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If you've recently made the leap from apartment dweller to clueless homeowner, buy Reader's Digest's Householder's Survival Manual and don't let it out of your sight. Take it to the cavernous home and garden store where you will now be spending the bulk of your weekends. See, along with the joy that comes with home ownership also comes new responsibility. You can't call the super. You're the landlord. What are you going do about the leaky pipe in the basement? The cracked tile in the bathroom? The jungle out back that really needs to be mowed because you can't remember the last time you saw Fifi?
There's nary a household problem, issue, or chore that this manual doesn't address. The subtitle, How to Take Care of Everything in Your Home, says it all. But there's actually much more here: information on how to choose wisely the things that go into your home, such as carpeting, windows, and paint; "Trouble Shooter" tips like how to diagnose toilet problems; plentiful advice on choosing good tools; "Time Savers" (hint: cut down on time spent watering your garden plants by poking holes in a plastic milk carton and burying it next to the plant; the water will drip out slowly); and much more, all of it clearly illustrated and explained. This book even tells you how to best wash your clothes. What else could you possibly need to gracefully fill your new role as homeowner extraordinaire? --Stefanie Durbin
Book Description
The all-in-one, hardworking volume that will save you time, work, and money-and keep your home running more easily and efficiently than ever before. The most up-to-date advice from experts on more than 400 topics to help you have a clean, organized, and well-maintained home.
From the Back Cover
Expert Information about every household concern, all in one book! You're looking at the all-in-one, hard-working volume that will save you time, work, and money-and keep your home running more easily and efficiently than ever before! Householder's Survival Manual gives you in-depth information on every task you face to keep your home running smoothly. For example: * Learn how to save up to 10,000 gallons of water a year. * Find out why spring is not the best time to do "spring" cleaning and when it's best to tackle the job. * Discover why bigger is not better when it comes to air conditioners, and how to make a savvier buy. Householder's Survival Manual shows you new, easier ways to do it better-no matter how long you've been keeping house! * More than 700 color photos and illustrations. * Dozens of charts and checklists that make information you need easy to find. No more guesswork, no more frustration! Plus! Special feature boxes with ideas for: Quick Fixes, Money-Savers, Work-Savers, Good Tools, Safety Smart practices, a Buying, Selling and Moving Guide, plus much more. So cut your fuel bills, organize your records, pest-proof your house, or answer any other question that concerns the care of your home, with Householder's Survival Manual.
Excerpted from Householder's Survival Manual : How to Take Care of Everything in Your Home by Readers Digest. Copyright © 1999. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
A home should be a haven, where you and your family feel comfortable and at ease, able to relax and pursue hobbies and favorite pastimes in pleasant surroundings. Running such a household takes some doing, but it needn't be onerous. And that is what Householder's Survival Manual is all about. Here, you can find answers to all the vexing questions that come up-from how to keep your prized wood floors shining to checking on the boiler before the first cold day of autumn. Products and care instructions change; we have tried to alert you to improvements that will make your life easier. New stain-resistant fibers, for example, makes it possible for you to use lighter, brighter carpeting colors in living areas than ever before. Modern wrinkle-free fabrics redefine how you use the dryer, but lessen your weekly ironing. Sewing on a button hasn't changed, but fusion tape may put an end to the sewing of hems. No household keeps going without glitches. Toilets get clogged up, basements spring leaks, and circuit breakers get tripped. That's another area where this book can be useful; it tells you when you can safely solve a problem yourself and how to do it. It also tells you when a repair needs the expertise or special equipment that only a professional can supply.
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