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Clean Mama's Guide to a Peaceful Home: Effortless Systems and Joyful Rituals for a Calm, Cozy Home
The creator of the popular cleaning website Clean Mama and author of Clean Mama’s Guide to a Healthy Home shows you how to establish systems and rituals to transform your home into a clean, organized, and comfortable space for you and your family.
We all want our homes to be cozy and comfortable spaces where we can leave the challenges of the outside world behind and connect with our families. But too often the mess and disorder only add stress.
For years, Becky Rapinchuk has taught people how to simplify and improve cleaning routines, and now she reveals a game-changing method to help us find joy and make our chores effortless. By pairing up systems—how we get things done so that they become automatic—with rituals—tasks that bring calm and happiness—we can feel more at peace in our homes.
Walking readers through each room of the house, Rapinchuk shows how to put new systems and rituals in place that will make the whole home operate more efficiently. Featuring decision trees, checklists, and space to reflect and record progress, Clean Mama’s Guide to a Peaceful Home makes homekeeping a breeze, allowing us to slow down and focus on the things that really matter.
We all want our homes to be cozy and comfortable spaces where we can leave the challenges of the outside world behind and connect with our families. But too often the mess and disorder only add stress.
For years, Becky Rapinchuk has taught people how to simplify and improve cleaning routines, and now she reveals a game-changing method to help us find joy and make our chores effortless. By pairing up systems—how we get things done so that they become automatic—with rituals—tasks that bring calm and happiness—we can feel more at peace in our homes.
Walking readers through each room of the house, Rapinchuk shows how to put new systems and rituals in place that will make the whole home operate more efficiently. Featuring decision trees, checklists, and space to reflect and record progress, Clean Mama’s Guide to a Peaceful Home makes homekeeping a breeze, allowing us to slow down and focus on the things that really matter.
240 pages, Paperback
First published December 29, 2020
283 people are currently reading
594 people want to read
About the author
Becky Rapinchuk
8 books64 followersBecky Rapinchuk is a cleaning expert, a wife and mom to three, a successful entrepreneur, and a former art teacher. She’s the blogger behind Clean Mama, the leading online homekeeping community, and advises the world’s leading lifestyle brands—Martha Stewart, Real Simple, Better Homes & Gardens, SC Johnson, Bissell, and Scotch-Brite—on how to clean up life’s little and big messes. She’s also the go-to girl for the over twenty million readers who follow her online and buy her books, paper goods, and signature cleaning products.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
November 24, 2020
Fans of blogger Becky Rapinchuk's cleanmama.com will enjoy her latest book, 'Clean Mama's Guide to a Peaceful Home: Effortless Systems and Joyful Rituals for a Clean, Cozy Home'.
As someone who didn't grow up inheriting 'effortless' homekeeping skills from either parent, I've found myself needing to learn these (often onerous, but necessary) adult life-skills externally.
Based on the description, I expected step-by-step guides to tackling each room with how-tos and 'start here, end there' type suggestions, perhaps even hints on the best types of products to use and what to avoid, and certainly tips on how to save time and make cleaning more efficient in each space. I hoped to learn some useful tips and tactics to make keeping a clean home.
What Rapinchuk offers is, instead, a sort of rough philosophical guide to how to tackle cleaning, with broad instructions on how to create your own 'systems and rituals', to varying levels of success.
Suggestions I found helpful:
- If cohabiting, communicate with your partner / family / roommates to find out what tasks you each find more or less unpleasant; for example, I found out that despite disliking loading the dishwasher I actually quite enjoy unloading it, while my wife doesn't mind loading it but hates unloading, and likewise while I really enjoy doing laundry I hate tackling the dryer. Rapinchuk doesn't go deeply into how best to communicate, as her approach is a rather standard patriarchal hierarchy (her husband does very little in the way of housekeeping whatsoever), but I found the suggestion and ran with it, to very good results.
- Try to create 'rituals' (the words she's reaching for are 'positive associations') wherein you pair a pleasant task or small reward with a more onerous task. While hardly groundbreaking, the idea of actively trying to create positive (or at least defuse negative) associations with less-enjoyable but necessary tasks feels smart. An example of this would be setting your kettle to boil / coffeemaker to start, then unloading / loading the dishwasher, or gathering / starting a load of laundry, so that you have a 'treat' waiting at the end.
- Common sense, but again deeply reassuring: when setting up systems / routines (cleaning schedules) from scratch, be patient with yourself and don't attempt to tackle everything at once - for example, if your whole house is a mess after a move (case in point: myself), don't stare at the whole thing as you'll just get overwhelmed. Instead, tackle a room over the course of two (or more) days and breaking it up into tasks (for example, in a bedroom, tackling the clothes as one thing, then books, then knick-knacks, etc). I found the 'permission' to break things into small, manageable chunks helpful.
- To that end, with larger messes / tidying tasks, Rapinchuk likewise encourages you to tackle 'one surface at a time'. For example, if clutter in your living room gathers on the side table, coffee table, and desk, tackle one of these at once. You'll have done more than just stare at it and walk away, but also there's the chance that seeing one nicely-cleared surface will motivate you to tackle another.
- To a lesser extent, I liked the idea of dealing with clutter by gathering everything (other than, say, bills) into a box as you tidy, and then leaving it in that box. If after a month you've not pulled stuff out of the box, it may be time to donate / sell those items. I found this less helpful because if I did that, I'd live surrounded by boxes that were constantly being rifled through.
- Small but groundbreaking enough to make my wife and I laugh at how obvious (and good) a suggestion it was: fold your fitted sheet as best as you can, then tuck it into a matching pillowcase to store. Genius!
- Familiar to people who have read books by Marie Kondo, grouping items into zones (ie task zones) can make things run more smoothly. We all already do this - for example, having coffee and mugs near the coffeemaker, and having dishwasher tabs near the dishwasher - but being conscious of creating zones can help avoid clutter. I liked Rapinchuk's idea of using zones (in the way of bins or storage dividers) within bathroom drawers for grouping face care, hair care, first aid, etc supplies so that everything was logically lumped together.
Suggestions I found far less helpful:
- Hanging up your t-shirts because fold lines on shirts are ugly. I'm frankly baffled by this; when I fold my t-shirts correctly, they never crease, but also, how many people have this much closet space?
- 'Midday reset' wherein you schedule some major housework during an hour or so in the middle of the day. Most people work; she doesn't really suggest alternatives for alleviating pressure on morning and evening routines if you aren't privileged enough to live on one income, or if you work from home but don't get the 1 - 2 hour break she suggests is normal.
- Getting up at 5am and doing 2 - 3 hours of cleaning. This assumes a lot of things, not least of which the fact that you're not getting up at 5am to already be out the door by 5:30 for a long, painful commute, or indeed the fact that you might be living in a non-freestanding home (I don' think the author has any concept of something like a studio apartment) where vacuuming, doing the laundry, or rattling dishes around would be seen as antisocial or disruptive.
- Rapinchuk described her work routine, wherein she basically puts in about 2 - 3 hours of work from home (after, of course, cleaning for hours, exercising, walking her dog, feeding her spouse and kids, cleaning up after feeding her spouse and kids, and spending 2 - 3 hours cleaning in the morning), takes 2 hours or so midday to do more housekeeping, then works for another 1 1/2 - 2 hours maximum. As someone who works gruelling hours, I found this disjoint from most working peoples' lives painful. I'm not reading this book to understand that if I only had to work for 4 hours a day, I'd be better at keeping a clean home; I'm reading it to learn how to manage a home with a busy, modern life. I suspect many of her readers would feel likewise alienated by this.
Suggestions I found problematic:
- Keeping your phone downstairs at night because (direct quote) "electromagnetic fields mess with your natural body rhythms". Citation, please? No, really: this sort of fake-science pseudoholistic babble is the reason we have antivaxxers running around. We shouldn't permit or validate this views, and I sincerely hope that the publisher either puts in a note regarding this specifically being the author's view, removes the link (keeping your phone downstairs at night to avoid distractions and stressors so you can get a better night's sleep is perfectly good a reason on its own), or adds a link to a research article that supports this statement.
- Rapinchuk's home-made cleaning products are, for the most part, functional and low-cost alternatives to commercial brands. However, a huge red flag is her 'All-Purpose Disinfecting Spray' which uses a small portion of rubbing alcohol (isopropanol is roughly 70% alcohol by volume) or vodka (approximately 40% alcohol by volume) to water and vinegar, as well as essential oils. Her formula cannot possibly disinfect kitchen or bathroom surfaces to any appreciable level. It's far too dilute. The risk of pathogens like E. coli, Campylobacter, and others isn't to be taken lightly, and anyone potentially at greater risk from these pathogens due to pre-existing health conditions, age, or disability would be strongly discouraged from depending on this non-disinfecting 'disinfectant'. Instead, they should use a lab-tested commercial disinfecting product appropriate for kitchen and bathroom surfaces in particular. This, again, should be marked by the publisher as not actually disinfecting but rather as an 'all purpose cleaner', with a note that it will not kill most household pathogens. Even more alarming, Rapinchuk asks you to spray and then wipe, where most commercial disinfectants need time to act fully (5 - 15 minutes is standard; check the label on your products) to ensure a properly disinfected surface.
I did find it disappointing that at no point did Rapinchuk go into how to actually tackle things room by room; there are very rough guides (particularly with the bathroom, where she suggests spraying surfaces, moving to the next bathroom, then wiping the first bathroom, and so on to give things time to work) but nothing about, for example, how to tackle grout, what not to use on sealed kitchen surfaces, how to best tackle cleaning baseboards / trim, etc.
All in all, I'm glad I read this book for the few incredibly helpful tips, but I wish Rapinchuk had addressed how to tackle storage / clutter limitations in small living spaces, how to actually clean rooms from top to bottom in an efficient way, and I do hope the publisher considers the two 'red flag' items above prior to publication.
Advance reader copy kindly provided by HarperCollins .
As someone who didn't grow up inheriting 'effortless' homekeeping skills from either parent, I've found myself needing to learn these (often onerous, but necessary) adult life-skills externally.
Based on the description, I expected step-by-step guides to tackling each room with how-tos and 'start here, end there' type suggestions, perhaps even hints on the best types of products to use and what to avoid, and certainly tips on how to save time and make cleaning more efficient in each space. I hoped to learn some useful tips and tactics to make keeping a clean home.
What Rapinchuk offers is, instead, a sort of rough philosophical guide to how to tackle cleaning, with broad instructions on how to create your own 'systems and rituals', to varying levels of success.
Suggestions I found helpful:
- If cohabiting, communicate with your partner / family / roommates to find out what tasks you each find more or less unpleasant; for example, I found out that despite disliking loading the dishwasher I actually quite enjoy unloading it, while my wife doesn't mind loading it but hates unloading, and likewise while I really enjoy doing laundry I hate tackling the dryer. Rapinchuk doesn't go deeply into how best to communicate, as her approach is a rather standard patriarchal hierarchy (her husband does very little in the way of housekeeping whatsoever), but I found the suggestion and ran with it, to very good results.
- Try to create 'rituals' (the words she's reaching for are 'positive associations') wherein you pair a pleasant task or small reward with a more onerous task. While hardly groundbreaking, the idea of actively trying to create positive (or at least defuse negative) associations with less-enjoyable but necessary tasks feels smart. An example of this would be setting your kettle to boil / coffeemaker to start, then unloading / loading the dishwasher, or gathering / starting a load of laundry, so that you have a 'treat' waiting at the end.
- Common sense, but again deeply reassuring: when setting up systems / routines (cleaning schedules) from scratch, be patient with yourself and don't attempt to tackle everything at once - for example, if your whole house is a mess after a move (case in point: myself), don't stare at the whole thing as you'll just get overwhelmed. Instead, tackle a room over the course of two (or more) days and breaking it up into tasks (for example, in a bedroom, tackling the clothes as one thing, then books, then knick-knacks, etc). I found the 'permission' to break things into small, manageable chunks helpful.
- To that end, with larger messes / tidying tasks, Rapinchuk likewise encourages you to tackle 'one surface at a time'. For example, if clutter in your living room gathers on the side table, coffee table, and desk, tackle one of these at once. You'll have done more than just stare at it and walk away, but also there's the chance that seeing one nicely-cleared surface will motivate you to tackle another.
- To a lesser extent, I liked the idea of dealing with clutter by gathering everything (other than, say, bills) into a box as you tidy, and then leaving it in that box. If after a month you've not pulled stuff out of the box, it may be time to donate / sell those items. I found this less helpful because if I did that, I'd live surrounded by boxes that were constantly being rifled through.
- Small but groundbreaking enough to make my wife and I laugh at how obvious (and good) a suggestion it was: fold your fitted sheet as best as you can, then tuck it into a matching pillowcase to store. Genius!
- Familiar to people who have read books by Marie Kondo, grouping items into zones (ie task zones) can make things run more smoothly. We all already do this - for example, having coffee and mugs near the coffeemaker, and having dishwasher tabs near the dishwasher - but being conscious of creating zones can help avoid clutter. I liked Rapinchuk's idea of using zones (in the way of bins or storage dividers) within bathroom drawers for grouping face care, hair care, first aid, etc supplies so that everything was logically lumped together.
Suggestions I found far less helpful:
- Hanging up your t-shirts because fold lines on shirts are ugly. I'm frankly baffled by this; when I fold my t-shirts correctly, they never crease, but also, how many people have this much closet space?
- 'Midday reset' wherein you schedule some major housework during an hour or so in the middle of the day. Most people work; she doesn't really suggest alternatives for alleviating pressure on morning and evening routines if you aren't privileged enough to live on one income, or if you work from home but don't get the 1 - 2 hour break she suggests is normal.
- Getting up at 5am and doing 2 - 3 hours of cleaning. This assumes a lot of things, not least of which the fact that you're not getting up at 5am to already be out the door by 5:30 for a long, painful commute, or indeed the fact that you might be living in a non-freestanding home (I don' think the author has any concept of something like a studio apartment) where vacuuming, doing the laundry, or rattling dishes around would be seen as antisocial or disruptive.
- Rapinchuk described her work routine, wherein she basically puts in about 2 - 3 hours of work from home (after, of course, cleaning for hours, exercising, walking her dog, feeding her spouse and kids, cleaning up after feeding her spouse and kids, and spending 2 - 3 hours cleaning in the morning), takes 2 hours or so midday to do more housekeeping, then works for another 1 1/2 - 2 hours maximum. As someone who works gruelling hours, I found this disjoint from most working peoples' lives painful. I'm not reading this book to understand that if I only had to work for 4 hours a day, I'd be better at keeping a clean home; I'm reading it to learn how to manage a home with a busy, modern life. I suspect many of her readers would feel likewise alienated by this.
Suggestions I found problematic:
- Keeping your phone downstairs at night because (direct quote) "electromagnetic fields mess with your natural body rhythms". Citation, please? No, really: this sort of fake-science pseudoholistic babble is the reason we have antivaxxers running around. We shouldn't permit or validate this views, and I sincerely hope that the publisher either puts in a note regarding this specifically being the author's view, removes the link (keeping your phone downstairs at night to avoid distractions and stressors so you can get a better night's sleep is perfectly good a reason on its own), or adds a link to a research article that supports this statement.
- Rapinchuk's home-made cleaning products are, for the most part, functional and low-cost alternatives to commercial brands. However, a huge red flag is her 'All-Purpose Disinfecting Spray' which uses a small portion of rubbing alcohol (isopropanol is roughly 70% alcohol by volume) or vodka (approximately 40% alcohol by volume) to water and vinegar, as well as essential oils. Her formula cannot possibly disinfect kitchen or bathroom surfaces to any appreciable level. It's far too dilute. The risk of pathogens like E. coli, Campylobacter, and others isn't to be taken lightly, and anyone potentially at greater risk from these pathogens due to pre-existing health conditions, age, or disability would be strongly discouraged from depending on this non-disinfecting 'disinfectant'. Instead, they should use a lab-tested commercial disinfecting product appropriate for kitchen and bathroom surfaces in particular. This, again, should be marked by the publisher as not actually disinfecting but rather as an 'all purpose cleaner', with a note that it will not kill most household pathogens. Even more alarming, Rapinchuk asks you to spray and then wipe, where most commercial disinfectants need time to act fully (5 - 15 minutes is standard; check the label on your products) to ensure a properly disinfected surface.
I did find it disappointing that at no point did Rapinchuk go into how to actually tackle things room by room; there are very rough guides (particularly with the bathroom, where she suggests spraying surfaces, moving to the next bathroom, then wiping the first bathroom, and so on to give things time to work) but nothing about, for example, how to tackle grout, what not to use on sealed kitchen surfaces, how to best tackle cleaning baseboards / trim, etc.
All in all, I'm glad I read this book for the few incredibly helpful tips, but I wish Rapinchuk had addressed how to tackle storage / clutter limitations in small living spaces, how to actually clean rooms from top to bottom in an efficient way, and I do hope the publisher considers the two 'red flag' items above prior to publication.
Advance reader copy kindly provided by HarperCollins .
December 28, 2020
I was torn between 3 and 4 stars for this book but ultimately went with 3 because I personally didn't get that much out of it. It will be a big hit for people who like doing workbooks and getting assignments. Every chapter is filled with spaces where you're supposed to identify "pain points" (what's not working, what you hate to do in that room, etc.) and then things like what is working, and what routine you think would work better. She gives examples of her own pain points and things that she does, but she does not tell you specifically how to make your own routines or what to do. In a way, this makes sense because everyone's spaces, needs, goals and abilities are so different. But if you're looking for a book that tells you exactly what to do in every room, this isn't it.
Every home organization/cleaning book I read has one or two things I take away and mostly fluff otherwise. Marie Kondo has the idea of sparking joy and a couple of others. One of these books taught me the container concept, which was a huge lightbulb moment for me (every dresser, bookcase, room, etc. is a container and that's as much as you can have -- fill it with the best first and get rid of the rest, period). With this one, one of the takeaways for me was to pin unpleasant tasks with established positive routines, like unload the dishwasher in the couple of minutes the kettle is boiling in the morning. That makes sense and I've started doing that.
I did fill out the endless spaces (digitally, with notes on my kindle) for what I didn't like about managing every room, what my ideal weekly cleaning routine would look like and so on, but I honestly found it a little tedious and promptly archived the book so I'm not sure it helped much. Some books motivate me to make all kinds of great changes. This just reminded me what doesn't work in all my routines. And while she tells you her routines, they don't fit me and I am not getting up at 5 a.m. to start my housekeeping day, so it wasn't that helpful for me personally. I do suspect that other people will get a lot more out of the book though, especially SAHMs with young children. I also think that a physical copy will probably be much more helpful, as you can flip through and revisit all the things you filled out.
I read a digital ARC of this book for review.
Every home organization/cleaning book I read has one or two things I take away and mostly fluff otherwise. Marie Kondo has the idea of sparking joy and a couple of others. One of these books taught me the container concept, which was a huge lightbulb moment for me (every dresser, bookcase, room, etc. is a container and that's as much as you can have -- fill it with the best first and get rid of the rest, period). With this one, one of the takeaways for me was to pin unpleasant tasks with established positive routines, like unload the dishwasher in the couple of minutes the kettle is boiling in the morning. That makes sense and I've started doing that.
I did fill out the endless spaces (digitally, with notes on my kindle) for what I didn't like about managing every room, what my ideal weekly cleaning routine would look like and so on, but I honestly found it a little tedious and promptly archived the book so I'm not sure it helped much. Some books motivate me to make all kinds of great changes. This just reminded me what doesn't work in all my routines. And while she tells you her routines, they don't fit me and I am not getting up at 5 a.m. to start my housekeeping day, so it wasn't that helpful for me personally. I do suspect that other people will get a lot more out of the book though, especially SAHMs with young children. I also think that a physical copy will probably be much more helpful, as you can flip through and revisit all the things you filled out.
I read a digital ARC of this book for review.
Currently reading
September 11, 2022I appreciate this simple, no-nonsense book with practical tips for dealing with trouble spots. My biggest takeaway is realizing what is causing me grief and troubleshooting possible remedies. Just being intentional about sitting down and going through what isn’t working is useful to me and pairing it with something else to make it easy is also useful!
September 11, 2022
My biggest takeaway is that I need to sit down often and evaluate my routines. I also need to be real with what isn’t working. I also need to have a short list and a long list and look at them often. Part of being a manager is knowing what needs to be managed and being willing to change things up if something isn’t working. This book reminded me that I CAN be proactive in helping things run better. It just takes time and needs to be a priority. I also need to be humble enough to make the corrections
September 11, 2022
My biggest takeaway is that I need to sit down often and evaluate my routines. I also need to be real with what isn’t working. I also need to have a short list and a long list and look at them often. Part of being a manager is knowing what needs to be managed and being willing to change things up if something isn’t working. This book reminded me that I CAN be proactive in helping things run better. It just takes time and needs to be a priority. I also need to be humble enough to make the corrections
September 7, 2024
Ugh. More of the same garbage advice that doesn’t work for someone who isn’t already a “clean mama”. Yeah, if you just change yourself and your life to be like her and do what she does, your home might look like hers. So just change who you are and everything you do! Problem solved.
October 7, 2020
I've been following Clean Mama's blog for years, enjoying the amazing photos of a clean, minimalist, and cool color scheme with the Turquoise blue microfiber cloth and appliance and calendars/to-do list pads. I was excited to find out that Clean Mama, Becky Rapinchuk, had a book of her philosophy on homekeeping, which can also be used in other facets of life, like office/business management. I appreciated the Resets, Planning, and the Zone designations so I can use this book as a reference to draw upon whenever I need to revisit an issue in managing my home and children's lives.
I highly recommend this book for lovers of housekeeping, organization, and decluttering. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.
I highly recommend this book for lovers of housekeeping, organization, and decluttering. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.
December 22, 2021
I didn't like that so much of her previous book was just copy/pasted into this one, but I did appreciate the ideas for developing systems that make cleaning easy and a natural part of your routine without much effort, mental or physical.
At this point, I've more or less determined my cleaning methods. First you declutter with Mari Kondo (with some help from Jennifer L. Scott for your wardrobe). Then you do your regular cleaning using a healthy mix of Clean Mama and Fly Lady, with a weekly speed clean à la Jeff Campbell, and always referring to the unparalleled Cheryl Mendelson when in doubt. And let's not forget Bea Johnson and Beth Terry in our search for a healthier, not just cleaner, home.
At this point, I've more or less determined my cleaning methods. First you declutter with Mari Kondo (with some help from Jennifer L. Scott for your wardrobe). Then you do your regular cleaning using a healthy mix of Clean Mama and Fly Lady, with a weekly speed clean à la Jeff Campbell, and always referring to the unparalleled Cheryl Mendelson when in doubt. And let's not forget Bea Johnson and Beth Terry in our search for a healthier, not just cleaner, home.
November 28, 2021
Been trying to be a more consistent housekeeper for my home and mostly succeeding, so this was a bargain Kindle read that I decided to give a shot. Ultimately, it's not a back how-to manual, but while reading it, I realized that it wasn't going to be very helpful to someone who already knows how to keep their house clean. The main takeaway I'm utilizing from this one is to start making my kid do his own laundry- and while I look forward to him taking over hia own mess a bit more, I am NOT looking forward to the inevitable bitching and faked-helplessness that will most definitely come along with that new expectation when I lay down the law. I probably would have gotten more out of reading a parenting teens book. Another thing I WILL be trying to implement more strictly is sticking to a daily task/weekly task schedule, bit that's hardly a groundbreaking tip Also, I don't do essential oils or homemade cleaning products, so that made large chunks of pages just skimmable of this one. Maybe a good starter book for younger people who've never been taught or figured out how to keep a house clean, but otherwise this book is too rudimentary for people who already live in normal-clean houses.
May 8, 2025
I enjoy books like this for easy reading and motivation, and it did just that. A fun and helpful guide, with actionable steps that inspire you and aren’t one size fits all. Very well organized, and I love the cleaning supply recipes as a bonus.
I’ve been able to develop some daily rituals for myself, and I’ve made it my own. Granted, I missed most of the days, but I enjoy referring back to my daily goals for cleaning (esp pain points), cooking/prepping, and play.
Would definitely recommend! I’ve heard many of these tips, but some were new, and the way it’s organized brought a new and refreshing perspective.
I’ve been able to develop some daily rituals for myself, and I’ve made it my own. Granted, I missed most of the days, but I enjoy referring back to my daily goals for cleaning (esp pain points), cooking/prepping, and play.
Would definitely recommend! I’ve heard many of these tips, but some were new, and the way it’s organized brought a new and refreshing perspective.
February 3, 2023
One star for a pretty good step by step guide to each room’s cleaning. One star for the cleaning caddy idea… I’ll definitely use that. One star for the cabinet idea for kids dishes… will implement. Stars taken away because I spend at least 10 hours getting to work, working, picking up kids and then jumping on international calls at night… don’t have 3-4 hours daily to clean… don’t have half of that…and am not willing to make weekends that onerous. But am trying to give just one hour a day… we’ll see if it works or keeps…(update after 4 days, one hour has already shrunk to 30 minutes (during kids bath)… sigh
January 25, 2021
The best part of the Clean Mama’s system is the rotating weekly tasks. I also love her homemade recipes for cleaners. In this book she tries to get us thinking how to pair an already established ritual with a small cleaning task. I won’t adopt all her recommendations, but I love to rethink how I do things.
August 2, 2021
I like the Clean Mama Instagram/blog, so when I saw her new book at the library, I grabbed it. She has some very helpful tips, but some things are just as easily available on her blog. Additionally, some of her suggestions just don’t work for two adults that work outside the home. The workbook aspect is cool, but I am glad this is a library book.
March 30, 2021
Perfect book for someone just starting out on the homemaking journey, but for me (married for 20 years) this book was very simplistic. Her voice cab be a tad dry, and the workbook element of the book felt repetitive after a while.
May 6, 2021
This book truly helps you create the home you want. It has been more practical/useful than any of the cookie cutter books on minimalism I've read in the past five years.
December 5, 2025
I love to declutter and organize. Doing so is my idea of terrific fun! I enjoy reading these books to see if the authors have any new ideas I could use, or if there is a better way of doing something I already do. This author has a ton of great ideas to make your home run smoothly. There are great tips about keeping kids clutter under control. My daughters are grown, but I certainly would have followed this advice years ago when they were small.
March 4, 2021
It’s fine, but earth shattering. You probably already know most of it.
January 24, 2021
This is such an inspiring book! I kept having to put it down and try new things.
May 28, 2022
Saw this at the library & decided to give it a shot since I see it mentioned everywhere. Given the volume of online noise about Clean Mama, I expected more. For example:
Ya don't say. How?
Most of the book is like this... the reader is inundated with a myriad of vague ideas to solve the problem but few concrete steps. Like Pinterest, but in a book with no illustrations.
I dunno...
I absolutely get it that FlyLady is very Web 1.0 energy, but for a beginner who is totally lost & overwhelmed she gives concrete direction. And Marie Kondo may weird people out with the "thank your items" deal, but again there is concrete direction. Beginner Housewife Me would have felt as lost and overwhelmed at the end of Clean Mama as I did at the beginning.
The DIY cleaner recipes seem nice. And the color palette is soothing, so kudos to the designer.
Pain Point: Toys and Sports Equipment Are Strewn All Over
Solution: Keep Everything Organized
Ya don't say. How?
Get creative with your storage. Add hooks to your walls for thibgs like tennis rackets, hockey sticks, ice skates, baseball mitts, etc. You can make it fun by tracing these items on the wall so they always get hung up in their proper places. Kids will love to put the "puzzle pieces" back on the walls! Reuse empty bins and appropriate shelves and lockers. Group like items together, toss or donate what you no longer use or need, and get your storage space back to organized bliss.
Most of the book is like this... the reader is inundated with a myriad of vague ideas to solve the problem but few concrete steps. Like Pinterest, but in a book with no illustrations.
I dunno...
I absolutely get it that FlyLady is very Web 1.0 energy, but for a beginner who is totally lost & overwhelmed she gives concrete direction. And Marie Kondo may weird people out with the "thank your items" deal, but again there is concrete direction. Beginner Housewife Me would have felt as lost and overwhelmed at the end of Clean Mama as I did at the beginning.
The DIY cleaner recipes seem nice. And the color palette is soothing, so kudos to the designer.
January 28, 2021
This was okay. Clean Mama’s cleaning routines have revolutionized my house, so I was looking forward to getting more “systems” inspiration from this book, but there wasn’t a lot to take away. Most of the “workbook” parts just felt like filler IMO.
October 11, 2020
Scheduled to post to my blog at release: Nonstop Reader.
Clean Mama's Guide to a Peaceful Home is a meticulously organized specific guide to creating an oasis (in this insanely upside-down world) and getting control of the everyday tasks which always seem to spiral out of control too easily (at least in my experience). Due out 29th Dec 2020 from Harper Collins on their HarperOne imprint, it's 240 pages (print version) and will be available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
I've always struggled to stay organized at home. I don't seem to have the same challenges at work, but for my home life, making lists and staying on time and on task has been really challenging for most of my adult life. My pattern has been that I wind up letting some things slide, they snowball, and then the tasks seem daunting to get "caught up" and wind up taking even MORE time than if I'd stayed on top of them all along.
This book is a practical instruction manual for getting a handle on those tasks: figuring out what they are, figuring out how to perform them, breaking them down into manageable individual smaller tasks, doing them, and staying on top of them in future.
The book has a very logical and accessible layout. The introduction provides a capsule survey of why getting organized leads to less stress overall and other benefits and leads into sections: finding time and creating routines, and implementing these lists and routings in specific areas of the home.
This book is absolutely *full* of workbook samples for filling out (I recommend either printing them out from the electronic copy, or copying the standard forms from the print copy - I confess that I'm not sure how the audio format will coordinate). There are schedules and checklists for every room in the house; for meal planning, bathroom, office +paperwork, the dreaded garage/storage, vehicles, cleaning routines and tips, and a lot lot more.
The appendices contain a lot of useful recipes for cleaning products for different surfaces and a cross-referenced index. There are so many good immediately usable tips in this book that even people (like me) who need to take baby steps can find things to utilize immediately.
Five stars - maybe a little intimidating, but really solid organizational tips and routines.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Clean Mama's Guide to a Peaceful Home is a meticulously organized specific guide to creating an oasis (in this insanely upside-down world) and getting control of the everyday tasks which always seem to spiral out of control too easily (at least in my experience). Due out 29th Dec 2020 from Harper Collins on their HarperOne imprint, it's 240 pages (print version) and will be available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
I've always struggled to stay organized at home. I don't seem to have the same challenges at work, but for my home life, making lists and staying on time and on task has been really challenging for most of my adult life. My pattern has been that I wind up letting some things slide, they snowball, and then the tasks seem daunting to get "caught up" and wind up taking even MORE time than if I'd stayed on top of them all along.
This book is a practical instruction manual for getting a handle on those tasks: figuring out what they are, figuring out how to perform them, breaking them down into manageable individual smaller tasks, doing them, and staying on top of them in future.
The book has a very logical and accessible layout. The introduction provides a capsule survey of why getting organized leads to less stress overall and other benefits and leads into sections: finding time and creating routines, and implementing these lists and routings in specific areas of the home.
This book is absolutely *full* of workbook samples for filling out (I recommend either printing them out from the electronic copy, or copying the standard forms from the print copy - I confess that I'm not sure how the audio format will coordinate). There are schedules and checklists for every room in the house; for meal planning, bathroom, office +paperwork, the dreaded garage/storage, vehicles, cleaning routines and tips, and a lot lot more.
The appendices contain a lot of useful recipes for cleaning products for different surfaces and a cross-referenced index. There are so many good immediately usable tips in this book that even people (like me) who need to take baby steps can find things to utilize immediately.
Five stars - maybe a little intimidating, but really solid organizational tips and routines.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
February 16, 2021
Thank you to @Netgalley and @Harperonebooks for allowing me to read Clean Mama’s Guide to a Peaceful Home. I enjoyed this e-book so much that I took three pages of notes in my journal of ideas to incorporate into my home.
I love these kinds of books. Books that give suggestions of ways to bring peace, joy and simplicity into my home. I am always looking for ways, routines and shortcuts to help keep things in order in my home. There were so many ideas and take-aways in the Clean Mama's Guide that I have already adopted into my weekly life. First, I started with Five Daily Tasks. Becky had some good recommendations and I think I only modified one for my home. 1) Make bed daily. 2) Walk around the house and do a quick 123 straighten up. 3) Straighten Kitchen & wash the kitchen sink daily. 4) Make sure everything is in the proper place. 5) Do a load of laundry daily.
Becky also recommends having a weekly cleaning schedule. I am working on developing a schedule that works for me and my priorities but I definitely like the idea. The book has so many great suggestions for cleaning the house including recipes for homemade, environmentally friendly cleaners. I've been using the one for the kitchen sink for two weeks and my sink just shines.
Another thing I liked about this book is that Becky suggests ways to include and teach your children how to help maintain the order in the house. A happy mama = a happy family and if everyone works together life will be so much better. Especially these days when we are spending so much time together.
If you are looking for a book with practical ideas to help with household cleaning and maintenance, then this is the book you want!! It came out at the beginning of 2021 so you can find it now in the bookstores. I highly recommend this book.
I love these kinds of books. Books that give suggestions of ways to bring peace, joy and simplicity into my home. I am always looking for ways, routines and shortcuts to help keep things in order in my home. There were so many ideas and take-aways in the Clean Mama's Guide that I have already adopted into my weekly life. First, I started with Five Daily Tasks. Becky had some good recommendations and I think I only modified one for my home. 1) Make bed daily. 2) Walk around the house and do a quick 123 straighten up. 3) Straighten Kitchen & wash the kitchen sink daily. 4) Make sure everything is in the proper place. 5) Do a load of laundry daily.
Becky also recommends having a weekly cleaning schedule. I am working on developing a schedule that works for me and my priorities but I definitely like the idea. The book has so many great suggestions for cleaning the house including recipes for homemade, environmentally friendly cleaners. I've been using the one for the kitchen sink for two weeks and my sink just shines.
Another thing I liked about this book is that Becky suggests ways to include and teach your children how to help maintain the order in the house. A happy mama = a happy family and if everyone works together life will be so much better. Especially these days when we are spending so much time together.
If you are looking for a book with practical ideas to help with household cleaning and maintenance, then this is the book you want!! It came out at the beginning of 2021 so you can find it now in the bookstores. I highly recommend this book.
August 3, 2021
3.5 stars. I love the thought that this book could solve all of my stress and enable me to live in a clean house with my small children. “Effortless systems and joyful rituals for a calm, cozy home” is a great tagline that resonates with what my heart desires. :) There are a lot of good ideas in this book, and I enjoy the way it is set up with space to journal and think through the problem areas of one’s own rooms and systems. I also love the way Rapinchuk doesn’t lose sight of the purpose of cleaning—that we would really be able to enjoy our homes and those we live with. The most difficult piece for me was trying to imagine how to schedule time for keeping up with all of these systems. A person is cleaning daily (making beds, checking floors, wiping counters, decluttering, and washing and folding clothes), weekly (tackling bathrooms, dusting, vacuuming, mopping, washing sheets and towels—each on a different day of the week), and on a rotating basis (weekly, monthly, or quarterly finding time to fit in various deep-cleaning tasks). In addition, tidying up after every project, cleaning whole cooking, and cleaning the kitchen after dinner every evening. Is this feasible? How much time does this take? The author does her best to alleviate pressure to keep a clean house, focusing on the pleasant rituals and rewards that can result, and finding solutions for common “pain points” that keep us from cleaning. I would imagine her main audience is the stay-at-home or work-from-home mom who is not particularly limited by budget, space, or time. (And who has her own washer and dryer. ;))
December 18, 2020
I am a fierce minimalist living in a clean organized 400 square feet unlike most people today who live in McMansions and gather, hoard and collect to many belongings. I am not of that mindset and equally so I keep a very clean living space but believe there is always room for improvement. So I was happy to review this book prior to publication . Thank you to the publisher, the author and Net Galley for making this available for me to review. My opinions are my own. I highly recommend this book for everyone out there that needs assistance keeping a clean home and being organized . I truly believe that organization works and it keeps my own living space very peaceful so this book definitely speaks to everyone that wants to achieve organization and cleanliness.
The author has created a exemplary starter manual for everyone who wants to do a better job keeping their home clean and organized. She even includes cleaning receipes that I will be using from now on. I enjoyed reading about how to create a more peaceful home . The journal aspect is nice addition and very useful. I love the theory of getting rid of something that bothers you and keeping another you love. The book overall has the perfect balance of teaching in a helpful fun manner. It would be especially great for those newlyweds and young people living on their own for the first time . I highly recommend this book for all seeking to improve their home. Its a delightful read and very fun.
The author has created a exemplary starter manual for everyone who wants to do a better job keeping their home clean and organized. She even includes cleaning receipes that I will be using from now on. I enjoyed reading about how to create a more peaceful home . The journal aspect is nice addition and very useful. I love the theory of getting rid of something that bothers you and keeping another you love. The book overall has the perfect balance of teaching in a helpful fun manner. It would be especially great for those newlyweds and young people living on their own for the first time . I highly recommend this book for all seeking to improve their home. Its a delightful read and very fun.
September 15, 2020
This book was received as an ARC from HarperOne in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.
I have read so many organizational, cleanliness books and all of them say the same thing, a clean home can lead to a happy, calm, and peaceful life. This book also taught me that there is more than one way to really clean a home and to not be afraid of finding what works for you. Becky Rapinchuk gives great tips and ideas to not only make your home clean and cozy but to make the process less stressful and more fun. Rapchuk also focuses on the fact of the importance of maintaining cleanliness in your house which is key to creating less work for next time. I know our community loves books similar to this and I can't wait to hear their opinions.
We will consider adding this book to our Non-Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.
I have read so many organizational, cleanliness books and all of them say the same thing, a clean home can lead to a happy, calm, and peaceful life. This book also taught me that there is more than one way to really clean a home and to not be afraid of finding what works for you. Becky Rapinchuk gives great tips and ideas to not only make your home clean and cozy but to make the process less stressful and more fun. Rapchuk also focuses on the fact of the importance of maintaining cleanliness in your house which is key to creating less work for next time. I know our community loves books similar to this and I can't wait to hear their opinions.
We will consider adding this book to our Non-Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.
January 17, 2021
I highly recommend Clean Mama's Guide to a Peaceful Home by Becky Rapinchuk for anyone looking to start the new year with a cleaner, more organized home. If you are new to The Clean Mama I think this book is a great place to start. It solves the problem of “where do I even begin?” by walking you through your home room by room and asking you to identify your “pain points” in each space (what’s not working or overwhelming to you?). Then the author discusses common pain points for each room and offers a variety of simple and practical ideas, recommendations, and routines to meet your cleaning, decluttering, and organizing needs. Most valuables all, the author not only offers a lot of guidance on how to initially clean or organize a space, but also on how to keep it that way.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me an advanced reader copy of this book for review. #CleanMamasGuidetoaPeacefulHome #NetGalley
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me an advanced reader copy of this book for review. #CleanMamasGuidetoaPeacefulHome #NetGalley
August 26, 2021
I found her planner and thought it was beautiful, so I checked out her books and her Instagram page. While there are some good ideas in this entire system, it is not one that will work for me. This system mentions routines with young children. I just sent my youngest back to college, and these routines are no longer relevant to me. I could certainly leave them out, but I also do my other chores and tasks differently. I'm looking for a system that will help me to organize my home during the pandemic. As I mentioned, I have college age children who left, then returned just a few weeks later, each with a mountain of stuff and laundry to go with it. Each child has their own routine, class lists, assignments, projects, extra curricular meetings, PT and meal times. I was injured in a bad fall, and have not had the mobility to keep up with everything. The Clean Mama system may be a great idea for someone in a different stage of life, but unfortunately, I will have to keep looking.
May 6, 2025
Not great. There were a few good tips, but this book wasn’t for me, a mom of young kids who works full time. There should have been a subheading that said “(But only if your kids are older and you don’t work full-time)”. I don’t know how many times I said out loud while reading, “THIS IS NOT REALISTIC!”
I also noticed underlying misogyny throughout the pages. She really emphasized how much she hated doing dishes, almost like she enjoyed cleaning everything BUT dishes (also unrelatable). The whole time reading it i couldn’t help thinking, what is her husband doing to help out at home? If she hates dishes so much why haven’t they designated him as the dishwasher? Or why couldn’t they split that duty if they both hate it? It was a very old fashioned message implying that it’s a women’s responsibility to keep the home clean, and even if you absolutely hate doing something you should just suck it up and do it anyway, even if you have to get up early to get it done.
I also noticed underlying misogyny throughout the pages. She really emphasized how much she hated doing dishes, almost like she enjoyed cleaning everything BUT dishes (also unrelatable). The whole time reading it i couldn’t help thinking, what is her husband doing to help out at home? If she hates dishes so much why haven’t they designated him as the dishwasher? Or why couldn’t they split that duty if they both hate it? It was a very old fashioned message implying that it’s a women’s responsibility to keep the home clean, and even if you absolutely hate doing something you should just suck it up and do it anyway, even if you have to get up early to get it done.
December 29, 2020
The book starts with covering how to find time and create cleaning routines. This section includes evaluating some areas of life where you can be more efficient (a particularly good section on meal planning/grocery shopping gave me some great new ideas). Then the book goes through a detailed "Clean Home Reset" section, where the reader evaluates each area of their home for what is working, what are pain points, what systems are in place or needed, and what rituals can be created. There are lots of good tips, hints, and thought provoking questions. The book specifically states that it can be used as a journal, and there are spaces throughout to write down answers to questions - for this reason I recommend a print copy rather than ebook, but a reader could also take notes elsewhere. . The appendix includes diy cleaning product recipes.
Following along through the book is geared towards helping the reader both declutter and figure out cleaning systems and routines that work for their home and life.
I received an ebook ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Following along through the book is geared towards helping the reader both declutter and figure out cleaning systems and routines that work for their home and life.
I received an ebook ARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 14, 2021
Meh. I’m underwhelmed. I would’ve enjoyed this book more if I didn’t already employ most of the techniques described. I do like the idea of rituals (which I would call rhythms) and marrying “pain point tasks” with tasks that we enjoy. I don’t love the endless list of “systems” and how every chapter was basically just a repetition of the one before. A book that delved deeper into methods and rhythms would’ve been much more interesting. The lined writing prompts and checklist pages were useless; the narrative was dull - true to “how to” manual style. Still, I enjoy cleaning/organizing and reading on the topic does inspire me to get to work. In that regard, I raise my initial 2.5 impression to a solid 3.
October 4, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley & HarperOne for the ARC of this book.
I wasn't familiar with Clean Mama prior to reading this book, but this is very well written and incredibly detailed. If you thrive on rigid scheduling & systems then this is the book for you! But even if you don't you can pick up some good details.
One idea I like was the Pain Point tasks/Happy tasks--basically combining a task you really don't like with one you don't, to make it more palatable. Like a cookie if you finish your veggies .
I do think this book really needs to be only available as a physical copy, not e-book, since there are multiple lists to fill out.
I wasn't familiar with Clean Mama prior to reading this book, but this is very well written and incredibly detailed. If you thrive on rigid scheduling & systems then this is the book for you! But even if you don't you can pick up some good details.
One idea I like was the Pain Point tasks/Happy tasks--basically combining a task you really don't like with one you don't, to make it more palatable. Like a cookie if you finish your veggies .
I do think this book really needs to be only available as a physical copy, not e-book, since there are multiple lists to fill out.
October 9, 2020
If you are like me and your entire house is in complete disarray from being stuck in it for 6+ months with your hoard of children, this is a great guide to get you started. I received a free e-book from NetGalley to review, but I'm buying this paperback so I can actually use the workbook. It's well organized by section of the house and has a wonderful system of tackling "pain points" (what drives you particularly crazy about cleaning a part of your house). In example, when my kids leave puzzles out, it drives me bonkers. Then, she has solutions on how to soothe the pain points to make the other parts of cleaning easier. A great way to organize your thoughts about organizing your house!
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