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Clean machines for living
REVIEWS BY DEANNA LARSON and MICHELLE JONES Like it or not, the onset of spring means it's time to give our living (and work) spaces through cleaning. Two new books will help even the least motivated among us end up with rooms that reflect the fresh start the new season brings.
Readers who equate "natural" with still slightly dirty should know that Sandbeck—a former housecleaner—is fond of using a toothbrush to get at gunky nooks and crannies, and has perfected a system of damp cloths (washable, bleachable, landfill-friendly old cotton T-shirts) on a rubber mop head to sop up muddy footprints before they dry. This crunchy granola Martha Stewart also covers common green topics such as organic food, recycling, reducing consumption, and reusing everything from foil to plastic containers and old clothes. Her sensible, safe and more effective methods for clean, healthy living help both ordinary families and the world.
By Ellen Sandbeck Scribner, $28 448 pages ISBN 0743256204
Keep it simple
By Donna Smallin Storey, $16.95 320 pages ISBN 1580176070
This odd house
By Dan Ramsey Quirk, $15.95 224 pages ISBN 1594741034
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Ellen Sandbeck, an organic landscaper and worm farmer, raises consciousness while promoting simple, environmentally friendly and cheap solutions to every cleaning challenge in Organic Housekeeping: In Which the Nontoxic Avenger Shows You How to Improve Your Health and That of Your Family While You Save Time, Money and Perhaps Your Sanity, due out in May. Sandbeck, who lives with kids and pets yet never loses her dry sense of humor or passion for a healthfully clean house, has terrific ideas for "housekeeping that minimizes the household's negative impact on the environment." She proves a spirited and encyclopedic guide to the natural and nontoxic home, covering every element of the paper-not-plastic lifestyle, including "domestic odor control" and indoor air quality, de-cluttering, making laundry less odious (try rain- or snow-washing), and general cleaning and disinfecting (with a terrific and inexpensive nontoxic sanitizer made of hydrogen peroxide and vinegar). Sandbeck even discusses fire safety and caring for cars, the garden and pets with health and the environment in mind.
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Those who want a more traditional reference guide to cleaning challenges will enjoy the perky advice and attractive design of Cleaning Plain and Simple. Donna Smallin, author of Organizing Plain and Simple, is an expert on the clean and organized life ("clean smarter not harder"), and her handbook is a sparkling example of how a well-ordered space can help you live better. Smallin recognizes that we all have different dirt tolerances and cleaning styles, so the book presents a detailed room-by-room "cleaning crash course" that allows quick bursts or deep cleaning sessions, always keeping in mind the hurried pace of modern lives. She helps readers maintain their living spaces first by de-cluttering, then eliminating dirt, mold, germs and dust from floor to ceiling. And she offers advice on how to properly clean everything from a toilet to a reptile's cage. The book is neatly packed with plenty of interesting sidebars (did you know there are self-cleaning windows?), allergy information, safety tips and "green" recipes as well as chemical-based methods for getting a house in tip-top shape, making it the perfect spring shower present for both bride and groom.
The Home Owner's Manual is a straightforward guide to taking care of house and home. Sort of. Coming from an imprint whose name says it all, THOM is accordingly bizarrely technical in places and plain weird in others. You'll learn, for example, that "a door is a hinged or sliding component that allows occupants to pass through a wall." Hmm.
How seriously can you take a book printed in trendy shades of turquoise, hazard-warning orange and brown, with drawings reminiscent of airline safety cards? As it happens, the manual includes many helpful tips from author Dan Ramsey, a licensed contractor, and his Fix-it Club, such as checklists for buying, selling or undertaking any household repairs. Useful definitions are sprinkled throughout the book and collected in a glossary and those illustrations are a clever way to illustrate different dwelling styles. While THOM is not without humor, it underscores the very serious point that being a homeowner requires a lot of work.
—MICHELLE JONES