HOME FREE: The Busy Person's Guide to Housekeeping

Ignoring housework causes more problems than it solves."" With those and other words of simple wisdom, Guilfoyle presents a combination of basic, up-to-date instruction--on cleaning, cooking, laundering--and civilized work-saving strategies. On large matters and small, the tone is relaxed and commonsensical. ""Some men won't do their share no matter how you cajole or reason."" Unless you're ready for a rupture, don't go on strike. Try to get him to take on some ""man's work""; then, do as little as you can, focus on the things that show, and see if he won't agree to hiring help. Guilfoyle is good on professional services vs. ""cleaning people,"" amateur and professional, and on the capabilities of children. Throughout, she's A-1 on the use of cleaning products--the tendency of hired hands to use too much, the desirability of using the least potent or dangerous. (Her sister, we learn, is a professional cleaner.) On feeding the family, she's less noteworthy--covering nutrition, selection, storage, etc. as if she were writing an encyclopedic guide for beginners. Here, too, she tends to urge the obvious: e.g., a large kitchen needs to be organized at least as much as a small one. But the washday guidelines, again, are well considered. And between the index and the table of contents, the reader can zero in on the area where she (inevitably) seeks special help, and consider the rest an inspirational refresher.