I love books and eBooks, especially those written by bloggers. And I’m really excited to give away a copy of Dana’s new eBook, 28 Days to Hope for Your Home.
I have met Dana a couple of times at the Savvy Blogging Summit conferences. She is a funny and down to earth and friendly. She’s written a guide for developing 4 new habits in 4 weeks to find real hope for your home.
The book’s tagline is “Not for the mildly disorganized.” And she means that. This book is not for everyone.
From her website:
If you’ve ever wondered how someone could sleep at night knowing there were dirty dishes in the sink . . . . DON’T buy this e-book.
If, at the end of a long day, you mindlessly put your dirty clothes in the laundry hamper and hang your jacket neatly in the closet . . . DON’T buy this e-book.
If you’ve never experienced heart palpitations at the sound of an unexpected doorbell . . . DON’T buy this e-book.
This book is “understanding the basics of what it takes to keep your home out of Disaster Status”.
This book may not be for you. But if it is for you, you can win a copy by leaving a comment on this post. Tell me what your biggest cleaning challenge is. (I revealed on Facebook the other day that my challenge lately is remembering to move the laundry from washer to dryer.) The book is also on sale right now through the end of Feb. for just $4!
Weekend Links and Seedy Links
There were some delicious recipes shared on Ingredient Spotlight this week. Here are a few that caught my eye:
Pineapple Poppy Seed Dressing from Debbi Does Dinner sounds wonderful.
This Sesame Chicken from Siggy Spice sounds right up our alley.
Chocolate Mojo Bars – oh, yeah! from Inside BruCrew Life.
Napa Cabbage Salad from For the Love of Grub sounds similar to a salad I ate at a potluck recently. It was wonderful!
There were two versions of Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole, which I’d never heard of before. The classic version from Getting Freedom and a lightened up version with Havarti from Vanderbilt Wife.
If you have allergies (or have a family member who does) you will want to check out Sunbutter Surprises, cookies adapted from Peanut Butter Kiss cookies – from Cheap, Easy, Quick, Healthy.
And finally, I have a new writing gig as a contributor for Savings Lifestyle. I’ll be doing copy-cat recipes (with a few other easy, cheap recipes thrown in) over there. You may want to pop over and read my first post, Smoked Mozzarella Chicken and Penne from Olive Garden.
Giveaway Details
To be entered to win a copy of 28 Days to Hope for Your Home, leave a comment on this post telling me your biggest cleaning challenge. Giveaway will close Monday, 2/13 at 9am Eastern and winner will be announced on the Eat at Home Facebook page. And don’t forget the sale on 28 Days to Hope for Your Home – just $4 through the end of Feb. (If you buy it and win, Dana will refund your money. Cool, huh?)
This post contains affiliate links.
I wish my dirty dishes were confined to the sink. They have taken over the entire kitchen.
My biggest challenge is my daughter’s toys that have consumed the entire house and minivan. I have 5 month old twin sons so I need a fix before they take over too.
Um, EVERYTHING is my biggest cleaning challenge. I have a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old who leave crumbs all over the floor, every toy in the house everywhere, and take anything off the shelf that I put back!
Thanks for linking to me!
Jessie
My biggest challenge is my three “transfer agent” children. Things from one place are always showing up in another place, so there’s lots of dragging things back to their home area. Plus, the ever present “A place for everything and everything in its place. Except, there’s more everything than places!”
Mine is definitely the dirty dishes in my kitchen, but laundry is pretty bad too
As soon as I get the house all picked up, the kids and hubby come home and it looks like we live there again!
My challenge is… um… everything?! Managing clutter is a big one because we live in an apartment . Thanks for linking up to me!
This book is not for me… but my mom and sister would both benefit hugely from a book like this. Overpowering, all-consuming clutter is their biggest challenge. I would LOVE to gift this book!!
1. keeping clutter contained. 2. keeping kitchen tidy.
Dishes are done but the counters get neglected more often than not. After cooking dinner putting it away doing dishes, wiping the counters at least a few times already, getting ready for the next day. I have a hard time wanting to wipe those down again.
My biggest challenge is the bathroom sink and counter top. Between my makeup and hairspray and my husband’s toothpaste and shaving lotion, it never stays clean for long.
My problem is 4 kids and a husband who is a big help making the mess but not picking it up! The 2 eldest children do some things so I am lucky there but I get behind easily. I insist on doing the folding of the laundry so that is a HUGE job!
My problem is two jobs and barely enough time to get any housework done! I am very lucky though, my step-daughter and son are amazing – if not for them I wouldn’t be able to get in the door. My husband is sick and can’t help much. Currently our biggest issue is our kitchen floor – it just doesn’t stay clean. Laundry and Dishes are usually at the top of that list – but lately my kiddos are doing amazing in that area.
Everything! The clutter, especially. I have to do so much cleaning up before I can clean that I ususally never get tot he cleaning part because the cleaning up takes too long. Oh my!
My partner and I moved from our two bedroom house with attached garage and an attic to a one bedroom apartment. LOTS of stuff was thrown out because it had gotten wrecked in the clutter–the kind of clutter you’d see in the home of a moderate hoarder. We still had to rent a storage unit for our overflow.
Then we moved from our rather spacious apartment into a smaller one and had to dispense with the storage unit, so more things were discarded. Clutter is still our biggest problem, but now that I have a full-time job and he’s going to school full time, the dirty dishes are piling up and the bathroom almost never gets cleaned. I can’t remember the last time I really cleaned out the refrigerator or cleaned the oven.
I do manage to get the laundry done each week–but only because we have to use the coin-operated machines in the laundry room–and I do manage to vacuum once a week (but only because we don’t hardly have any floor space that’s not taken up with desks, bookcases, our bed and dresser. Every flat surface has stuff on it, whether it’s our tiny kitchen counter, the freezer, the aforementioned desks and dresser, the bathroom sink or the two kitchen chairs that we have instead of a couch. Dusting? Forget it. Windows? Why wash them when we always keep the curtains drawn?
This ebook would also be a godsend to my sister who leaves her Christmas tree up year round and lets her daughter sleep at my parents house because neither of them can find their beds under their clutter. (My sister sleeps on the couch in her living room.)
Since I’ve become disabled, everything is way behind. I feel like my house is just one big dirty place we call home. Very depressing!
I pile things everywhere and have trouble getting rid of stuff, I just might use it someday. I would love to have this book to help!!
Yikes…..Every flat surface has stuff on it (well once my hubby gets home from work ) So I clean it up and he refills them
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I hate clutter…..also keeping the stove clean drives me crazy!!!!
a house full of boys, pets and flat surfaces! i wouldn’t trade them for the world but i sure wish i had a better system for dealing with them!
I struggle with horizontal surfaces!
My paper clutter…and the piles…drive me bonkers!
My biggest challenge is navigating through all the toys that have taken over our house. We don’t have a play room so all the toys are in our living room, and wind up strung about the house. Also, I am SO bad at keeping my hardwood floors swept.
My biggest challenge is the kitchen counter. It seems that every flat surface begs to have stuff be set on it. BUT nothing so much as the island counter in the kitchen!!
My biggest challenge is finishing the tasks I’ve started.
I can manage to wash, dry and fold the laundry, but I can’t seem to put them away! They will sit clean and folded on my dining room table until they kids start rifling through them for clean clothes. And then I have a big mess of clean clothes on my table.
The same thing happens when I decide to declutter. I start and then get distracted or life happens and I can’t seem to finish what I started. I have four large bins sitting in my living room marked, “keep” and “donate.” I started, but now they sit. . .and I haven’t managed to actually donate the items in my “donate” bin.
Starting is easy, I know what needs to be done. I need a strategy for actually finishing the tasks! Helllllp!
I do a pretty good job of keeping up with the daily tasks like laundry, dishes, shopping and managing the stuff on the main floor. It’s the actual cleaning like vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms and dusting. I need a much better system of my weekly chores. I would love this book.
Oh the clutter…I badly need to get into a routine of some sort and stick to it.
I found the “Slob’s” website a while ago and had to start reading it from the beginning. I have never read anything that described so accurately how my brain works (or does not work as the case may be). Many thanks as I have read several exerpts to my husband who just doesn’t get it.
I am a piler and have piles everywhere. I would love to get rid of them.
I’m uber-organized. I take the clutter from the one tiny corner of my home that I’m working on, and pile it up in another … because of that none of my rooms are ever clean at once! One is sparkling, the other is stacks of tubs to be stored, papers to be filed, clothes to be folded…
My biggest challenge is my desk, it sits in my living room for everyone to see & has become a catch all for my ‘stuff’. Everytime I clean it off I think how nice it looks & swear to keep it cleared of clutter. Within a couple days I am back to square one. It is a lovely piece of furniture so it is a shame to keep it hidden. If I don’t win this e-book I am sure going to purchase it. Can’t wait to see what tips I can utilize!
Hmmm.. just one? I can’t keep up with the papers – newspapers, mail, coupons, school stuff, church stuff, magazines, catalogs…even…books! Stacks of flammable paper litter my living room, kitchen and dining room. Sometimes the piles even appear in the bathroom! This book is for ME!
I’ve got 3 boys who can’t see anything on the floor, I come from a family of pack rats and am married to a man who is descended from pack rats as well. Everything is a problem.