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Home-Ec 101 Book Review and Giveaway

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**Giveaway closed – The winner is Katie of Kady Did. Congratulations, Katie!**

 

Spring keeps teasing us around here. We’ll have a wonderful, sunny day and then we’ll have a week and a half of cold, wet weather. DespiteHome-Ec-101-Book the fact that the Spring weather hasn’t made up it’s mind yet, I have determined that it is officially time for Spring Cleaning. I’m ready to let some fresh air in, clean out my closets, wipe down my windows, and get my house back in shape.

But I need some help.

You’d think that after 16 years of marriage (later this month. Yay!), I’d have a handle on cleaning and cooking and know all the tricks around the house. While I do know my fair share of home management tips, I was floored when I got a copy of Home-Ec 101: Skills for Everyday Living and found so much that I didn’t know yet.

Home-Ec 101, written by fellow blogger Heather Solos of Home-Ec 101 (the blog), is full of easy-to-understand information, from cooking to cleaning to fixing things at home. I adore Heather’s down-to-earth writing style, and feel more like I’m chatting with her when reading than actually reading a resource book. I loved her charts (like the weekly chore chart found on page 25) but my favorite thing throughout the book was her scattered quick tips and humor.

For instance, on page 229, when speaking of swapping out cuts of meat, heather says, “All cuts of meat are not equal. In poultry, chicken has both white and dark meat.* Remember that pound for pound, white meat cooks faster than dark meat…” And then the * at the bottom says, “If there are other colors present, throw out the chicken.” Very useful wisdom.

About Home-Ec 101: Skills for Everyday Living

Home-Ec 101 is a functional guide that both scratches the surface of daily activities and also delves into more complex homemaking tasks, meaning that even the most versed homemakers will benefit from Heather’s insight.

Whether it’s cleaning grout, stocking a pantry, reducing a recipe, dealing with chocolate in the carpet or retrieving jewelry dropped down the drain, Home-Ec 101 will help readers feel confident in managing the domestic challenges of everyday life. Solos’ advice is easy to apply and written with the same witty style and attitude readers love on her blog, Home-Ec 101. Charts, tips, sidebars and “Dear Home Ec 101” letters cover all the details readers need to know to keep their homes clean and in good repair.

Inside you’ll find:

  • Quick, easy cleaning solutions for every room of the house, so you can get the job done and get on with life
  • Instructions for removing stubborn stains and offensive odors from fabric
  • Simple fixes to wardrobe malfunctions including broken zippers, missing buttons, and fallen hemlines
  • Troubleshooting advice for common problems with home appliances
  • A minimum home maintenance guide to prevent or catch major repair problems
  • A basic plumbing tutorial that includes clearing and preventing clogs, stopping a running toilet and retrieving items dropped down a drain
  • Ideas for healthy and fast meal planning so you can start cooking and stop relying on takeout or preservative-packed convenience food
  • Definitions of common cooking terms and techniques found in recipes
  • Plans for stocking a pantry so you can make dinner (even if you haven’t been grocery shopping in a week) and be prepared when disaster strikes
  • A complete rundown of essential kitchen equipment from knives to pans to small appliances

Heather SolosHeather Solos created home-ec101.com in 2007. The website and the author have been featured by StrollerDerby, ParentDish, Lowcountry Parent, The Post and Courier, and ReadCharlie. The website was also cited as a reference in Woman’s Day Magazine. Solos has served as a featured blogger on Type-A Mom and Blissfully Domestic. Heather can be found on twitter as @HeatherSolos and on Facebook as Home-Ec 101.

Would you like to win your own copy of Heather’s book, Home-Ec 101?

To enter to win a copy of Home-Ec 101, simply leave a comment with the one area of your home that you need the most help managing.

For extra entries, do any (or all) of the following. Leave a separate comment for each task completed.

  • Tweet about this giveaway (use the tweet button at the bottom of this post). Can be done once per day.
  • Subscribe to Better in Bulk via RSS or email
  • Like Better in Bulk on Facebook
  • Sign up for the Home-Ec 101 Book mailing list. (This is a mailing list to stay up to date on author appearances, sales & future publications.)

This giveaway ends on Wednesday, April 13 at midnight Eastern time and is open to everyone, world-wide! Winner will be chosen at random and notified via email. Good luck!

Disclosure: F+W Media provided me with a review copy Home-Ec 101 for this post as well as another copy to give away. All opinions are my own.

© 2011, Food Fun Family. All rights reserved.

About Lolli

Lolli has written 3740 post in this blog.

I became a mom in 1996, and in 2005 I had my fifth. Yes, 5 kids. In 2007, this blog was born (my 6th baby that will never grow up) and I've been sharing recipes, photography tricks, parenting tips, and everything in between. (Formerly Better in Bulk)

Comments

  9. I need the most help with the Kitchen! I can’t seem to keep it clean even with daily cleaning. It’s cluttered and well, I just need help!

    abstractrose(at)yahoo(dot)com

  11. This is so embarresing but the place I can use the most help in is keeping my home tidy (huge blush) I tend to be on the let it go side – except dishes and laundry – I have those covered, but the rest, well, could use some guidence….

  42. I need the weekly chore list! That probably sounds silly, but I’m a list person and having that makes me more likely to do something than let the dust bunnies gather.

  43. I need a lot of help with everything, but one area is keeping my floors clean. They are just always dusty, no matter how often I sweep. Thanks:)

  45. The one area of my home that I need the most help managing is the kitchen because my husband and children are forever in the kitchen, spilling, leaving refrigerator doors open, taking packages and dishes out of one cupboard and “returning” them to another cupboard.

  48. I need some serious help with the entire upstairs of my house! With three kids under the age of three, it always looks like a bomb has hit.

  60. I really need help with time management so I guess that would include meal planning, organizing, etc. ALWAYS can use a good book or blog for inspiration! Thanks!

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