Review: Ms Harris’s Book of Green Household Management

It’s not often I get pitched decent things to review on the blog, in fact, thinking about it, this is the first time. It’s usually giant Christmas Trees or mushy baby food or an invitation to get Kai to do creative things with porridge… But THIS one? This one was bang on the money.

Last week I was sent a copy of Ms Harris’s Book of Green Household Management ‘The Essential Thrift Bible’ by Caroline Harris.

Described as “A Mrs Beeton for the 21st century”, Caroline’s Harris takes the view that living a more sustainable life is easy AND can save you money and has packed her book full of helpful tips and information to help you change your lifestyle habits.

Now, I have a confession to make… eco-living has always been important to me but since Kai was born I have slipped into some baaaad habits. Mostly it was just laziness, understandable as I was knackered all the time and the easiest option became the most attractive. Plus we were broke. My cleaning cloths began to get usurped by paper towels and wipes; we’d buy cheap convenience foods over ‘proper food’, the slightly more expensive eco/organic/fair-trade brands got replaced by budget alternatives. Fair enough – I don’t claim to be perfect when it comes to responsible living and understandably our minds were on other things (like why, for the love of god, will this child not SLEEP!). But for a while now, the little green chimpanzee that is my conscience has started nagging me again and I decided that I need to make some changes.

So Caroline’s book has landed in my lap at the most perfect time and I have absolutely devoured the contents in the hopes that it might be just what I need to help me make some much needed tweaks to my daily life.

First of all, let me get some things straight. I am no Stepford Wife. In fact, I am a TERRIBLE housewife. My cleaning skills (and frequency) leave much to be desired and I show about the exact polar opposite amount of creativity and imagination in the kitchen that I do in this blog. Secondly, I am no martyr to the environmental cause. If being ‘green’ means I have to dedicate all my free time to to very labour-intensive strategies that cost me a lot of money, I’m probably not going to bother. So what I was NOT looking for was some sanctimonious, preachy woman to make me feel guilty or suggest unrealistic and unsustainable changes to my lifestyle.

Thankfully, this book is none of these things. A mother herself, Caroline is all for making life easier and the tone of the book is friendly, practical, and pragmatic.Caroline herself admits to not following all her own tips all of the time (with a penchant for her power shower) and stresses that, “You don’t have to be perfect (or an austerity fiend) to be a green householder, but simply try to do what you can”. That’s my kind of message!

Divided into easy chapters, it’s perfect for dipping in and out of (helpful given my attention span of a goldfish) and covers the whole range of ‘home’ living and green household management, from the expected topics of energy efficiency and waste management, to more traditional household skills that have the added bonus of being environmentally kind, such as sewing, growing your own veg, home cooking and a cultivating a thrifty attitude. There’s also a chapter on green issues to think about when having children.

Advice is usually based on Caroline’s personal experience and extensive research and told in a style that is easy to read. Website addresses give opportunities for further reading on subjects that interest you and helpful lists and summaries mean you can refer back easily when needed.

Reading Ms Harris’s Book of Green Household Management has been just the kick up the bum I needed. Caroline recommends making small changes, gradually over time rather than trying to do too much all at once so that’s what I’m planning to do.

We’re already pretty good with our waste management and ‘making do’, so I’ve decided to start with two new areas for me: eco-cleaning and laundry. Kai’s eczema has flared up and I suspect our washing powder is partly to blame so I’ve got an added incentive to try and reduce the number of chemicals in our home. I like the Ecover brand and will be switching back to some of their cleaning and laundry products, but reading the book I’ve also been inspired to try out some more ‘traditional’ cleaning methods. Caroline points out that most products are simply not necessary and that most cleaning jobs can be done just as easily and efficiently with more minimalist options: namely baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice or just plain water on a cloth.

To this end I’m starting a little experiment: we’ve run out of some of our usual cleaning products so today, rather than opt for my usual brands, I went out and bought the following:

The whole lot cost me less than a fiver. Bargain! For the next week or so I’m going to try doing my normal cleaning jobs with these ingredients, following the suggestions in the book. If it’s too much work or isn’t that effective I shall probably abandon it and opt for buying eco-versions of conventional products, but considering how cheap these ingredients are I think it’s definitely worth a try. I shall be reporting back so watch this space…

Caroline Harris’s book ‘Ms Harris’s Book of Green Household Management’ is published by John Murray in paperback and costs £12.99. It is available in all good books shops and to buy online at Amazon. If you’re interested in making some simple changes to help make your lifestyle that little bit greener I would highly recommend it and would love to hear back from you if you too decide to adopt some of her ideas.

In the meantime, if any of you have any ‘green tips’ to share to help me in my new project I’d love to hear them!!

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