Mary's Household Tips & Tricks: Your Guide to Happiness in the Home

by Mary Berry

One of the Guardian's TOP TEN BOOKS to gift.

'It's practical AND beautiful . . . an ideal gift ' Graham Norton, BBC Radio 2

Britain's best-loved cook and national treasure Mary Berry lets readers in on her very own household secrets . . . A comprehensive, beautifully illustrated guide that shares her greatest tips on how to care for your home.

'This book is a collection of skills I've learned for running a home. Gleaned from years of practical experience, along with all the hints that friends and family have imparted to me, I hope it will be a helping hand' - Mary Berry

Inside you'll find . . .

A KITCHEN KNOW-HOW for the heart of your home - Freezer tips - Organize your food - CLEANING & CONFIGURING YOUR HOME - Create cleaning products from store cupboard items - LAUNDRY & WARDROBE WISDOM - Banish moths from your home for good - Remove stains from every kind of fabric - get green fingered with GARDENING & FLOWERS - Bring greenery into your home even without a garden - Create beautiful flower arrangements - And finally master the art of HOSTING & ADDING THE EXTRA TOUCHES for sparkling parties at home.

Easy to use, practical and gorgeously illustrated, Mary's Household Tips & Tricks covers everything from Mary's golden rules for baking to her favourite flowers for each season, from how to polish silver to whether tea should be poured before or after milk. With secrets for accomplishing the most challenging home-keeping tasks with ease, Mary's wonderfully simple book will help turn any house into a home.

'The Queen of British baking has whipped up a recipe for home happiness' The Independent

'A domestic goddess' The Daily Telegraph

Genres: Nonfiction, Cookbooks, Reference, Cooking

277 pages, Hardcover

Published April 1, 2019

About the author

There are multiple authors in the Goodreads database with this name.

Mary Berry is an English food writer and television presenter. After being encouraged in domestic science classes at school, she went to college to study catering. She then moved to France at the age of 21 to study at Le Cordon Bleu school, before working in a number of cooking-related jobs.

She has published more than seventy cookery books (her first being The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook in 1970) and hosted several television series for the BBC and Thames Television. Berry is an occasional contributor to Woman's Hour and Saturday Kitchen. She has been a judge on the BBC One (originally BBC Two) television programme The Great British Bake Off since its launch in 2010.

Reviews

[Trio · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a treat to read. I adore Mary Berry and Mary's Household Tips and Tricks reads just like you're having an actual conversation with her. I was raised by my step-mom, who was literally a Mary Clone, and reading this book was so much like spending an afternoon with Carol Jane... what a lovely experience.

As far as Mary's actual tips? You're not going to go wrong following her advice on anything. There are some useful tips, esp for a younger person. Those of us 'of a certain age' won't find anything new here, but again, what a pleasure to spend time one on one with Mary Berry.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Mary, I love her shows, I loved her on Bake Off but most of all she helped me find my love for baking as hers was the first baking book I ever got. All her recipes have always been fool-proof, easy and most of all, reliable.

As soon as I saw this book, I got it immediately, as I knew that all her tips and advice would be, well... Fool-proof, easy and reliable!!

I really, really, really wish I would have had this when I first moved into our house, instead of having to Google everything and feeling like an idiot. Mary gives you her advice that she picked up from lifetime experience and from studying Istitutional Management in College. The advice is helpful, nothing is taken for granted and it is told in Mary's usual motherly/grandmotherly voice. I'm sorry, but Marie Kondo, eat your heart out!

It would make a lovely gift, especially for anyone young/first time buyer - it would always be handy for anyone to have on your shelf!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of useful advice and ways to organise the home. Some aspects like planning your kitchen are not geared towards a rental home.
Overall I will use some of the advice and it definitely shares a good mix of common sense and great advice.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me forever to finish because I enjoyed reading through everything. While most of the information is in regards to UK standards everything is still relevant to someone in the US (like me). I enjoy Mary Berry's cookbooks and saw this book on the shelf at my library. She gives helpful tips to keep up a household from hosting dinner parties to gardening and cleaning. I enjoyed this book so much that I asked a friend to get it for me for the holidays so I can always refer to it at home.

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know when you're in your 40s, or even 50s, & your parents tell you off for not polishing your shoes or not making your bed, and you roll your eyes? That's what it's like reading this book.

I love Mary Berry and I enjoyed reading this book but, if I were very honest, I wonder whether 'Household Tips and Tricks' would have been published at all without her name attached to it. It's a very wide-ranging book but many of the tips are so obvious that it hardly seems worth writing them down, many just involve saying that whatever-it-is is a matter of personal taste and we should do what we like, and many seem to involve tips that Mary has only heard about but not experienced for herself. Quite odd.

Like being sternly lectured by your nan, but maybe quite helpful for young people just starting out in a new home. And, well, it is Mary Berry so I'm glad that this book exists.

[Alice Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to be invited to a dinner party at Mary Berry’s house ❤️

[Liselotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of these things were obvious to me. But that's because I was lucky enough so have spend a LOT of time with my grandma. This is an incredibly handy dandy book to have if you are just starting out on living on your own. If you have any question about anything, this book will have the answer. From how to organize your pantry to how to repair moth damage on clothes, this book has it all.

Honestly, a great book to have and I'm really happy I got it!

[IE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this insight into Mary’s daily life and household experience. I consider myself domesticated when it comes to cleaning and household maintenance, but I must say that I did learn a few tricks from this book, notably keeping coriander stalks in a glass of water in the fridge with a plastic bag on top, to simulate a greenhouse. I tried it and it does work! My coriander has never lasted this long before. Thanks, Mary!

[Sinead · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - it’s a well laid out book, though I think should have included more photos. (Also, I think the reader would have preferred the existing photos to be in Berry’s own house rather than a show house. It is after all Mary’s name that is selling this book, but I can understand her not wanting her own house on show.) I didn’t really learn anything new as my mother would have taught me housekeeping and seems to be of the same vintage as Berry. But is a useful reference book to have.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It's so cosy and Mary is such a sweetie :) I'm currently renovating/redecorating my house and I found it very inspirational especially the gorgeous photography. Some of the tips and tricks weren't new to me and some a little obvious but I've made a note of a few I shall be trying.

[Cheryl Linebarger · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun, practical book! Fell in love with Mary Berry while watching The Great British Baking Show, and I could almost hear her voice as I read the book. I have quite a collection of homemaking “how to” books, yet each one has taught me something new, or given me a new way of doing things. The book was all the more delightful for me, as an American, reading all of the very British terminology. The book covers all the basics of homemaking and quite a bit on informal entertaining. So glad I bought this!

[yoli · Rating 3 out of 5]

So very British. Full of good practical tips, but not overwhelmingly full of tips to be a good reference, and clear it was not clear if the photos were of Mary Berry’s home or just lovely staged interiors to compliment some text. They rarely actually illustrated the tips!

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, I do have a weakness for homey type books.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounding up. Lovely undemanding beach reading.

[Leeann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A common sense approach to organizing a beautiful and clean home. Mary intersperses anecdotes about her own family throughout.

[Valerie R · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh

[David taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't bother buying this book, they is nothing new in it

[Kim Knowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok but nothing really new. Perhaps more relevant for people getting their first home 🤷‍♀️

[Mary Lynn]

A general housekeeping book for those just starting out. Nothing new here. Lovely photos.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of helpful tips.

[Laura McAninch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had too high of expectations for this book. While our family thoroughly enjoys her and the Great British Bake Off show, this probably highlighted the ways we live differently in the Midwestern United States verses Britain. She is a classic lady, and it is still a beautiful book; however just not quite as applicable as I had hoped for.