A grown-up version of "The care and keeping of you"?

July 24, 2023 7:13 PM

Is there a straightforward resource with step-by-step instruction for a range of basic care tasks (e.g., maintaining personal hygiene, laundry, household chores) that is written for a general adult audience, not specifically for kids, developmentally disabled people, or other specialized populations? Basically, I'm looking for a book, website, Youtube channel, or other resource that could function as a practical companion to KC Davis's How to Keep House While Drowning.

Unfuck Your Habitat is close to what I'm looking for, but I'd like something that includes personal hygiene and laundry, and breaks everything down into steps. Something that could be helpful to a college roommate who doesn't know how to clean a bathroom, a person coming out of a depressive episode who is trying to build up sustainable self-care habits, or a newly single older adult whose ex did the housework--presented in a straightforward, dignified, and matter-of-fact way.

posted by theotherdurassister to Education (9 answers total)

I think I've seen Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelsohn recommended for the household part of this.
posted by less-of-course at 8:00 PM on July 24, 2023 [6 favorites]

Home Comforts is great; there's also a similar Martha Stewart book.

I do not have a specific title for you right now, but there are a number of books that fit your request that were published in the last 20 years and aimed at men in their 20s. More recent ones might be more general in intended audience, less "Please learn to clean your toilet, Single Guy In His First Apartment." A lot of these more recent books will have "adulting" in the title.
posted by verbminx at 8:25 PM on July 24, 2023 [2 favorites]

Home Comforts is brilliant - the introduction lovely too where she talks about the value of housework and how it can be an expression of love and care. From memory it doesn’t cover personal hygiene though and it’s quite text heavy, so not a quick reference for exact steps for a given job.
posted by jonrob at 12:50 AM on July 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

I would disagree about Home Comforts. I’m reasonably domestically competent (make my own pie crust, have opinions about maintaining cast iron pans, have situationally appropriate stain-removal techniques) and I found it impressive, but overwhelming to the point of uselessness. I bought it around the time it came out, read it, and haven’t used it since.

I would expect someone who wasn’t already managing their life pretty well to find Home Comforts depressing proof that all these life tasks are just beyond their abilities.
posted by LizardBreath at 7:12 AM on July 25, 2023 [16 favorites]

There's a workbook, Struggle Care website with podcasts. Insta.

ReaSimple has a cleaning checklist, and they seem to have lots of checklists, worth exploring. I searched daily checklist adult, the results skew heavily towards morning routines, but not all of us function that way. Still, useful lists you can pull from. Another term is Activities of Daily Living(ADL) Daily Housekeeping Chart was also productive.

I think this is a great approach; forming habits really helps get the basics done with less fuss.
posted by theora55 at 9:15 AM on July 25, 2023 [5 favorites]

search for "adulting" on the bookstores- i can think of a few with this word in the title...
posted by wowenthusiast at 9:15 AM on July 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Also, your local library will be a great resource for this.
posted by theora55 at 9:21 AM on July 25, 2023 [2 favorites]

I connected this idea to lists for people living with Autism, and came up with this site that has a lot of the basics covered, here is one for personal hygiene
posted by momochan at 9:26 AM on July 25, 2023 [3 favorites]

See also: The Flylady: "Have you been living in CHAOS? FlyLady is here to help you get your home organized! She teaches you to eliminate your clutter and establish simple routines for getting your home clean!"
posted by Wild_Eep at 8:23 AM on July 28, 2023 [1 favorite]