Good Housekeeping Home Skills

“The Good Housekeeping team delivers in this impressive handbook hundreds of ideas and tips for ‘how to ‘home’ better.’ The advice comes in six sections: “Prep & Cook” covers must-have kitchen equipment, pantry stocking tips, and easy recipe substitutions; “Clean & Organize” features a bathroom-tidying checklist and DIY cleaning solution recipes; “Decorate & Renovate” teaches readers how to “brighten” their kitchen and “cozy up” their living room; and “Maintain & Repair” offers tricks for fixing appliances and getting rid of indoor allergens. “Enjoy the Outdoors,” meanwhile, takes on yard care and gardening (with a nontoxic weed killer recipe), and “Entertain & Celebrate,” considers less-glamorous aspects of party planning: make taking out the garbage during and after easier by lining a trash bin with several bags, the authors advise, and turn the thermostat down before guests arrive, as the crowd will warm things up. The advice on outfitting one’s kitchen and building pantry meals is excellent, but it’s the extras that set this apart: each chapter includes clever new twists, such as repurposing a shoe rack as a vertical herb planter and using toothpaste to clean silver. This thorough home companion will reward readers over and over.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Good Housekeeping is a leading lifestyle media brand offering innovations, delicious ideas, style-savvy trends, compelling news and best-in-class products for its 53+ million readers. Behind every recipe is an expert food and nutrition team that created, tested, tasted, and fine-tuned the dish until it was just right. Good Housekeeping is the home of The Good Housekeeping Institute, a lab staffed by engineers, scientists and technology experts that tests and evaluates thousands of products each year.

Jane Francisco is the editor-in-chief of Good Housekeeping and the Editorial Director of the Hearst Lifestyle Group where she oversees and develops content across multiple platforms for Good Housekeeping, Women’s Day, The Goodlife, and Prevention. Jane lives with her husband and son in New Jersey.