Recently there have been a lot of changes in the Blaelock Household, with the aim of creating a happy and healthy home. Mainly leading out from the transplant rejection scare, and consequently a need to redesign my working and sleeping environments. Happy and Healthy Sleeping Environment We started the sleeping environment upgrades a few months[…]READ MORE?
Tag: Home
Books: to keep or not keep?
Since I read Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying, I keep falling over intense, library voice (whispered) bookish debates about whether to keep or not keep books. More often than not, the argument centres on not keeping, and Ms Kondo’s insistence on only keeping those that “spark joy.” Can/does a book “spark joy”? Well,[…]READ MORE?
How To Care For Your Best Rooms
In days gone by, houses were much smaller. They generally consisted of Best Rooms like the parlour, where you received guests during designated visiting hours, and everywhere else. Best Rooms Best rooms were very special places, strictly for showing off, all the very special, very expensive things went in there. You can see a more[…]READ MORE?
Housework Survey Says: What You Really Think About It
A while back, I mentioned I was inspired to write a book about Housekeeping, and I asked if there was such a thing as minimally viable housework? Well, housework survey says maybe. As you read the results, you’ll guess that the survey was mostly completed by women, but interestingly, the mix of age groups was[…]READ MORE?
How to Choose What To Do First
It’s been a busy couple of weeks. I have so much to do that I’m not sure what to do first. Or second. Or last for that matter.
Some Thoughts on Things
I’ve had some thoughts on things: The things we buy, The things we keep, and The things we throw away. That’s a lot of things. Things We Buy My thinking is partly inspired by shopping for Christmas gifts, and partly because we discovered an antique/junk warehouse. And for the first hour, it was exciting and[…]READ MORE?
About the March of Progress
A harbinger of the March of Progress knocked on my door the other day. She’s a Real Estate agent, and apparently, she’s “very good friends” with my neighbours, though she didn’t specify which ones. Seeing as she’s selling the house next door, I guess she thinks I know which neighbours she knows very well. She wondered if I’d[…]READ MORE?
The Happiness of Housekeeping Habits and Routines
What housekeeping is remains an online mystery. Depending on whose site you look at it, it’s either cleaning, tidying, or organising. Or whether a moral imperative is implicit or not.
The Benefit of a Good Night’s Sleep
We recently replaced our old worn out mattresses. Not before time, because you can’t beat a good night’s sleep.
On My Way Back Home
Whenever I come back home, I see a version of this scene. At that point, I feel myself starting to relax. I even feel relaxed just looking at this image!
Housekeeping Standard Practices
We had a “discussion” recently about the current quality of home care, and as I’m hard at work packaging my new book Minimally Viable Housekeeping, (thus the discussion) so I thought I’d give you a quick introduction to housekeeping standard practices. Standardisation Standardisation is the process of developing and implementing an agreed standard, for example, the[…]READ MORE?
Doing the Damn Housework; Downton Abbey and You
It seems to me that the problem with doing the Damn Housework is that we’re all amateurs acting like professionals. Doing the Damn Housework Professionals take specialised training, sign up to and work to a code of conduct, standards of practice, and accept ethical obligations. They join associations where they can continue to expand their professional knowledge, contacts[…]READ MORE?