Monday, November 3, 2014

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.

12 comments:

  1. I like the sound of this... off to see if my library has a copy. Thanks!

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  2. Since I don't run a household, it's just me, I am on a whatever kind of schedule. I don't think this book would bring anything for me. But I'm glad you get some motivation from it. Anything that can help you throughout the daily routine is a plus. :)
    Great review!
    Happy reading!
    Brittany @ This is the Story of My(Reading) Life

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    1. You might not find it as useful as I did but you might still get something out of it. Especially the reminders to enjoy something instead of just getting caught up in the rush!

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  3. I have this drawer in my living room that I stuff everything in I don't want to look at or deal with right away (papers, mostly) and then I go through it about every other week or so, sorting and filing everything away in its proper place. It'd probably be much easier to put things away where they belong in the first place . . . Anyway, your review of this book made me think of that drawer. :-)

    I'm sure there are a lot of little (and big) things I could do differently to take away some of the clutter and chaos that is my life. It's easy to use busy-ness as an excuse.

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    1. I have a table like your drawer. It drives me nuts. I let busyness be an excuse to much as well even though I know picking something up will make me feel toms better than just leaving it!

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  4. Sounds like this book has some good tips, though, like you, I'm not into entertaining either!

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    1. It was useful and helped focus me a bit. We are definitely not into entertaining! Too much introvert I guess!

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  5. Glad it gave you a bit of motivation! It is amazing the things you enjoy that can slip by you in the daily rush of things.

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    1. It is odd how often we drop little things that we enjoy for really no reason!

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  6. Sounds like an interesting read. Again like you I KNOW this stuff but never do most of them. Anything that motivates me to get some control back sounds like a good read to me.

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    1. I really got a lot out of this one. Made me think a little more about how I was spending my time !

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