Dads Own Housekeeping Book: 137
Bright Ideas by David Bowers
For Dads Who Do Housework.
Just because you’re born with a “Y” chromosome doesn’t excuse you from
cleaning the bathroom, especially in this day and age when time’s at a
premium and partners have to be, well, partners. To help men step up to
the plate (and wash it) is DAD’S OWN HOUSEKEEPING BOOK, the book
of everything your mother never taught you about taking care of a house.
Written by a real guy, in a real guy’s voice and with a direct guy-to-guy
point of view, DAD’S OWN HOUSEKEEPING BOOK—in the spirit of Dad’s
Own Cookbook, with 270,000 copies in print—takes even the most Swiffer-
challenged dad and shows him that housekeeping is no different from yard
work, that if you can organize your shop you can organize a kitchen, and if
you can load a trunk you can load a dishwasher. From laundry room to
attic storage, from the “Five- Minute Attack Plan: Bathroom” to the all-out

assault of spring cleaning (it really does make a big difference), from mold
to stains to picking-up-after-the-kids-without-driving-yourself-crazy, this is
the comprehensive crash course. Here’s how to do the laundry without
dulling colors. Stock the pantry to make weekday meals infinitely easier.
How to get mildew off the shower tiles. How to make a bed—in one
minute. How to be best friends with baking soda—just one of the many tips
the author gives for saving money. And what you can do in thirty minutes
to make your house completely presentable for your mother-in-law. Sorry,
no more excuses.
Personal Review: Dads Own Housekeeping Book: 137 Bright
Ideas by David Bowers
The idea of a housekeeping book written just for dads may seem
unnecessary or even condescending, yet David Bowers has written an
extremely useful guide that speaks directly to dad sensibilities. Bowers'
main idea is that men - especially fathers - want to take a "no frills"
approach to housekeeping, doing what's absolutely necessary in the
quickest, easiest way possible. He says it best right in the first chapter of
the book: "Spotless perfection can't be achieved in a house where kids
live, and even if it can, it's not worth it. When your children grow up, they'll
remember with fondness that you read to them, helped them with their
math homework, and had time to play with them, rather that the beds were
made with hospital corners or the laundry folded with military precision."
Bowers devotes almost an entire introductory chapter, "A Man Around the
House: Getting Psyched Up", to negotiating expectations and managing
responsibilities between men and their spouses. It has helpful sidebars
such as What We Want Women to Know About Our Housekeeping
including, for example, "We don't expect you to do things our way. Don't
expect us to do things the way you do". In addition, each individual chapter
also includes additional advice on how to handle "the changing of the
guard" for various household chores. This is useful advice for any
household no matter what your family looks like, and one of the features
that distinguishes this book from the many other housekeeping books out
there.
The book is broken down into chapters which cover every aspect of
keeping house, from cooking meals to cleaning to doing laundry. Bowers
gives advice on how to manage each room at three general cleaning
levels: Lick-and-a-Promise Clean, Average-Guy Clean, and Felix-Unger
Clean. There are also additional chapters devoted to spaces such as the
home office and the attic and basement. While the many helpful tricks and
tips (on such topics as stain removal and the many uses of baking soda)
alone are worth the price of this book, it is in speaking directly to fathers
and our ways of thinking that Bowers really shines. Dad's Own
Housekeeping Book shows that a father can run a home without having to
turn into Mr. Mom.

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