finally bought it! Between her book, her website and her Facebook pages, I’m making progress and no longer feel alone and overwhelmed.Katie breaks things down in logical order and helps you to see how to do things so they work for you, which may not be like your mother, friend or acquaintance’s method!The time frame is flexible to allow for how much time and energy you have, but all in an easy-to-follow, understandable order. And Katie is reachable via her website blog if I have any questions.Buy this book if you have any housecleaning-organizing issues! You won’t be sorry. The author wrote it to help because she cares!

Book was just a rehash of information
It was a good upbeat book, but basically a rehash of articles and other books I have seen that cover this topic. And, it certainly would not be a 30 day job from start to finish. But, if someone is looking for a basic guide and instructions for cleaning/decluttering and haven’t read one before, this is an easy read.

First off I have to agree with some posters that unless you have a lot of time you are not going to do this in 30 days but to be honest it is more about the schedule and sticking to the order things are done in. This is an American book so some of you may come across terms you are not familiar with. If you do then Google it!Back to the book, It isn’t large – just over 100 pages , but it is very logical. She splits the effort each day into 3 stages – Cleaning, Organising and Maintenance. Now don’t panic! It sounds a lot but she does break you in gently. Day 1 the Cleaning consists of the Daily Cleaning Routine. This is not as bad as it sounds e.g. the bedroom(s) – make bed, tidy up bedside tables, put clothes away/in laundry and check floor – quick hoover if necessary. Bathroom a wipe down, spray shower, tidy towels/change towels so a pretty quick skim through the house. It does get even quicker the further into the schedule you go since, and the phrase suggests, this is a DAILY cleaning schedule so get used to it as it makes a difference pretty quickly. It is just a surface clean but the deep cleaning comes later. The Organising Task on Day 1 is your herbs and spices. They last a while but they do lose their flavour. She kindly gives you the average shelf life and a handy tip to start marking the date you buy them on the jar of future purchases. This was one where you could get all the herbs/spices on a table and sit down with a coffee/tea and sort through them. Dump the ones who have lost their flavour, take a note of any you need to replace and I gave their storage racks and area a wipe down before returning the ones that were OK to their newly organised area. Maintenance on Day 1 is quite simply get your laundry done. There is a logic to this as later she splits laundry depending on which room you are focusing on so bedding is done on a different day to towels. I keep pretty much on top of laundry anyway so this wasn’t too difficult. Day 2 Cleaning is the Fridge – everything out a good wash down, dump any bad/out of date stuff and get everything back although if you have never cleaned behind your fridge now is a good time to do it. Organising is “under the sink”. I got my husband to get everything out from “under the sink” and I’m glad he did as there was a slight water leak. By the time I returned not only had he taken everything out of the cupboard, he had fixed the leak and cleaned the cupboard. All I had to do was sort things out and return the things I use daily “under the sink”. The many duplicates I had have been sorted into storage boxes , labled and stacked in another storage unit and will be moved only when I need them. I was astonished at the number of duplicates I had. I also now discovered delegating some tasks was a good idea too!! Maintenance was the Daily Cleaning Routine but spending a little more time in the bedrooms – change the beds and dust the place down. I also popped the bedding into the washing machine and got it done. Day 3 – Cleaning is the Freezer – makes sense having done the Fridge the day before. Organising was the “Junk” drawer. Unfortunately I have quite a few of these so this is a task that went on over quite a few days but I got the kitchen ones done first as this “behind the scenes” cleaning in the kitchen goes on for quite a while. Maintenance today is yes, you’ve guessed it the Daily Cleaning Routine but today you put a little more effort into the bathrooms and wash any towels you change. And so it goes on.The Daily Cleaning Routine does work and it keeps things tidy. Involve the family in the tasks and don’t fret if you don’t get things done in one day just stick to the order. She also provides checklists which is very useful for husbands/children. Rather than type them up she has an excellent website housewifehowtos.com where there are printable copies of the various checklists.The book also contains a number of “recipes” for homemade cleaners as does the website. The website also has numerous hints and tips.Something which now makes perfect sense now is putting things back where they belong as you find them during the organising or Daily Cleaning Routine tasks. I have a husband who puts things away “in a safe place” but then we can never find them again. Over the last few days I have lost track of how often we have said “So that’s where…..” Now they are where they belong but still in a “safe” place.This is an excellent little book to give you structure but as I said at the start it will take longer than 30 days – How long is up to you but stick with it as it does work and it is worth it all in the end.

Have started a few days ago and can already see the logic behind the day by day progress.Am taking more time to do things than stated but agree that as I get the routine down pat I shallfinally feel my home is clean and tidy enough without frowning everytime someone says they’re coming round.

I wished I had of gotten the paperback version too. My little tablet is not that old , but I am having trouble opening it and it has my free kindle and the copy I purchased on it . Wish i could just put it on my regular computer and then also purchase the soft book version. i think it is a great book and when my tablet is working I have used it a fair amount. Great details and suggestions and cleaning homemade mixes. Even though i have only done a few days , I can most days notice a difference.