The Simple Things: Creating an organised home, a happy family, and a life worth living

by Antonia Kidman, Sally Collings

Genres: Lifestyle, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[crashqueen73 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am giving this one a four for a couple of reasons.

The first being that it is really nicely presented. If there is something I love about books it is the way they look and pretty is right there at the top of my list and this one ticked that box for sure. It had lovely smooth pages, it smelled new and delicious and the photography and layout was very pleasing!

However, it is also useful that the content be as good if it is a book I might consider keeping. In this case it had a lot of reminders and "summaries" of things that I had already read... this is not the first organising book I have even read! I think it would be VERY beneficial to a first timer. I found it useful as a way of remembering the things I knew but had stopped doing for changes in circumstances or just forgetfulness.

Worth a look.

Edit ReRead 2019. 3 stars. Basic kind of information and very generalised. Beautiful photos and presentation but not enough to warrant 4 stars. Will be passing this one along to a friend.

[Zara's Corner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an easy read with some very interesting ideas in it. I noticed that there were some ideas that, out of financial necessity, we have to do anyway. One of these being buying fruit when in season otherwise they're way more than we could ever afford.

The idea of batch cooking whilst good on the surface, from a practical point, when the family only has one income and that comes in every fortnight, to do a batch cook would mean taking a whole day to cook enough meals for two weeks! At the end of the day it also boils down to what one can afford.

Having said all of the above though, I would still consider this a good and worthwhile book to read.

[Tanya Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I had hoped, but still some helpful ideas inside

[Romany · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't think this book was written for me. To read it, you must: have children, not be working, be the executive manager of a household, live in a place with a large garden, and have many objects that are able to be organised into wicker baskets. The odd thing is that the budgeting section seemed to go against all the other parts of the book (which supposed endless money and time) and was written specifically for the horribly broke! I also had massive issues with the layout: huge double-page pictures of pigeons and CD towers interrupted the flow of text. I think my expectations were way too high.

[Vickey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is probably a bit of a wake-up call for the type of people who care about celebrities and the celebrity-adjacent because it suggests a low-key life is less stressful and happier. I picked it up at the library because I liked the cover. For someone who already lives this way the advice is kind of obvious: don't buy trendy seasonal clothes, wear clothes you like that suit you for years! Eat at home, menu plan, eat less meat, and shop and cook in bulk! Make do and mend! Did you know you can have fun without spending money??? Decent but not great.

[Antwanene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was ok. Thought it might have been better to be honest. Still, good ideas in it, yet left a bit let down. Worth reading though.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not something i would ordinarily choose but i received this as a gift. Some quite quaint ideas, would definitely need more time and a bigger garden to implement most.