How to Keep House While Drowning, KC Davis
How to Keep House While Drowning, KC Davis
15 Rating(s)
List: $14.99 | Sale: $10.50
Club: $7.49

How to Keep House While Drowning
A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing

Author: KC Davis

Narrator: KC Davis, Dr. Raquel Martin

Unabridged: 3 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/26/2022

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

An NPR Best Book of the Year | USA TODAY Bestseller

This revolutionary approach to cleaning and organizing helps free you from feeling ashamed or overwhelmed by a messy home.

If you’re struggling to stay on top of your to-do list, you probably have a good reason: anxiety, fatigue, depression, ADHD, or lack of support. For therapist KC Davis, the birth of her second child triggered a stress-mess cycle. The more behind she felt, the less motivated she was to start. She didn’t fold a single piece of laundry for seven months. One life-changing realization restored her sanity—and the functionality of her home: You don’t work for your home; your home works for you.

In other words, messiness is not a moral failing. A new sense of calm washed over her as she let go of the shame-based messaging that interpreted a pile of dirty laundry as “I can never keep up” and a chaotic kitchen as “I’m a bad mother.” Instead, she looked at unwashed clothes and thought, “I am alive,” and at stacks of dishes and thought, “I cooked my family dinner three nights in a row.”

Building on this foundation of self-compassion, KC devised the powerful practical approach that has exploded in popularity through her TikTok account, @domesticblisters. The secret is to simplify your to-do list and to find creative workarounds that accommodate your limited time and energy. In this book, you’ll learn exactly how to customize your cleaning strategy and rebuild your relationship with your home, including:

-How to see chores as kindnesses to your future self, not as a reflection of your worth
-How to start by setting priorities
-How to stagger tasks so you won’t procrastinate
-How to clean in quick bursts within your existing daily routine
-How to use creative shortcuts to transform a room from messy to functional

With KC’s help, your home will feel like a sanctuary again. It will become a place to rest, even when things aren’t finished. You will move with ease, and peace and calm will edge out guilt, self-criticism, and endless checklists. They have no place here.

About KC Davis

KC Davis is the bestselling author of How to Keep House While Drowning. A licensed therapist, she is the creator of the popular Struggle Care website, Instagram, and the Domestic Blisters TikTok. KC has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Slate, Well + Good, Good Inside with Dr. Becky, Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris, among dozens of other media. KC Davis lives in Houston with her husband and daughters.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Alex on November 17, 2020

short, sweet, and validating as fuck.......more

Goodreads review by Emmalita on January 10, 2021

I believe deeply in letting go of shame*, especially when it comes to house work. There are a lot of reasons why house keeping can get away from you and putting a lot of shame on yourself about it is unnecessary and counter productive. I know this deeply and truly about other people. It is much much......more

Goodreads review by zuza_zaksiazkowane on March 18, 2023

3.8 zaskoczyło mnie dość mocno!......more

Goodreads review by Cindy on January 01, 2023

Bumping up to 5 stars because the book came for my neck. Quote to prove it: “When you view care tasks as moral, the motivation for completing them is often shame. When everything is in its place, you don’t feel like a failure. If you are completing the care tasks with a motivation of shame, you are......more

Goodreads review by Dominic on September 08, 2024

At just over three hours long, this audiobook delivers a world of insight in a short span, and I’ve already found myself recommending it to at least five people. The kindness and helpfulness embedded in the author's message are palpable, making this such a hopeful, thoughtful listen. The reframi......more


Quotes

"With compassion, hard-earned insights, and touches of humor, therapist KC Davis offers relief to the overwhelmed. Her voice is warm and understanding; whether listeners are struggling with the pandemic’s aftermath or depression, Davis offers supportive ways to care for the home — and the self. With exhausted listeners in mind, Davis keeps chapters short and maintains a pace that can be readily absorbed. As she provides shortcuts and helpful recaps of main points, Davis throws a lifeline to listeners who are drowning in piles of dishes or laundry. Having been there herself while experiencing postpartum depression with a toddler, she offers advice that rings with the conviction of lived experience and is packed with creative work-arounds that will help listeners to challenge negative self-talk."