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July 1, 2017 1:22 PM   Subscribe

Can you recommend a good and really comprehensive household guide? I've heard of (but do not own and have never read) Home Comforts, but I'm looking for something with a wider variety of topics beyond just cleaning. Does it exist?

When I was a kid in the 80s and 90s, I loved browsing through a home reference guide that my parents owned. I remember it having chapters on a wide variety of topics, like cleaning/housekeeping/laundry, home repair, first aid, shopping (how to select quality food and other items, best time of year to buy X, Y, Z), random reference information, like what are the birthstones for a given month and what are the traditional gifts for each year's wedding anniversary (paper, cotton, etc). I think it also had stuff on personal finance, etiquette and (not sure about this last one) childcare. Like I said, a lot of different topics.

Yes, this is actually something I read for fun as a child...don't judge :)

Main question: where can I find a similar guide containing a large variety of household topics that is reasonably up-to-date (i.e, published within the last 10-15 years or so)? I'm not looking for compilations of tips and tricks, and I'm not looking to be a pro at any of these topics, either. More like, this is a complete collection of what an average, functional adult needs to know in order to manage a home and not flail about helplessly.

Bonus question: what book did my parents own? I remember the guide they owned was paper back, not especially thick and was already kind of old/out of date by the time I got my hands on it. May have been published in the 1960s or 1970s? I remember it being written for both the husband and wife, with certain topics being addressed to the man and others to the woman.
posted by eeek to Home & Garden (10 answers total) 28 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Back To Basics is a rad as hell book that somewhat covers what you're looking for. It's very much more aimed at homesteading, but it has all sorts of stuff in there. From how to blacksmith to how to generate your own hydropower, how to make traditional kids toys or food, how to quilt and craft, or build a house, or plant a garden.
posted by so fucking future at 3:19 PM on July 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I'd at least crack open a copy of Home Comforts. I think it's more like what you're after than you realize.
posted by hollyholly at 3:51 PM on July 1, 2017 [8 favorites]


Best answer: Have you tried your local public library? Maybe it's a small town thing, but our library has a rather large selection of home repair and maintenance books. When I was in the market for a book on the subject I went to the library, checked out a dozen or so likely-looking titles, took them home with me long enough to read through them, and chose the one or two that I liked best, then went to Amazon and bought used copies (because there are always used copies of home improvement books) and returned the library copies.
posted by Nerd of the North at 4:14 PM on July 1, 2017 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Something with birthstones and anniversary categories might actually be an Almanac.
posted by puddledork at 6:05 PM on July 1, 2017


Best answer: When I was a kid in the 80s and 90s, I loved browsing through a home reference guide that my parents owned. ... Yes, this is actually something I read for fun as a child...don't judge :)

Me, too! My Gram had "tips" books, and I pored over them. You would love the introduction to Home Comforts, because she was not unlike us! You might also look in vintage book stores.
posted by jgirl at 6:20 PM on July 1, 2017


Best answer: Might it have been Reader's Digest Complete Do It Yourself Manual ? Or, the one I was obsessed with as a child, Back to Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills. (On preview I see it was already mentioned. It's the book that prompted my mother to tell me " a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.")
posted by SandiBeech at 9:03 PM on July 1, 2017 [2 favorites]


Best answer: How to Do Just About Anything: Solve Problems, Save Money, Have Fun, another Readers Digest book, sounds a lot like what you're looking for. I grew up in a house where all home reference books were either from Readers Digest, Time-Life or Heloise, so I figured that was a good place to look.
posted by dogmom at 9:37 PM on July 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


Best answer: The Reader's Digest Do It Yourself Manual is like the instruction book for living in a house. Highly recommended.
posted by ethical_caligula at 2:55 AM on July 2, 2017 [2 favorites]


Best answer: here's my favorite: Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean
posted by mmiddle at 11:30 AM on July 2, 2017


I am not sure if this would cover all of what you were looking for, but the first thing I thought of when I read this was Adulting by Kelly Williams Brown for a sort of modern all-purpose how-do-I-life-even kind of book.
posted by helloimjennsco at 11:51 AM on July 5, 2017


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