Housework Blog

How to get your family to help with the housework (Book extract)

Family: your allies on the home front If, for whatever reason, you don’t take on external help (and even if you do – you’ll still have to tidy up before they come!), it makes sense to utilise existing labour sources. I’m referring to The Others. The people you live...

Housework – a good thing…? (Part 2)

Can housework be a good thing? (Again!) Now I am a self-confessed Undomestic Goddess. I am not naturally inclined to clean and tidy. I am a million miles away from the Perfect Housewife. And yet… The other day, I had a few precious minutes of un-spoken-for time on my...

Why housework is mental

Let’s play Spot the Difference. Woman A arrives home. She hangs up her coat, bag and keys. She looks around her tidy home, smiles and decides she’s got time to relax in her beautiful sitting room with a cuppa and a magazine. A flustered Woman B heaves the door open,...

Is housework good for creativity? (Book extract from Housework Blues)

Dust, vacuum...create? The results of housework are all too fleeting. You spend your time performing boring tasks and before long, they need doing again. There’s not much scope for any earth-shattering achievements, right? Wrong! A surprising side-effect of monotonous...

Looking after No 1 (Book extract from Housework Blues)

The Nurture Gene Women are instinctive nurturers and carers. Historically, we are the caretakers of the species. Even in recent times, women who work full-time still tend to be the ones who make a house a home, administer TLC and know/care how each family member likes...

Housework – a good thing?

Can housework be a good thing? It just might be! Allow me to demonstrate with a personal story… My youngest child has recently begun ‘Big School’ (though it could well be the tiniest Primary school in the country…). It’s quite a milestone in his life but also, it’s...

For the non-bedmakers (like me…)

What if...? I am not a natural-born bedmaker. When I see an unmade bed, I am not overwhelmed with an urge to make it. I am more often overwhelmed with an urge to go into another room. However, I do admit to a slight blip of happiness when I see a beautifully made bed....

My Top Ten Blues Blasters (Book extract from Housework Blues)

Some days, for no particular reason, you’re just in a slump. You’re human. It happens. So, for these occasions, you’ll need to bypass logic and go straight to emotions. Cue my Top Ten Emergency Uppers… Remedies for Housework Blues 1. Look for the silver lining....

Housework? But I’m a feminist!

It’s not often you’ll see the word feminist linked with the topic of housework. Surely, feminists don’t do housework..? Oh, but we do! A belief in equality is all well and good, but it won’t do the dishes or make the beds. And until the theory of equality reaches the...

Harness the power of your subconscious mind…

…to help with the housework! I recently wrote a chapter about motivation in the domestic realm, for my new book, Housework Blues. It lead to the following spin-off idea which I think you may find very useful and effective. The idea is to utilise a powerful technique...

The selfless route to self-indulgence

Picture the scene… You’ve just collapsed onto the sofa with a drink and your favourite book/magazine/TV programme. The relaxing sigh is barely out of your mouth before you hear it….the summons. Somebody, somewhere wants a piece of you. And they want it NOW. If they’re...

Room to breathe

The ‘Not Enough Hours In The Day’ Trilogy – Part III Keeping our homes and feeding our families are innate human habits. And, thanks to today’s mod cons, this domestic stuff has never been easier. Why, then, do we still struggle to find the time for it? What really...

The ‘Not Enough Hours In The Day’ Trilogy – Part 2

How sweet is your home? As a race, we humans have always had self-maintenance work to do. It’s part of survival. If you’re alive, it goes with the territory. So why, with all the modern advancements at our disposal, do we struggle to find the time for this primitive...

The ‘Not Enough Hours In The Day’ Trilogy – Part I

We've never had it so good... honestly! Ever find that you just don’t have enough time for housework? Do you ever feel that the mountain of laundry is just unscaleable? That you need more hours in the day to get it all done? I’m guessing, by the fact that you’re here,...

Housework overload: How to stay sane

How to stay sane With apologies to Rudyard Kipling - this post is to help to keep your head when all around you are messing up your house... And you’ve just tidied it! There are few greater tests of love than keeping your temper when family members unravel your hard...

Mother’s Day, Proverbs & The Value of Appreciation

Whoever invented Mother’s Day… …deserves breakfast in bed. There is a phrase that I mutter to myself, on days when it feels like the world and his wife wants my attention: “To be needed is a blessing, not a curse”. Some days it comes easier than others. Despite the...

A Spring Clean for the Mind

Spring... without the marigolds Spring is most definitely in the air. At last. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t love Spring. In fact, it could be my favourite season, despite the best day of the year (my birthday) being in October. Maybe it’s the contrast to the cold,...