Getting Hip to being a Homemaker: The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking Giveaway
May 2, 2011 
11 Comments
When I was growing up in the 80′s, all of my friends and I had dreams of big careers, not of creating a lovely home or cooking a fantastic meal. It’s amazing how much things have changed. Now, I spend my spare time learning how to do things that I shunned as a teenager, like gardening, and wondering why it took me so long to get around to it.
As I’ve been reading Kate Payne’s new book, The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking, I feel like I’m making up for lost time. I’ve already marked over a dozen pages and can’t wait to redo my spice rack and finally try my hand at canning by making pickles this summer. I may even try her tips for baking bread (I can hear the collective gasp among my food blogger friends now.) Kate makes everything sound so easy and straightforward that I feel like I have no excuse but to try these things that I used to feel were daunting.
Following are the sections and chapters from the book. You can also click the image of the book to view excerpts.
Room-by-Room Guide to a Homey House, Homie
- Kitchen and dining rooms: Creating a spice rack that works, picking the right table and chairs, finding chic linens on the cheap
- Living areas: Camouflaging the TV, shopping and scavenging like a pro, making the most of your home office
- Bed, bath and between: Folding a fitted sheet, picking curtains and drapes, finding a shower curtain that doesn’t suck
Impressive Acts of Domesticity: Do Try This at Home
- Outdoor spaces: Container and raised bed gardening tips and composting
- Cleaning and DIY suds: Using non-toxic products to clean your house
- Managing cloth: Tricks for tackling laundry challenges including getting out stains and sewing basics
- Tapping the tool kit: Building a helpful toolkit including how to use a drill, spackle a nail hole and hang things from the ceiling
Life After Restaurants
- Cooking at home: Tips on different ways to shop, key kitchen tools, what to do with kitchen scraps and how to make homemade bread
- Preserving food at home: 8 smart things to freeze and how to make preserves
- Entertaining projects: how to host a terrific party and a few party ideas including craft, sewing and swap parties
If you are interested in becoming a Hip Homemaker, then this is your lucky day. Kate’s publisher, Harper Design, has given me a copy of the book to give away. To enter the drawing, submit a comment on this post about which topic from the book is of the greatest interest to you. I’ll pick a winner at random from the comments on Friday May 6th at 5 pm.
Kate has several book signings coming up over the next month so you may even have a chance to get her to sign it!
And the winner is…. Jenn!
Author
I want to learn more about the DIY cleaning products! I already cook a lot, garden, and preserve food (freezing and canning), so my next goal is to eliminate the chemicals that are in my home in the form of cleaning products.
I am looking forward to reading the entire book because I am SURE I will learn a lot from it. I too grew up with the motto that I can be whatever I wanted in the career world & not given many homemaking skills-but I have gotten by. I think with this book it will become FUN! =) Since Spring is just finally arriving, the topic of greatest interest to me right now is the Outdoor spaces: container and raised bed gardening tips and composting since I am planning my garden right now-it has always been a ho-hum garden-and I want it to really work this year! Plus I just put down some compost but am not sure it’s composted enough, etc. This is the chapter I would read upon the book’s arrival & I know my family would benefit immediately. Thanks for the opportunity to win the book!
I could sure benefit from learning how to fold a fitted sheet! I’m just getting into canning and making my own cleaning supplies and I know I can benefit from this book!
I’d love to learn how to make home preserves – I planted fruit trees last year and in the next year or two, am pretty sure I’ll have more fruit than I can give away!
I’d also love to read the sections on out door spaces and non toxic cleaning supplies!
The book looks so fun and I love the pink art designs at the beginning of each section! So fun
Cooking — definetly want to learn to can this summer.
I think I need to just go buy this book! I need to learn how to do everything….
i definitely am interested in the cooking at home part. i do cook some things at home but learning how to freeze things better is something i still haven’t mastered!
While we have a comfy home, I’d love to learn more about making it homeyer/homier? hmmm. Anyway, it needs a little more charm added to the function.
Nice review. I am going to buy this book!
I’m excited to read this book, especially the section on living spaces. I need all the help I can get figuring out how to organize all my junk & make the most of my limited living space!
EVERYTHING
Preserves, Composting, Gardening, “Scavenging” I (REALLY) want to master that!!! Oh a spice Rack, I definitely need to work on that!! Every time I cook I think about that! DIY Cleaning is a must!!! And every way I can possibly preserve! Basically everything!! AND I want to teach my sisters as well, they are eager to learn