How to Keep House While Drowning is an incredible book that helps reframe house work. As I read, I found myself feeling less and less weighed down by stories we tell ourselves for why our house isn't perfect. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an uplifting way to thinking of managing your house that focuses on simple ways to make it better!

I first became familiar with this author on TikTok, and was excited to pick up her book in preparation for her keynote visit for this year's Iowa Library Association conference. The most valuable takeaway from KC Davis's book/content in general is the concept of morally neutral behaviors. It brings to mind the famous lines from Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" poem: "You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves." In the context of this book, KC reminds us that we do not have to feel guilty for not having a flawless, Pinterest-worthy life or home, nor are we obligated to attempt to do so. Instead, she offers ideas for creating and maintaining systems/routines that work for our own individual needs and circumstances. (I also love that it's emphasized again and again that these systems may not last forever, and can always be adjusted to work better for you. This was my other favorite takeaway—you are not failing, your current system is.) Outside of the context of this book, it's such a great and validating reminder not to judge people for not meeting our own weird, internalized standards/expectations of behavior, presentation, etc. Finally, I really appreciated how accessibly structured this book was. I liked the prompts for an abridged reading experience, and the main point breakdowns and explanations of metaphorical language were really effective. More nonfiction would benefit from taking this route.

I've followed the author on Tik Tok for a bit, and was excited to hear that she had a book coming out. What a refreshing take on the topic. I love that she meets you where you are, and acknowledges that sometimes we're more capable than other times. I'll be buying this one for friends for sure.

This was such a great book and really helpful with the style it was written in and the subject manner.

This book is flipping awesome! Ok. That's it. Just read it.

But no seriously. I have ADD, anxiety and depression. I often have found myself "waking up" in my house and literally feeling like I was drowning-who made this mess, who let it get this bad- and how the HECK do I dig back out of it? This book made me feel normal. It also made me laugh. I felt like the author and I were old friends having a laugh at how chaotic our lives could be and how that sometimes makes it so much worse.

This author taught me the joys of a nightly "reset" and taught me that I could channel my energy into cleaning one area at a time and then eventually not only will it all be done but cleaning HELPS MY ANXIETY!!! Guys, I literally told EVERYONE about this book when I wasn't even halfway finished. I want everyone in my life to get a copy of this book even if they won't read it just in hopes that one day they will read it! Seriously hands down, LOVE this book. I know I probably sound crazy right now rambling on about a self help book like this but if you knew me you'd know I'm pretty crazy anyways, so it's actually kind of normal.

I first learned about KC Davis after seeing them on TikTok. KC's views on mess as being morally neutral immediately gave me the self-acceptance I needed to let myself take care of myself. It had been ingrained in my life that clean was "good" and messy meant I was "bad." This book gave me the tools I needed to begin cleaning up my own depression nest and start tailoring my life to my needs and not other people's moral opinions.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advanced reader's copy in return for my honest review.

This book was a lifeline for me. I instantly related to feeling like I was drowning in my housework postpartum (and during a pandemic) as a first time parent. KC Davis does an amazing job engaging with her audience in an accessible way. She intentionally writes for the neurodivergent among us and made sure her book was written in a font that is easier to read. I read this book in one sitting completely unable to put it down. I am so thankful this work is out there with a compassionate voice and truly applicable advice.

An excellent guide howto organize your home. Your mental health.Step by step a way to organize your life without pressuring yourself.This is an informative healthy way to arrange your home.#simonselement.#netgalley

I don't think I could have picked up a better book. I'm always figuring out how to accomplish all my tasks while not feeling overwhelmed by all the little tasks and so forth. A great book about how to combat this and more.

HOW TO KEEP HOUSE WHILE DROWNING by KC Davis is indeed "A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing." Davis is a licensed professional therapist and she relies on that background as well as her own struggles with drug addiction and mental health issues to create an extremely useful and comforting text. Davis' message is clear: "I'm going to help you find your way of keeping a functional home – whatever 'functional' means for you. Together, we are going to build a foundation of self-compassion and learn how to stop negative self-talk and shame." Chapters are short and main points are bolded; early on, she explains the "5 Things Tidying Method" which encourages readers to focus first on trash then dishes, laundry, things that need to be in their place and things with no place. Chunking cleaning and straightening into manageable bits does indeed remove much of the debilitating stress often associated with this overwhelming task. Thinking of chores as [self-]care tasks is a shift worth pursuing and Davis' readers agree, calling this book "life-changing" and "incredibly helpful."

How to Keep House While Drowning will introduce you to six life-changing principles that will revolutionize the way you approach home care—without endless to-do lists. Presented in 31 daily thoughts, this compassionate guide will help you begin to get free of the shame and anxiety you feel over home care.

How to Keep House While Drowning was okay. There are a few tips for people who feel they are drowning with everything at home piling up, but overall, the main point of the book is that it is okay if everything isn't perfect. It's life; it's not going to be perfect. Life is often about juggling different priorities while trying to keep things going. To really reiterate that message, the book repeats it ad nauseum, making the book very repetitive. I am certain there are people out there who really need to hear that message on repeat to let go of the guilt, and for them, this book will be what they are looking for. For the title of the book, I would have preferred the focus be on more practical tips rather than just giving the reader permission to be less than perfect. At 54 pages, that shouldn't have been difficult.

Highly highly recommend! Super helpful tips and tricks to help you stop beating yourself up and get stuff done.

I don’t agree with all her tips. Please don’t just throw stuff away. Make small trips to a donation box. There are people out there with nothing and it keeps stuff out of our landfills.

That being said I still believe in this book and follow her on TikTok super awesome.

This was so useful and empathetic. As someone with ADHD who struggles with cleaning the house, I found Davis's tips reasonable in a way most cleaning advice simply isn't. A must for all neurodivergent folks.

An excellent lesson for the modern age, a self-help book that recognizes what all is being asked of an individual in the modern age. I found the prose refreshing and the advice to be practical.

How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing (Simon Element, 2022) by KC Davis is a life-changing book that tackles household challenges that pop up along the way in a life filled with caregiving, work (all iterations of work), family members, and health concerns. Davis, a licensed professional therapist, understands the judgments and shaming that so many clients and readers place on themselves surrounding household maintenance, particularly when their own mental health may be on a downswing. She takes her own experience with postpartum depression, adult ADHD, and working from home while caring for little ones, and integrates it with her years of therapeutical expertise and techniques that address new ways to consider your own living space. For example, Davis proposes that care tasks (for your space and your body) are "morally neutral" and to consider where each reader may have learned the message that our homes, or our appearances, needed to look a certain way to be worthy, good, or right.

As someone who purchased How to Keep House While Drowning and some of Davis' s additional handouts online prior to this updated publication, I was certainly inclined to love the updated publication. (And I do!) I especially enjoyed the option for a shorter reading experience for those who may not have as much time, or the attention span, to read the entire book at once. Also, the very short chapters also are ripe and ready for a neurodivergent and/or busy audience,

This is a wonderful, wonderful book that the world really needs! It's both a wise, compassionate reframing of how to think about home and self care tasks and a helpful, practical guide to managing those tasks when faced with challenges. It seems to be pitched toward people who are neuro-atypical and/or living with mental illness, but anyone would benefit from giving this a read. The tone is so friendly and gentle--it's like talking to a very emotionally intelligent and caring friend. I would encourage everyone to pick this up!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

Such a valuable resource! I ended up buying a copy for myself. KC Davis offers such a grace-filled approaching to keeping house.

This is a book about changing your thinking about keeping house as a moral task ("I'm not good enough if the house isn't clean") to something you do as a favor to yourself. It has a lot of good ideas for shortcuts and gives permission to do what you are able and things like that. It is excellent for people like me who do not always have the mental capacity for house chores and don't always even realize they are living in a mess until they are buried. One quote hit me hard: "You must have the physical energy and time to complete these tasks and the mental health to engage in a low-dopamine errand for an extended period of time." I generally have little to none of those things, and thinking of cleaning as a "low-dopamine errand" was eye-opening because it totally is and why should I want to do it?! How has no one ever pointed that out before? Also! An epiphany: Most laundry does not NEED to be folded! This fact alone may change my life. This book is written by someone who understands the thought process of: "I need to do laundry. That means folding and putting away once it's washed and dried. But I already have two baskets of clothes that need to be folded and put away. The closet is so messy that it is hard to put anything where it belongs, so if I really want to get a load of laundry done properly, it means cleaning out the closet to make room and folding and putting away two to three loads of laundry. I have no energy for this; therefore, there is no point to doing a load of laundry and I am overwhelmed before I even begin." But guess what, we are living out of clothes baskets anyway, so why not make it functional? For me, that means giving each of us a basket of our own and instead of folding things that don't really need to be folded and putting them in a messy closet or worrying about cleaning the closet, just...leave them in the baskets. Because that's how it was anyway but now it is functional and everyone has their own basket and can find what they need much more easily. All I have to do is quickly sort and toss everything into one place and it's already where it belongs! It's maybe not what most people would consider put away and it's maybe not the most aesthetic thing, but if it gets me past the mental blocks of even starting a load of laundry, it's an amazing thing. It's not a fix, just a new way of thinking that may help people who have problems with executive functioning due to depression, ADHD, etc. written by someone who is right there with you. 5 stars!

As posted on GoodReads.com:
Edited to add review of new edition, April 27, 2022

Today I finished reading the expanded version of this book, published April 26, 2022, by Simon & Schuster. I stand by my previous review AND recommend this revised edition even more strongly. Davis’s message that care tasks are not moral acts is reinforced throughout, along with a great deal of practical advice and compassion.

“Care tasks exist for one reason only . . . to make your body and space functional enough for you to easily experience the joy this world has to offer.” [ch. 41, loc. 1435]

This expanded edition includes new chapters on body neutrality and on equity in care tasks and rest; in the latter Davis provides a unique and empowering perspective on dividing household chores by making rest fair and equitable, rather than the conventions of gender or paycheck contributions. If I were still teaching, this material would be new required reading in my gender and communication courses.

Five stars again, with thanks to #NetGalley for this advance