Impressions: How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis
Book Category: Adult Self-help
I decided on this book when I wanted an easy listen, and it hit all the notes I was looking for. Quick, cheerful, empathetic, practical.
What this book is: supportive towards making peace & making progress in one's space, leaving behind unreasonable mindsets, and making your home work for you.
What it's not: an exhaustive list of housekeeping tips that work for neurotypical people.
Also: I liked that it wasn't elevating her way of doing things over others, like- we have friends who love to clean and it comes easier for them. Great! But we're looking for what works for us.
Me: a lifelong reader of house keeping tips who's still figuring things out.
To address some critiques people have written:
- Leaving the trash bag rather than immediately walking it to the bin is not about leaving it there forever. It's a way to keep on with the task of finishing the 5 things for the room (if that's the goal), leaving the "walking to the bin" part to the conclusion of the room tidying. That's what works for my brain too.
- Why was there a chapter about cleaning your car that didn't give car cleaning advice? A literary device. How even when we've gained all sorts of skills, there is still more to learn. It's a wonderful space for seeing the author be gentle and honest in the way she's advising others.
- I understood the "throwing away dishes" part being for people who had left dirty dished unwashed for a loooong time. More like, something to do when people at their wits' end. Not a random wasteful suggestion.
- Same thing for throwing away donations, or using single use... I read the author as considering this based on one's current state, not as a best practices thing but again, for when one is really struggling, and to let it be, without judgement. I get it. Also- there's a part where if someone's being critical but might want to help- asking for help to take your donations pile to the donations place was a suggestion. So- it's not a wholesale "throw away donations" thing.
For me, I have made green compromises at times based on my needs in the moment. And that's when I actually direct some anger towards systemic practices that put the burden of caring for the earth on the individual in our society, rather than on the industries that are making things worse. I wish they made it easier for us! Sometimes life is hard and I wish that being responsible wasn't so hard (for me) sometimes.