Mary Ellen's Guide to Good Enough Housekeeping

by Mary Ellen Pinkham, Dale Burg

Had enough of experts who make you feel you need a million different cleaning products, loads of time and encyclopedic knowledge to have a clean, comfortable house?

Then you're ready for Good Enough Housekeeping.

Here's the most practical advice ever from Mary Ellen Pinkham, the best-selling helpful hints expert and star of HGTV's "TIP-ical Mary Ellen"-the "good enough" method of getting the job done with little time and little or no help.

"Housekeeping is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. When you get to the end, you just start over," Mary Ellen says. "It's overwhelming unless you unless you know where to begin-and when to stop." That's what this book will explain.

Good Enough Housekeeping is cleaning off the handprint without going on to wash the entire wall

Good Enough Housekeeping is sweeping the floor to protect it but not worrying if it's clean enough to eat off.

Good Enough Housekeeping is recognizing that the hygiene standards for a bathroom are not the same as for an operating room.

Good Enough Housekeeping means knowing when the job is done and not spending another second on it.

You're good enough to deserve a break. Start practicing Good Enough
Housekeeping now.

Genres: How To, Nonfiction

226 pages, Paperback

Published May 15, 2002

About the author

*Best known for her prolific housekeeping tips as featured on her television show, "Tipical Mary Ellen,"
*NY Times syndicated columnist
*author
*magazine contributor
*product spokesperson*
*iVillage.com home and garden expert
*regular contributor on Good Morning America

Reviews

[Antonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book helps the fastidious housekeeper to focus on a few everyday tasks to achieve a clean that’s “good enough” for now, and saving other tasks for a weekly or monthly cleaning schedule. She offers tips on storage, which products are helpful, and which are harmful. Also offers tips for remodeling like maximizing storage space and installing durable, easy-care fixtures. Surprisingly, expensive fixtures are not always more durable than lower priced ones(e.g. marble flooring vs. vinyl). Offers low-cost tips and alternatives (use ammonia to clean your oven, reuse your vacuum cleaner bag by emptying it out). Minimizing clutter and organization is essential to maintaining a cleaner home.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really great book to give you ideas on how to clean things and in what order. I think this is a great resource.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

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