The Story of Housework Blues

This book was born of frustration.

Once upon a time, housework (for me) meant fury, angst and a sense of being utterly overwhelmed.
Home had a become a workplace, a source of endless labour and family friction. (Maybe you can relate…)

Yet I sensed, deep down, that there must be a better way.

I knew other women who managed a home without the rage and ranting – some even claimed to love housework! Eventually I realised that the only difference between me and these Other Women was in our mental approach. Could it be that the problem was all in my head?

So I began to seek mental solutions to my domestic ‘issues’. But among the many practical domestic guides that I read, none helped me to cope with the idea of housework – the repetition, the futility, the monotony.

“There should be a guide for women like me.” I announced one day, as I was miserably scrubbing the kitchen floor. “There should be a housework manual for women who just don’t do this stuff!”

And since I could find no such guide, I decided I would create one. So, in the hope that there were more ‘women like me’ Housework Blues – A Survival Guide was born.

What began as a few scrawled ideas turned into a eBook and a regular blog. It is also now available in Kindle and Paperback form.

The more I wrote, the more I found that I was brimming with helpful ideas. Not practical, stain-removal advice – but solutions to soothe away the mental or emotional anguish that goes with the home-territory for many women.

However, halfway through writing the book, a funny thing happened. One day, I realised that the anger was gone.

” Somewhere along the way, I’d accidentally made peace with housework!”

Gone was the bitterness and despair. Gone was the idea that I had failed as a feminist if I performed domestic duties. It appeared I had survived, maybe even conquered, my Housework Blues.

I discovered a calm and a sense of acceptance with my domestic commitments. I also discovered, believe it or not, that there is joy to be found in taking care of a home and family!

My first reaction to this revelation was that, without the fire in my belly, I would have to abandon the book. But then a friend helpfully pointed out that – I was living proof that it worked! He told me, “You must finish that book! Think of the all women it could help! Think of all the stress you could banish! Liberating women everywhere from the Housework Blues – it could change the world!”

And so, you have before you, my attempt to change the world – one less-stressed woman at a time. My mission is to share what I have learned, to pass on the priceless gems of insight that I’ve stumbled across.

My journey has included such diverse areas as brain-science, Buddhism, metaphysics, Zen, Christianity, ancient wisdom, New Thought and even, ironically, Old Wives Tales!

Sometimes just a single phrase or idea brought me enormous relief, often followed by a baffled ‘why did I never think if that?’ I regularly wished I had come across these insights years ago – they would have saved many arguments and a fair few wrinkles!

But my consolation is that I found them at all and also that I can now share them. In this book, I’ve distilled all that I’ve found to be helpful in coping with running a home (though many also apply successfully to life in general). I’ve read mountains of books, listened to hours of audio and experienced many unpleasant learning curves – so now you don’t have to!

So in this resource I offer you the results of my bumpy ride – in the hope that they will make your own path much, much smoother.

As Eleanor Roosevelt so wisely put it,