The Lean and Happy Home: More time, less stress. How to get your family life in order

by Eva Jarlsdotter, Amanda Larsson (Translator)

Ever wondered about the life cycle of a sock in your laundry basket? Author Eva Jarlsdotter asked herself that very question, realising it took over six weeks to be cleaned and make it back into her sock drawer! This book will show you how to get your life in order, offering a smooth, easy process to bring harmony to your family and home. From coping with never-ending piles of laundry and meal planning to constantly feeling on the backfoot with endless admin from your child's school, this is a modern guide to ensuring your home and family flow. Move over Marie Kondo and Mrs Hinch, Eva offers a 'stream' technique for you to systematically create and maintain organisation - no longer will you spend hours searching for your keys/scarf/paperwork. Instead, that previously wasted energy can be channelled into things you actually want to do. You will stop feeling like you are being chased and take back control into your life. It also empowers children in the household to take responsibility for their belongings and their schedules - kids as young as two can get involved.

128 pages, Hardcover

Published August 22, 2019

About the author

Eva Jarlsdotter was born in the countryside in Sweden. She began her career as a journalist. After almost a decade in journalism, she left to work internationally in leadership roles in business. She has held positions in communications, corporate social responsibility and branding in the telecom and pharmaceutical industries. In the summer of 2011 she resigned from her position as vice president in an international telecom company to complete the fiction trilogy she had been working on since her oldest daughter was born. She currently works as a writer, consultant, and lecturer. Eva holds a degree in journalism from the University of Gothenburg and an executive MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics. She lives with her husband and their three children in an old house with an apple orchard in Stockholm She dreams of one day finishing the trilogy, growing enough vegetables and fruits to be self-sufficient and she genuinely hopes and believes (she is an athlete in optimism) that this generation of ours will end poverty and the climate change. To do this we have to start with the organization that we can impact the most – our homes.
Eva is regarded as the pioneer of the concept lean@home and she receives feedback every day from readers who have been inspired by her bestselling book ’From Frustration to Flow with lean@home’.

Reviews

[Shruti Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I work with an organization where we apply lean in our work, but applying lean at home just blew my mind. It's a really good book for anyone who looks at their home as a place which is chaotic and gloomy. My home, for me, is my happy place and I haven't faced any unhappy situation as of now, but it's good to know the techniques (Kaizen, Kanban, etc.) and I look forward to applying them when I have kids.

[mariangela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing new

Maybe I have read to many books like this one. Nothing new in it apart from the profusion if Japanese terminology.

[Tabbetha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a restating of most other self help books but with Japanese terms for the steps. Nothing revelatory.

[Bethany Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice easy read 📚 covering all sorts of organisation techniques in a light hearted way

[Janet Bird · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tad boring and found it difficult to read.

[Nike · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Lean and Happy Home Eva Jarlsdotter outlines how she applied the lean principles in her own home, to channel previously wasted energy into things she really wanted to do. Often housework tends to fall on the woman's shoulders. This book adress that in a smart way - because if someone really feels that they are taken advantage of, that is a direct threat to the atmosphere in the home. This book encourage people to really think about who does what and why — and how it can be done smarter, and in a more fun and creative way.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great idea, definitely worth reading and trying to implement it, however the book desperately needs more examples from other families, it is very repetitive in this form.