Clean sweep - Alison Haynes

Use the gentle art of household management to transform your home into a clean, efficient, safe, healthy haven. Every piece of household advice you could ever need is at your fingertips: from big issues such as how to do your bit for the environment, to advice on the most indulgent home comforts, such as preparing your own lavender-water spray for scenting linen as you iron. It offers a variety of options, to help you make 'clever' choices in homemaking: traditional, tried and tested methods; 'green' alternatives; and more conventional approaches. This is housekeeping for a new generation. Key points: the author has many years experience in researching and writing on health, environmental and consumer issues; this manual incorporates a number of ideas: that a house should be healthy, efficient, safe and comfortable to live in; as economical as possible to run; and that it should not take an undue toll on the environment; there is a chapter on housekeeping essentials, discussing basic housekeeping equipment, cleaning products (both proprietary and homemade), and detailed poisons information; a full chapter is dedicated to cleaning and stain removal, with an A-Z of stains troubleshooting chart; housekeeping outdoors is also covered, for example cleaning concrete, establishing a compost heap; quotes and excerpts from traditonal almanacs add an extra level of interest for general browsing.