At Home with Madame Chic - Review

At Home with Madame Chic: Becoming a Connoisseur of Daily Life by Jennifer L. Scott

Rating: 4 Stars
Source:  NetGalley

Description:  As a foreign exchange student in Paris Jennifer Scott was taught the lessons of a chic life by her host mother - Madame Chic.  Years later, as a housewife with 2 small children Jennifer found herself fighting the battle of the chaos and clutter and decided to revisit Madame Chic's lessons and share them with us.

Genre: NonFiction

Why I Picked This Book:  The living a chic life appeals to me and I had been disappointed by a previous Paris-y book so I was hoping this would make up for it.
My Impression:
Pros: There's no groundbreaking information in this book.  I don't think you'll read anything and think "Wow!  That's life changing!"  However, what this book is is motivating which is something I at least, desperately need.  Yes, I know that taking care of the "hot" clutter zones immediately will only take a few seconds and make me much happier in the long run.  I know that creating a schedule and sticking as closely to it as life will allow will make my life easier to manage.  I know I should take a moment and just enjoy the now instead of always being in a rush.  But I frequently don't do any of these things and I bet I'm not the only one.  I liked that Scott stresses a do what works for you attitude.  She and I definitely don't agree on some things.  I'm not moving to a sit down breakfast (or breakfast at all other than coffee - I know, I know, I'm terrible) anytime soon or switching out of my yoga pants for around the house anytime soon. That being said I think she and I can reach some compromises on these.  Maybe I wear yoga pants when I have a day of housework ahead of me but I spend a little time on my makeup and wear perfume.  A sit down breakfast isn't going to happen but a glass of water with a squeeze of lemon could be added in while I'm getting my coffee ready to go.  I did love the idea of timing how long it takes to complete tasks you hate.  My desk was a cluttered mess that was driving me crazy but I didn't want to straighten it up.  When I finally did do you know how long it too me?  About 4 minutes.  I've been getting annoyed for weeks over a task that took 4 minutes.  She talks a lot about adding in things that you enjoy to your daily routine and even gives playlist and candle fragrance suggestions for different times of day.Also, there was a reference to one of Agatha Christie's lesser known works at the beginning that won me over right away!

Cons: There was a lot of information about entertaining which was completely lost on me as entertaining isn't something I really enjoy.  Some of the pages got a little monotonous as some of the tips apply to multiple issues and get repeated.

Overall: While this book wasn't ground breaking it was motivating and any book that can have me thinking with excitement about different housekeeping projects is a win in my book!  It did make me rethink some things that I was or wasn't doing and motivate me to get back on schedule.  It also reminded me how I've let little things I really enjoy - like listening to classical music while reading - slip away just because I'm always distracted or rushed.  I really enjoyed this one and wouldn't mind having a print copy to flip through periodically.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: Yes I would.  I'm planning on adding her blog The Daily Connoisseur go my feed on Bloglovin' and will see if my library has her previous books.

Would I Recommend this Book?:  If you enjoyed Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project I think you would enjoy this one.  While I find Scott easier to relate to the focus was similar.