How to Avoid Housework

Although it doesn't promise to eliminate housecleaning altogether, this breezy, upbeat book will gladden slatterns everywhere. Blithe I-hate-housework quotes decorate the margins (e.g., Kay Mosure's quip, ``Why is there a permanent press setting on most irons?''), but the author, an interior designer as well as a newspaper and magazine columnist, uses more than humor to rally the troops. Some of the good advice is obvious (throw things away); some of it unlikely (if you have a pet that sheds, train it to live outdoors). Most is specific and well-reasoned: stencil, don't wallpaper, a steamy, heavily used bathroom because wallpaper paste can't withstand high humidity; one-step floor-cleaning products may loosen dirt but will trap it in the finish, so dampen a mop with diluted white vinegar instead. Realistically, if sexistly, addressing women, Jhung urges her audience to hire housekeepers and to draft husbands and children in the war against dirt and detritus--the best way to avoid housework, as always, is to get someone else to do it. (May)