I love love love this book! It's short (thin), easy to read, and the author seems to be talking to me, rather than at me or about the person I could be if I only had time and no personal barriers (as seems to be the problem with so many other self-help books and online programs). Ms. Davis acknowledges that we all have different parts of our lives that can be barriers. ADHD, depression, fatigue, anxiety and more. If you are a single parent with one or more children, or you work multiple jobs to make ends meet, or you have the seemingly perfect marriage, or you are able to or not able to leave your job at work, or you are in survival mode daily, or you just look at your space and feel overwhelmed and don't know where to start, or your head is filled with other thoughts from other people about how your home and space "should be", this book can work for you. Ms. Davis reminds the reader to focus on thinking about making spaces functional. They don't have to be sterile or even organized to the standards of what we often think they should be. Our spaces need to be functional for the people who live in them. For example, if it's easier to leave clothes on the back of a chair than to put them folded neatly in a drawer and that's functional to you, then do this. She also repeatedly reminds her reader about care tasks being "morally neutral". This helps us remove the shame we too often feel. One final note to consider when deciding if this book might be for you, is that unlike with books and programs that exist online and in print, "how to keep house while drowning" is NOT a program. It's, as Ms. Davis says, "a philosophy". It's a new way of thinking and changing one's mindset. I originally listened to the audiobook and borrowed the book from the library. I decided I needed to buy my own copy. This is the book that makes sense to me. (Ms. Davis has a great TED talk video online about laundry that provides an idea of what you can learn on the book.

This was a wonderful book and so on point for people who struggle, but didn’t even know the term for what ails them is neurodivergent. I could relate to all KC Davis was saying. This book really helped to shift my mindset, but more importantly it helped me release the shame I felt for struggling. It also showed me a new way to go about things and gave me some new tools to do so. Once I was able to release the shame and see things in a different way I was able to start moving knowing that any improvement is better than it was before. No longer plaqued by having to do it perfectly and being overwhelmed by the impossible, I can now do what I can and that has taken an enormous pressure off of myself. Little by little I’m making improvements which was so much better than before when I was frozen. I would highly recommend this for anyone who struggles and can’t seem to overcome their struggling. I took a star off for the binding,’as the book is poorly bound and was coming apart before I even finished the book. The pages are ready to fall out!

Since having kids, I have struggled keeping my house and mind organized! I swear this book reached into my soul and not only provided great solutions for the exact struggles I had been having, but changed my perspective also! It made me feel like I could give myself grace. One of my favorite points it made too was: who said things had to be done a specific and certain way?! Make it work for your life! I recommend this book to all my ADD/ADHD friends struggling!

This is a great resource for putting together manageable steps to keep your house, clean or clean enough so that you can function. There are a lot of helpful tips on how to not disparage yourself, how to treat yourself well while also keeping your house in a functional state. I really liked that the author didn’t have a very concrete way to do things, but they outlined several different strategies that one can use, piecemeal their strategy for keeping their spaces functional.

I needed this book in my life. After the loss of my older sister, the pandemic, another significant loss of our grandmother all within 18 months I felt like I couldn’t handle anything, I couldn’t keep up with laundry dishes, cooking, anything, my recycling piled up to the point it filled our porch, I was literally drowning. I have two boys, 2 and 6 . when schools closed it was like everything in my life fell apart. My six year old son has nonverbal autism and without school and services even he was in an absolute tailspin and I just didn’t have the mental energy to fill that for him when I was struggling with basics. I wish I’d found this book last March, it’s really helping me to view tasks differently and realize that even before I was cleaning my house out of anxiety and fear of being viewed as a failure. I never allowed myself to relax so when I couldn’t keep up with how I used to handle care tasks it really made me hate myself, I feel like a failure as a mom, or as a person but this book along with her tik toks have helped me to shift the way I view myself and these things. I love how she says “care tasks are morally neutral.” They are functional. It seems so simple but it was a light bulb moment for me to just shift my perspective! I’m still struggling, and will still forget but I have to stop trying for total perfectionism or total self hatred when I don’t meet the expectation u place on myself but perfection is not real life and not having everything perfect doesn’t mean I am a failure or that anyone is a failure. We all need some grace for ourselves, especially when dealing with grief, mental health, isolation and just life in general right now. Get this book! It’s not overwhelming at all, it’s easy to digest and practical. Thank ou to the author I could cry how much this is helping me!